FHRC – The Flood Hazard Research Centre
The Flood Hazard Research Centre (FHRC) is an interdisciplinary centre based at Middlesex University.
We specialise in the interaction between people and the environment, together with the analysis and appraisal of environmental policies. Our aim is to develop our understanding of the relations between people, water, and the environment, in order to reduce the risks from natural hazards and improve policies for current and future generations. In particular, we are interested in the environmental and societal dimensions of natural hazards such as different factors of change, vulnerability reduction and capacity building, governance and decision-making. FHRC staff work across a range of disciplines including geography, economics, sociology, social anthropology, and environmental science. We have a PhD and Masters level training programme and run professional training courses for Environment Agency, local authority and consultancy staff.
Josie Joyce
Josie Joyce has been with the Flood Hazard Research Centre since 1987. Josie is responsible for overall administrative operations of the Flood Hazard Research Centre, and she oversees the administration associated with the Centre’s research contracts, appointments, budgets, training etc. She can be contacted to answer any queries relating to the work of the Centre. She has been involved in the update of the MCM for many years and is responsible for the MCM registration process and manages the issuing of MCM Licences, renewals of licences and general MCM user queries.
Sally Priest
Sally is a Professor and Head of the Flood Hazard Research Centre. Her research interests focus on the application of social science across a range of areas of flood risk management. Sally has worked on a number of projects, initially working on the EC-funded FLOODsite project particularly focussing on researching innovative methods to understand, model and evaluate flood damages and other flood losses and the development of a risk to life model for European flood events. Her specific areas of research interest and competency are on flood insurance, risk communication and governance. More recently Sally has been working on EU FP7 STAR-FLOOD, EU FP7 RISC-KIT and the Marie Curie European Training Network SYSTEM-RISK, Economic benefits of FCRM investment on recreation, tourism, and health project (EA), Understanding Effective Flood Risk Governance (EA). She is leading Chapter 2, 3 and 6 of the Multi-Coloured Manual.
Christophe Viavattene
Lead researcher for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at the Flood Hazard Research Centre (Middlesex University). Christophe is interested in understanding how society can better respond to the challenges of sustainable development. With skills covering a wide range of fields (Ecology, Geography, Modelling, Environmental Economics), he is particularly interested in integrating social, economic and environmental aspects in the sustainable management of natural resources and in the development of assessment model and decision support tools for stakeholders needs using a range of techniques. Christophe has been working on various EU projects including EU FP7 CONHAZ project, EU FP7 RISC-KIT , the Marie Curie European Training Network SYSTEM-RISK, FLORIS project, Pluvial flooding: interim approach to accounting for FEH13 rainfall in the second Risk Management cycle (SEPA), Economic benefits of FCRM investment on recreation, tourism, and health project (EA). He is leading Chapter 4 and 5 of the Multi-Coloured Manual and coordinating Chapter 9. He is also managing the website.
Douglas Hardman
Following on from completing his MEng degree at the University of Exeter in 2019, Doug has been working within the Water and Environmental sector primarily undertaking fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flood risk consultancy work for a wide range of public and private clients and has significant experience developing hydraulic models and working with spatial data in order to contribute to the development of effective flood alleviation schemes. Doug has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from, for example, flood risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, and surface water drainage design for large urban regeneration schemes, to Natural Flood Management schemes comprising integrated catchment modelling and benefit assessment. Doug joined the Flood Hazard Research Centre in 2023 and assists with research projects including the continuing development of the Multi-Coloured Manual national methods and datasets for the UK’s FCERM economic appraisal techniques as well as many others.
We have many years experience of working with government bodies in the UK and overseas. In the last four decades, FHRC has produced five Manuals bringing together information on the impacts of flooding and coastal erosion and incorporating data on flood damages. Our Manuals are the industry standard in England and Wales for use in economic appraisal. Find out more about the Multi-Coloured Manual and Handbook.
Our reputation and expertise is informed by an up-to-date view of the state of the art in the relevant research areas. This is reflected by our portfolio of past and current research projects.
You can follow us on X (Twitter) @fhrc_mdx
