New £2.9 million UKRI-DEFRA grant awarded to School researchers
Professor Kate Spencer and Dr Andrew Russell will co-lead a major new study on urban and post-industrial coastal risks under climate change.
Coastal flooding and erosion will accelerate under climate change. Our past industrialisation has left a pollution legacy of 1000s of historic coastal landfills and contaminated sites also at risk from coastal flooding and/or erosion. Many are already releasing wide-ranging pollution, including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, medical waste, plastics and asbestos to our coasts and the marine environment.
Resilience of Anthropocene Coasts and Communities (RACC): assessing and responding to urban and post-industrial coastal risks (£2.9 million) is one of four projects funded by UKRI and Defra as part of the £14.8m Resilient Coastal Communities and Seas Programme which will take a transdisciplinary approach to understanding and boosting the resilience of coastal communities in all four nations of the UK.
Professor Kate Spencer and Dr Andrew Russell will co-lead the project with Professor Larissa Naylor (University of Glasgow). A number of post-doctoral research associate roles supporting the project will be advertised shortly.
Working in three ‘at risk’ UK geographic areas RACC will assess the harm historic pollution will do to coastal habitats and communities and investigate the future risks associated with climate change. The team will work with stakeholders and communities to understand the environmental and social challenges involved and together develop new policies and sustainable management options to protect the coast and future generations.
Read more from the project team and partners in our press release here.