4th European Conference on Flood Risk Management

We would like to remind those who haven't done so already that you have until the 1st June 2021 to submit your video for the FLOODrisk2021 virtual conference. 

You can find instructions on how to record a video or audio presentation and upload it to the web gateway in this video. If you need a background for your video, you can download the FLOODrisk2020 virtual conference background here.

As most video presentations will be quite large, we are requesting that the files are sent via any secure file transfer program, such as WeTransfer, to info@floodrisk2020.net.

You will find more information on how to participate here.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you to register here to attend the conference, present your paper or poster and make the most of the features already available online.

You can now add the sessions that you wish to attend to your own personal schedule on the FLOODrisk2020 virtual conference conference.

Once you are registered, login on one of the HUBS on the FLOODrisk2020 Virtual Conference Gateway and click on the  icon next to the session that you wish to attend to add it to your schedule. You will see a 'My FLOODrisk 2020 Schedule' window appear on the right hand side, showing all of the sessions that you have selected. From this window, you can 'Click to download your schedule to your working calendar'.

If you wish to remove a session from your schedule, you can either click on the  icon on the HUB programme, or clicking on the  icon next to the session that you wish to remove in the 'My FLOODrisk 2020 Schedule' window

If you are a presenter, don't forget that you have until the 1st June to submit your video or audio presentation.

If you have not yet registered, you can do so by clicking on the Register link.

We are pleased to welcome ICOLD-CIGB Marseille 2021 as exhibitors to the FLOODrisk2020 virtual conference.

ICOLD-CIGB Marseille 2021 will be held from November 12-19, 2021 in the city of Marseille in France. This event is organized by the French Committee on Large Dams (CFBR) on behalf of ICOLD.

You can find their virtual exhibition stand on the FLOODrisk2020 Gateway on https://hub.floodrisk2020.net/exhibition/icold-cigb-marseille-2021/. Please make sure to visit their virtual stand, view the poster, view the video and download their brochure. You will also be able to message them during the conference by using the 'Click to message' function on the right hand side.

You can visit the virtual exhibition hall even if you are not yet registered. We would like to take this opportunity though to remind you to register here to attend the conference and make the most of the features already available online.

The special session 'LAND4FLOOD: Coping with the challenges of using private land for flood water storage' will take place virtually on Wednesday 23 June 2021 from 14:00 to 15:30.

The session will be led by András Kis, Gábor Ungvári, with contribution from: Lenka Slavíková, Nejc Bezak, Thomas Hartmann, Piotr Matczak

The programme of this special session will include:

Within the realm of flood management increasing emphasis is placed on nature based solutions (NBS), supplementing flood defense via technical (grey) infrastructure. NBS measures generally take the form of upstream land use change for water retention or temporary flood water storage along rivers. While they often offer attractive alternatives to or combination with technical solutions, they also require much more land and suitable land is frequently owned privately. Negotiating flood related land use agreements with land owners can be challenging, raising critical questions about damage compensation, financing schemes, cultural attitudes, property rights and trust in institutions, among others. All these issues are critical from an often missing, comprehensive regulatory perspective.

The Land4Flood community of scholars and practitioners is based on the shared understanding that the recent demand for flood defense by nature based solutions can only be accomplished if the engineering, legal and economic aspects of planning are mutually considered. Where physically effective measures’s assessed impacts on the landscape gives basis for the clarification of rights and duties behind complex land management arrangements that provides the preconditions using economic tools effectively to get over the information asymmetries stakeholders face in reaching financially viable agreements that will unlock the implementation and operation of such a multi purpose green infrastructure on private land. 

This special session will inspect actual cases, including good examples as well as failed initiatives.

Pre-recorded short presentations will describe relevant elements of the Land4Flood approach. In the session a 15’ warm up presentation will be followed by a panel discussion involving the presenters. Our goal is to raise awareness and discuss recommendations in an interactive way involving the audience, toward concluding mutually attractive agreements between beneficiaries (or the state on their behalf) and private land owners in order to enhance flood management.

Please use the 'add to Schedule' button on the Special Session Programme, to register your interest in participating in this special session.

For more information visit the Special Session Hub and the website http://www.land4flood.eu/land4flood-project/. To access this page, you will need to be registered online. If you haven't done so yet, please Register Now Here. 

The special session 'Flooding impact to infrastructure networks and bridges: the challenge of scour' will take place virtually on Wednesday 23 June 2021 from 14:00 to 15:30.

The session will be led by Maria Pregnolato and Luke Prendergast.

The programme of this special session will include:

The impact of flooding and scour on infrastructure has severe economic and societal consequences worldwide. Flooding-related losses are projected to increase due to climate change, urbanisation and the increase of urban complexity. Furthermore, estimating the impact and assessing the nature of these events is becoming more uncertain due to these issues. Transport networks not only underpin economic activity by enabling the movement of goods and people, but guarantee emergency operations (e.g. rescue and evacuation) during extreme weather events. Specific assets, such as riverine bridges, are exposed to hydrodynamic effects, aging and the change of demand (e.g. modern cars and trucks), therefore are now at potentially higher risks of failure. This is compounded by the significant portion of infrastructure that is approaching the end of its design lives, putting increasing stress on already limited maintenance budgets. This prompts infrastructure owners and operators, emergency responders, academics, and industrial professionals to collaborate and work together to improve scour assessment of critical infrastructure for current and future scenarios.

This special session aims to bring together experts across the spectrum of infrastructure maintenance management, resilience, and flood modelling fields to assess the state-of-the-art, share knowledge, identify research gaps, and provide suggestion for future research directions in the area of infrastructure resilience to flooding. The session welcomes discussion contributions related to:

• Implication of flooding to infrastructure, bridges and wider transport networks;
• Current risk management practice of bridges in flood-prone areas;
• Impact of scour, debris and hydrodynamic forces on bridges;
• Structural Health Monitoring for improved management of bridges and infrastructure;
• Sensors, AI and smart sensing for bridges and infrastructure.
• Network-wide approaches to scour resilience
• Emergency management of scour-related collapses

Please use the 'add to Schedule' button on the Special Session Programme, to register your interest in participating in this special session.

For more information visit the Special Session Hub. To access this page, you will need to be registered online. If you haven't done so yet, please Register Now Here. 

The special session 'Risk Informed Decision Making for Levees and Flood Defences' will take place virtually on Tuesday 22 June 2021 from 13:30 to 15:00.

The programme of this special session will include:

13:30    Introductions
Participants to enter in chat function their name, organisation, country, topics of interest. Please use the 'add to Schedule' button on the Special Session Programme, to register your interest in participating in this special session.

13:35    General introduction on risk framework for levees and flood defences (Rémy Tourment)
Quick presentation of ICOLD TC and EUCOLD LFD WG

a.       Definition of risk: 

• Components and definition of risk
• Difference between "natural" flood risk and flood risk in the presence of levees

b.       Key terms:
Risk assessment, risk management, risk communication, residual risk

13:50    Combining deterministic and probabilistic approaches to make decisions (Dr Jonathan Simm)

a.       Risk approaches and probabilistic methods

• Deterministic and probabilistic design of levees – links to and differences from risk-informed design.
• Good practice in flood risk analysis of leveed systems – can deterministic information be incorporated?  

b.       Consideration of uncertainty

• Uncertainty in loadings on levees.
• Uncertainty in defence performance - fragility curves and uncertainty.
• Uncertainty in consequence attributable to levee segments/systems.

14:05    Discussion on use of risk and probabilistic tools

14:25    Decision making for flood risk management and for levee systems management (Elena Sossenkina and Dr Mike Sharp)

a.       What is decided? 

• Use of risk to inform decisions regarding flood risk management
  • community emergency preparedness activities
  • zoning and land development
  • flood insurance
• Use of risk to inform decisions regarding levee system management
  • type and frequency of inspections
  • operation and maintenance activities
  • options for improvements
• Use of risk to inform decisions related to both
  • Desired level of flood risk reduction (e.g. levee height)

b.       Who decides?

• Identify the roles and responsibilities
  • regarding asset (levee infrastructure) management
  • regarding emergency management
  • regarding land use

14:40    Discussion on decision making for levee systems management

15:00    Close of session

For more information visit the Special Session Hub. To access this page, you will need to be registered online. If you haven't done so yet, please Register Now Here. 

As sponsors and exhibitors to previous FLOODrisk conferences, in Oxford, Rotterdam and Lyon, we are contacting you to invite you to once again support the 2020 edition of the conference that will take place virtually from 22nd to 24th June 2021.

FLOODrisk2020 will focus on science and practice for an uncertain future. The conference will relate to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recently adopted by the UN (2016) and to the Sendai agreement on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and, habitually for all FLOODrisk conferences, we are committed to the EU-Directive on Flood Risk Assessment and Management.

But above all this edition of the conference is committed to attract, coach and listen to the next generation of scientists and practitioners who will future-proof our research methods and help to improve our flood risk management practice in order to better cope with deep uncertainty.

 We are looking specifically for support from the following organisations:

• providers of new technologies for monitoring and exploiting big and real-time data 
• developers of new methods for risk analysis and decision support
• specialists of practical guidance for building resilience or gradual adaptation into the future
• experts in the management of transition of flood risk management policies

As the conference takes place virtually, we are expecting visitors from even more varied countries (30 different countries in the past).

There are number of packages available to support the conference (see https://floodrisk2020.net/how-to-become-a-sponsor-or-exhibitor/) or we are happy to discuss a specific idea that you may have to help us make this conference a success. 

You can view the virtual exhibition hall already in motion right now on https://hub.floodrisk2020.net/exhibition/.

You will see from this page, that we have programmed video presentations from our sponsors and exhibitors during the live opening plenary session and during each of the lunch breaks. This would be a great opportunity for you to present your work to FLOODrisk2020 delegates.