Research and Innovation
Building resilience in coastal communities
Climate change is increasing the risks of flooding and erosion around the UK coastline. In some places, these risks overlap with historic landfill and contaminated land. Queen Mary leads the Resilience of Anthropocene Coasts and Communities programme, a £2.9 million UKRI and Defra-funded project examining these connected risks. More than 1,700 historic coastal landfill sites and around 3,000 hectares of contaminated land could be exposed to flooding or erosion, while almost half of legacy waste sites are located within 100 metres of environmentally sensitive areas.
Led by Professor Kate Spencer and Dr Andy Russell, the programme brings Queen Mary researchers together with Defra, the Environment Agency, local authorities, coastal partnerships, communities and research partners to participate directly in co-operative planning for climate-change disasters and risks. The partnership identifies where flooding, erosion and contamination risks are greatest and co-develops practical responses to improve the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems.
The programme also informs and supports local and regional government in climate-risk monitoring and planning by providing evidence on where risks are concentrated and how they may evolve. Its outputs include a Community Atlas, decision-support resources, and an Intervention Toolkit and Training Programme designed to support future coastal planning and risk management.
Earlier Queen Mary research in this area has already informed Defra, contributed to waste-management guidance, and influenced shoreline-management practice in Essex, South Suffolk and the Thames Estuary, demonstrating how Queen Mary evidence is used to support government decision-making on climate-related coastal risks.
Helping Sierra Leone predict floods and droughts
In 2024, Queen Mary’s Digital Environment Research Institute began working with Sierra Leone’s Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation to strengthen government planning for climate-related floods and droughts.
This collaboration is a direct example of co-operative planning for climate-change disasters with government. Queen Mary and the Government of Sierra Leone are working together to use satellite observations, data science and machine learning to analyse rainfall distribution and intensity and develop predictive models for floods and droughts. The resulting tools are intended to inform and support government in climate-risk early warning and monitoring, helping decision-makers anticipate extreme weather events and improve disaster preparedness, response, climate adaptation and agricultural planning.
By combining Queen Mary’s technical expertise with government decision-making, the partnership supports co-operative climate-disaster planning and the use of early-warning and monitoring evidence to reduce climate risk for communities.
Bringing climate evidence into Parliament
In September 2024, Queen Mary environmental scientist Dr Andy Russell began his role as the UK Parliament’s Thematic Research Lead for Climate and Environment, helping to inform and support government and Parliament with research evidence on climate and environmental risks. In December 2024, Dr Russell contributed to the House of Commons Library briefing What was agreed at COP29?, providing parliamentarians with evidence on climate finance, emissions reduction, adaptation and resilience following the UN climate conference.
Through his Parliamentary role, he has also worked with the Environmental Audit Committee, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Energy Security and Net Zero Committee and the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, while supporting the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and parliamentary library researchers. This creates a direct route for climate-risk evidence, monitoring and research to inform parliamentary scrutiny and policy development.
Dr Russell combines this role with Queen Mary research on climate risk, flooding, coastal change and adaptation policy, strengthening the flow of evidence from research into government decision-making on climate risks.
Using nature to build resilience to floods and droughts
In 2024, Queen Mary collaborated with environmental NGOs including the National Trust, Rewilding Britain and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, alongside the Environment Agency and University of Sussex, to examine how rewilding and changes in land use can affect flooding and drought.
The collaboration reviewed more than 100 studies to assess how restoring natural processes and landscapes can reduce climate-related flood and drought risks. By combining Queen Mary’s research expertise with the conservation and land-management experience of these NGOs, the work strengthens the evidence available for nature-based climate adaptation and helps organisations apply these approaches in practice.
Climate adaptation, migration and food security
Climate resilience is also shaped by migration, household finances and access to food. Professor Kavita Datta co-leads Queen Mary’s contribution to Remitting for Resilience, a three-year international research programme examining how migrant remittances can contribute to food security and climate adaptation.
Queen Mary leads the UK-Zimbabwe workstream, looking at how money, goods and other support sent by migrants can help households and communities respond to climate and food-security pressures. The project also considers how these flows could support adaptation strategies that are more equitable and responsive to gender differences.
Bringing culture and Indigenous knowledge into climate action
Through People’s Palace Projects, Queen Mary collaborates with Indigenous community organisations and cultural NGOs to connect Indigenous knowledge, environmental education and climate resilience.
In 2024, the From the Ashes initiative worked with Indigenous associations in Brazil’s Upper Xingu, community-based non-governmental organisations representing and supporting Indigenous peoples whose territories are increasingly affected by drought, fire and deforestation.
The initiative combined public education, cultural engagement and fundraising to raise awareness of the climate pressures facing Indigenous communities and support organisations working to protect their territories, cultural practices and resilience to environmental change.
This forms part of People’s Palace Projects’ longer-term collaboration with Indigenous and cultural organisations, bringing community knowledge and lived experience into wider discussions about climate adaptation and environmental justice.
Working together on climate adaptation
In 2024, Queen Mary researchers worked with environmental NGOs including the National Trust, Rewilding Britain and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, alongside the Environment Agency and University of Sussex, to investigate how rewilding and landscape restoration can strengthen climate adaptation to floods and droughts.
The National Trust, Rewilding Britain and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust are charitable environmental organisations working on conservation, land management and ecosystem restoration. The collaboration reviewed evidence from more than 100 studies to assess how restoring natural processes and changing land use can improve resilience to flooding and drought. This project strengthens the evidence available for nature-based climate adaptation and helps translate research into approaches that can be applied by organisations managing landscapes and ecosystems.