Research reputation hots up with €1m climate change grant

RESEARCHERS at the University of Hull are seeking to improve climate change forecasts as part of a European-wide research project which has received funding of €1m (£700,000).

The team of environmental researchers, led by Dr Stuart McLelland and Prof Dan Parsons of the Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, has been awarded funding to carry out research as part of the €10m EU-funded HYDRALAB+ project.

The University of Hull’s Total Environment Simulator (TES) at The Deep in Hull will figure strongly in the project, which will see 23 other European centres of research excellence work together over the next four years to improve predictions about how rivers, estuaries and coasts respond to environmental change.

 

Prof Parsons said: “The project will utilise the particular strengths and expertise at specialist facilities throughout Europe to develop new techniques and protocols to improve how climate change is modeled and its impacts forecasted. 

 

“In Hull’s case, we have access to the Total Environment Simulator, one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment for modelling the effects of flows and waves levels under different environmental conditions.”

 

The TES is widely regarded as one the of world’s foremost experimental facilities for modeling the dynamics of fluid and sediment transfer under a wide range of environmental conditions. 

 

With a large flume tank and apparatus to control the movement of water and sediment, it is able to simulate a wide variety of conditions, including storms and floods.

 

The award of the research grant is the latest success for the Department of Geography,Environment and Earth Sciences, which was recently listed among the top 200 places to study the subject in the world. The importance of the TES as a world-class research facility was also recognised recently with a £150,000 upgrade. 

 

Dr David Richards, pro-vice chancellor for research and enterprise, added: “This is very important research that will help governments around the world to make vital decisions as the impact of climate change is felt.

 

“Hull’s central role in the project recognises the pioneering research being carried at the University in the field of environmental science and climate change studies.”