Water@Edinburgh Workshop

Eddleston Water, Scottish Borders, the site of collaborative research to understand how hydrological processes affect natural flood management.

Report from Water@Edinburgh Workshop

The Water@Edinburgh workshop organised by Dr Kate Heal (School of GeoSciences) took place on 15 June 2015h in the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon and Innovation with support from GESA and CREW (the Scottish Government-funded Centre of Expertise for Waters).

The event brought together 19 water-related researchers across the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). The workshop started with presentations from diverse disciplines and Schools - Law, Engineering, GeoSciences, and SRUC. A wide variety of ongoing research at the University of Edinburgh and SRUC was presented, with examples including:

(1) the role of international law to promote equitable sharing of natural resources;(2) using algae to treat polluted effluent and produce biofuels; (3) the riparian buffer strips to reduce diffuse water pollution from agriculture and enhance biodiversity; and (4) understanding hydrological processes to improve natural flood management.

After a coffee break Kate (Heal) talked about the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) outlining the Scottish Government Hydro Nation programme, the Water Framework Directive, Drinking Water and Flood Risk as main policy areas of CREW as well as funding possibilities related to water research with CREW and the Hydro Nation Scholars Programme. The meeting finished with discussion about future plans followed by a networking session.

To find out more about future planned Water@Edinburgh networking workshops and the activities of CREW contact: