SuDS+ Innovation Forum Hosts First Meeting

SuDS+ held their first virtual Innovation Forum at the end of September. In addition to an update on community engagement in SuDS+ the forum also heard presentations from representatives of the Blue Heart Project taking place in East Sussex and Ripple based in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. Both projects are also trialing innovative techniques to engage residents in flooding and water science.

With different sized study areas and intended outcomes the projects created and used a variety of engagement techniques. Colleagues from the three projects, and outside agencies, compared successes and discussed solutions to parts of the engagement which could be improved.

The Innovation Forum is an ongoing process within the SuDS+ project to share learning, debate and enhance collaborative working with similar schemes. Knowledge exchange will focus on different themes which cut across the Community-Led SuDS+ and wider innovation process. The forum offers an open channel for external stakeholders – if you would like to get involved in future sessions please email eleanor.starkey@northumbria.ac.uk and caitlin.rogers@isleutilities.com.

Thank you to Dr Sarah Cotterill of University College Dublin and Dr Kate Baker of University of Exeter for being our first set of guest speakers!

Read the Ripple Report