Merry Christmas from FRM

T'was a week before Christmas, when all through FRM

Not a student was stirring, not even the Bangladesh men.

Our thesis topics had been sent to little Delft with care,

In hopes that our very own Biswa would allocate them there.

The students were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of published theses in peer-reviewed journals danced in their heads.

In cold Ljubljana, in more layers than Shristi were we wrapped,

We settled down for our evening siesta - or 'night-time nap'.

With a sense that, across Europe, academic keyboards had begun to clatter,

We sprang to our non-UNESCO laptops to see what was the matter.

Away to our IHE emails we went with only mild fears of horror.

Before closing our decent browser and opening Internet Explorer.

(Why, oh why does UNESCO email require the most outdated of browsers?

As comfortable to use as the Barca metro, in summer, in trousers).

And in my inbox, to my wonder, what should appear,

But a festive email from our Biswa, from whom we love to hear.

In the following email seconds later, this time remembering the attachment (!),

We nervously anticipated the thesis news we presume had been sent. 

With CC's flying before our eyes,

Biswa called the faithful lectures, who on our theses will advise.

"Now, Katya! Now, Bernhofer! Now, Leo and Dimitri!

On, Schalk! On, Allen! On, Vicente and Brilly!

We must inform our chosen thesis students - send out your call!
Now mail away, mail away, mail away all!"

With Biswa's rousing speech, we heard staff keyboards tinkle

"Oh, I hope for an Uncertainty-heavy topic" dreamt Nilay " - more than a sprinkle!"

But little could our dreaming minds truly know,

Which topic would, to our inboxes, flow!

We woke to the sound Patricia always hears and always likes:

Fiesta? Siesta? No, of course it was Skype.

"Hello student, your pal Biswa here:
The thesis! It's sorted! See you in the New Year!"

We spoke not a word, as we were over the moon.

The perfect thesis awarded - oh, February 10th, please come soon!

It may have felt a long, arduous and tricky road,

But Biswa had delivered, despite the vast workload.

And as we next lay our heads to enter for-once worry-free slumber,

I swear I heard Biswa, his words I could name to a number:

"Merry Thesis to all, I look forward to the wonders that you write.
And:

 Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night"

Photograph from Shristi

Poem by Clement Clark Moore/Richard Vause

Welcome to Ljubljana

As well experienced country hoppers, the next move of the Flood Risk Management crew to Ljubljana, Slovenia, was the smoothest move yet. Enthusiasm for new adventures may have weaned a little as we bid farewell to beautiful Barcelona, but, as we settle into life in Ljubljana, there is a brimming anticipation of the new experiences we will gain.

In our 'woollies' enjoying Ljubljana's festivities

Given the short time we will spend here - a mere two months - housing was an initial concern, with the fear of living in a hostel loomed large. However, the good landlords of Ljubljana came to the rescue and within a few days the whole class had managed to find decent accommodation. We were definitely off to a good start!

The first word on everyone’s lips was how freezing cold Ljubljana was. Brrr... We had grown used to balmy evenings at the tapas bars in Barcelona and were rudely awaken with snow and sub-zero temperatures in Ljubljana. Time to resurrect those Dresden winter woollies!

Our stay in Ljubljana will be the shortest yet with a semester of only 2 months. Factor in some hard-earned Christmas holidays and time will truly fly. With that in mind, we made the decision to “hit the ground running” and quickly establish ourselves in the Slovenian capital. With the essentials of internet, yet another new SIM card sorted and getting to grips with the city buses, it was time to turn our attention to our studies in Slovenia.

The University of Ljubljana will be our new base as we settle into classes on socio-economic assessment and spatial planning for flood protection. Ljubljana’s focus is more on the social aspects of flood risk management and the classes should prove interesting as we study a new dimension of our discipline. So far, three days into our classes, the university has proved to be impressively organised, with our “hit the ground running” attitude evident here too. Classes will be taken by several lecturers from across the social sciences and will be assessed with a mixture of written examinations and group project work. Hopefully the teamwork skills we developed in Barcelona will stand us in good stead.

The Ljuljanica river in all of  it's festive glory

But what of the other aspects of our new home? Surely there is more than just our studies? As the welcome words from our new head of department encouraged us, it was time to to make the most of the festive spirit in Ljubljana. The city’s centre is a winter-wonderland of Christmas lights, snow covered bridges and delicious kuhano vino (cooked wine) keeping the swarms of locals and tourists warm. Three of the class have landed an amazing apartment overlooking the picturesque city centre; undoubtedly this will be the new FRM hang-out house: Maria, Nilay and Ryanne prepare for lots of visitors!

We are also hoping to integrate into Ljubljana student life by getting involved in University sports and joining the local Erasmus network. With the great friendships made on our travels so far, we are eager to continue this trend on our final leg. Also, despite time being short, it would be nice to see some of the region - no doubt, our international high-flyer Duc will lead the way!

As the taught part of the course reaches its final months, the quest to find a suitable thesis topic is looming large. Given the great diversity of the student backgrounds and the number of universities involved, finding thesis topics to satisfy everyone was always going to be a complex task. Very fortunately, the universities have granted us great freedom and support in pursuing theses with other institutions and organisations. As the negotiation process continues, we all look forward to confirming our both our thesis topics and partners before getting stuck into some research.

Regardless, Ljubljana is set to be significantly different to anything we have experienced so far in terms of culture, climate and academic focus. Time is short and we have lots to learn, but we enjoy a challenge. So far, so good. Ljubljana bring it on!

by

Anthony Grady

Adios to Barcelona!

The UPC campus in December- we'll miss weather like this!

It has long been accepted that the passage of time is constant, but after our three months in Barcelona I think it would be fair to challenge this assumption. As we woke up from some of our final siestas, it was apparent that our three months in the heart of Catalunya had flown by. After tonnes of tapas, stacks of sangria and frequent fiestas, our time in Spain was drawing to an end.

But not before we had been assessed. In keeping with the Spanish way of life (ask Patricia), our at UPC was very relaxed, with much independence given to us in the completion of our assessments. With two group assignments and two group presentations set, we were given deadlines in the final week for each.

The FRM group bidding farewell to our
UPC lecturers over a few beers

Accordingly the emphasis was placed on independent and self-motivated study to a far greater extent than in the earlier parts of our course. I think it would be fair to say that each one of us learnt a lot about our style of teamwork, time management and planning, with (hopefully) an all-round successful outcome reached for all of us!

After the hard work of our final weeks, it seemed fitting to relax and say goodbye to our lecturers. Again, we chose to do so in keeping with the Spanish way of life: through a few beers and lively conversation. Well attended by the class and lecturers alike, we took a lot of pleasure in learning a bit more about each other (congratulations on the forthcoming third child ‘Big Daddy’ Brian! Note, Richard makes a great boys name…), our opinions of Spain over the past three months and to say farewell properly.

Leaving drinks with our new Erasmus Mundus friends

Also, during our studies in Barcelona we found ourselves in a Coastal Risk Management class with a number of other Erasmus Mundus students (from a course with an official website, but without a student-run blog, if you can believe such a thing exists). These students had also spent the past six months in Delft – unbeknownst to us – and, we found significant comfort and enjoyment in our shared experiences. Therefore Barcelona was also a significant time of new friendships and it was with heavy hearts we bid goodbye to our new Erasmus Mundus pals. But fortunately, for a those of us selected to write their thesis in Holland at UNESCO-IHE, they will be reunited with our new friends as they complete their own thesis. International Erasmus Mundus friendships at their very best.

It was then time to pack up for one more time and board our transport to our next stop, and final destination as a total group of 18, Ljubljana. Due to the high prices of flights from Barcelona to Ljubljana (or anywhere near Slovenia!), bus was the mode of transport chosen by most of us. As a 23 hour journey, it was as ‘interesting’ as expected so please return soon to hear about our arrival and first impressions of our new Slovenian home.

by 

Richard Vause

Working in the Pressure Cooker in Rotterdam

By title, we are a group of Flood Risk Managers. Accordingly, when the news of an event organised as part of the Rotterdam Flood Risk conference for students interested in Flood Risk and related subjects was brought to our attention, there was significant interest from the members of our course. The student event in question was the ‘24hour Pressure Cooker’, in which 20 students were split into groups, locked in a room for 24 hours and left to work on a flood-related serious game. This may not sound entirely desirable, but it was actually an event that many of the course were interested in attending, especially since we were given a free week in our Barcelona class schedule to encourage our attendance.

After a thorough application process, six members of the course were selected to attend the event, which also gave us an excuse to return to our previously beloved Delft. After a day of acclimatising to the much colder, wetter Dutch weather (Barcelona was still experiencing gorgeous weather!) and catching up with friends and staff at UNESCO-IHE, we were off to Rotterdam for the Pressure Cooker. Meeting at a ferry port, we were transported to an industrial island in the harbours of Rotterdam – there was literally no escape from this event for the next 24 hours.

Upon our arrival, we six students from the Flood Risk Management (2011-13) batch were extremely pleased to meet another selected student from the Flood Risk Management (2012-14) batch! Daria, a Russian student that we can only assume is a direct equivalent of our own Maria, confirmed that the future of the FRM course is in capable hands. The six seven of us were then split into six groups to focus on one of three topics: Stakeholder participation in Bangkok, Innovative use of Dike-breach data and Dike reinforcement using vegetation. Our challenge was then to create the concept of a serious game (defined as a virtual or physical game designed to educate those who play) on the above topics over a sleepless night. 24 hours of work culminated in a pitch (performed still with no sleep) in front of leading industry officials from a number of European consultancies.

The room in which we worked in overnight as
part of the 24 hour pressure cooker.

It was a rewarding experience in which I am sure all of us learnt a lot about how we work in a team and under pressure. And on limited sleep. And on a diet formed mostly of bread-based food. After tough assessment of our pitches and concepts, the judges selected the serious game that they felt had the greatest potential. After much tension building on the final stage, a team containing two of our very own FRM students (Lydia and Shristi) were selected, being awarded their prize of shiny iPads. All participants of the event and the professionals involved in judging were quick to congratulate on the manner and magnitude of the groups success. And it was a brilliant moment to see FRM represented - especially since the final pitch upon which the games were assessed was given fantastically by our Shristi.

The pressure cooker also provided us with free entry to the Flood Risk 2012 conference in Rotterdam, providing us with the opportunity to hear the cutting-edge research from the field of flood risk. Also, it gave many of us an opportunity to try and chase up a thesis topic, with mixed success. The conference and it's participants proved a pleasant ending to an intense 48 hours, with our efforts rewarded with much respect given by the professionals that we met. Hopefully our future lives in Flood Risk Management will prove to be less intense than the Pressure Cooker event and our trip to Holland, but hopefully it may also prove to be as rewarding and beneficial.

By

Richard Vause

An array of academic activities

The life of an Erasmus Mundus student brings a variety of social opportunities - festivals, holidays and more. However, this post, aims to highlight another opportunity handed to us: the breadth of academic insights we receive. Through differing teaching styles, course structures and even physical environments, we are given the opportunity to open our minds wider and wider, broadening our academic background.

In addition to the everyday academic diversity we encounter, we frequently experience even greater diversity through the numerous opportunities to attend conferences, seminars, PhD defences and more in the institutes in which we study. Our most recent  opportunity was to attend a research seminar at UPC only last week from Dr. Carlo Gregoretti, titled “Monitoring Debris Flow in North Eastern Italy”. With impressive visualisation of concepts, his talk acted as a useful introduction to a topic (Debris Flows) that we have newly encountered in Barcelona.

Similarly, whilst at UNESCO-IHE we had the opportunity to attend a PhD (Multi-Objective Optimization for Urban Drainage Rehabilitation by Wilmer Jose Barreto Cordero) and a Master (Flood Characteristics of the Haor Area in Bangladesh and the Potential Effects of Climate Change by Asadusjjaman Suman) defence. Talks such as these give us the opportunity to gain insight into the future for our studies!

At UNESCO-IHE a seminar was held discussing “How Flood risk can promote social justice”, highlighting the significance of social aspects of flood risk management. The seminar provided a differing perspective from much of our studies, raising our awareness of the fact that deeper social and philosophical considerations must be taken in order to formulate appropriate strategies for flood-related disasters globally. With the views of co-ordinator Zoran Vojinovic, honorary fellows of UNESCO-IHE Dr. Cunge, Professor Mike Abbott and Professor J.P O’Kane, the seminar proved a refreshing academic experience for all in attendance.

FRM students talking to Dr. Gopal at the Intecol Conference

As discussed previously, during our Florida fieldtrip we were given the opportunity to attend the INTECOL Wetlands Conference, the globes premier wetlands meeting. The opportunity to meet numerous academics and interact with a tight-knit academic community was a new experience for many of the course and gave the perfect introduction to the world of an academic. In fact, whilst at the Wetlands conference, I was able to meet a professor (Dr. Gopal) who had contributed the leading research in Ecology science and a frequently reoccurring name in my own personal research for my own ecology paper on tropical wetlands whilst at TU Dresden. As with most of the academics we were lucky enough to meet at the conference, Dr Gopal’s words and insights served as motivation for many of us to enter the world of research in the future.

As students under the course title of ‘Hydroinformatics’ at UNESCO-IHE, when the opportunity to attend a Hydroinformatics conference in Hamburg arose, a few of us (those most interested in the field) took the opportunity with welcome hands. The conference took a special focus on the impact of climate and environmental changes on aquatic environments and the development of suitable adaptation and mitigation measures. During our attendance, Prof. Dimitri Solomatine, the head of Hydroinformatics at UNESCO-IHE, helped us to appreciate the importance of attending such conferences to enhance our knowledge and become familiar with the latest research. And this, in fact, is true of all of the above seminars, conferences and talks – it is these opportunities that can really broaden our academic experiences. This will hopefully prove invaluable in developing ideas for our own masters research and beyond. So I guess we should probably be off for some literature reviewing!

Hydroinformatics participants with UNESCO staff: Professor Dimitri Solamatine (left) and Dr Popescu and Dr Jonoski
Special thanks must go to Dimitri for his help organising the attendance of the students at the conference.

by Nilay Dogulu

¡Hola Barcelona!

Having reached halfway of this masters marathon, the month of holiday in August came as a welcome break to our tired bodies and minds. For most, this involved travelling to our respective home countries to replenish ourselves by catching up with family and friends, filling up on all our favourite foods, daytime soap operas and simple delights such as being able to read signposts, while also having some time to take stock of the whirlwind of a year we have had. For others, their travelling experiences continued as they took the opportunity to venture even further across Europe and beyond. As if we hadn't had enough travelling as it was.

At the beginning of September it was yet again time to pack our entire lives into suitcases and boxes, find accommodation and begin our next adventure in the beautiful city of Barcelona. As a tourist destination, this was definitely the city we were most looking forward to visiting. And I can tell you now, it has not disappointed. Barcelona is a city teeming with culture, amazing architecture, festivals and music, with the added bonus of incredible weather and beaches! It is also steeped in history and the people here take enormous pride in both their region Catalonia and, of course, the famous Barcelona Football Club.

Castells, a truly Catalan construction

Thus far, the highlight of our stay has been the festival of ‘La Mercè’. This festival took place a week after a festival campaigning for Catalonian independence from Spain and only two weeks before that there was another festival in our local area of Les Corts... for no particular reason! The Spanish really do love to party and they know how to do it well! ‘La Mercè’ celebrates the Roman Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Mercy - the patron saint of the city. A jam-packed schedule included; free concerts, circus acts, the building of 'castells' (human towers), a fire-music-fireworks parade known as 'Correfoc', more free concerts and the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen to finish off the celebrations. It was a truly magical weekend!

But of course, the reason we have the privilege of enjoying these marvellous experiences is ultimately to become flood risk managers. Therefore, it was with fresh brains that we began our studies in Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) under the guidance of Prof. Allen Bateman. After some inevitable registration and logistical confusion that seems to follow us everywhere we go, we eventually returned our noses to the grindstone. The courses here have been carefully planned so as not to overlap with any material we covered in either Dresden or Delft. This has led to a diverse and interesting timetable with numerous new concepts and approaches being taught. Our classes here cover; drought management, debris flow and flash flood risk, coastal risk management and the use of radar in flood early warning systems. A key feature of our work at UPC will be that all of our grades will be based on continuous assessments - projects or presentations completed in groups or individually, depending on the subject. This allow a more practical and application based approach to be taken to the subjects, accounting for us only spending 3 months here.

A major academic issue,burning a hole in the minds of the entire class, is the upcoming selection of thesis topics. Our first preliminary list of topics has just been received and makes for a very ‘thought provoking’ read.  So, just as we settle into our lives in Barcelona we are already looking forward to the future with curiosity, wonderment and only a mild sense of dread! It seems to be the FRM lifestyle!

by Siobhan Gleeson

The social-side of Delft

Inbetween the academic adventures of Delft, outlined in the previous post, there had been an increased social activity in our lives post-Florida. After the fieldtrip we had developed a much tighter bond as a course (hey, when you are sharing insect-repellent spray and killing each other’s cockroaches, you tend to develop a special bond), a fact that we looked to make the most of. Immediately upon our return to Holland, the European Football Championships were kicking-off, which saw the European contingent to support their respective nations. By the end, we had grown tired of Patricia’s Spain’s dominance and took great comfort in the “efforts” of the Irish faction (1, 2 and 3). All alongside Kate’s pride in her very own Poland hosting the whole event! But, when the time came we all fell behind Ryanne’s Dutch team and it was with disappointment that we witnessed their premature exit.

Surrogate Netherland fans, watching them play on a canal boat - does it get more Dutch?

And the football-fever was only increased when the annual UNESCO-IHE football tournament came around. After a brief gauging of opinion, abilities and, most importance, numbers, it was decided that aHydroinformatics team – compromising of our own FRM players and our coursemates from IHE’s

'HydroWINformatics' - a team that did us proud.
(Only missing our star centre-back Duc)

Hydroinformatics course. Thus, the 'HydroWINformatics' team was born. Compromising of 14 ‘able’ players, we entered the tournament with low expectations, the goal to just have some fun. With some players playing competitively for the first time, we most definitely had some fun and thanks to a tight defence that only leaked a single goal in four games, we managed to come second in our league, only losing out on goal difference! A tremendous time was had by all and we were all very proud of the efforts put in. The gauntlet has been lay down for next year’s FRM participants – reach the final or face eternal shame!

'Spike by DHI' - captained & trained by Katya

Continuing the theme of FRM sports, when the UNESCO-IHE beach volleyball tournament came around it seemed only fitting to enter a FRM team. With a few players, again, learning to play the sport for the  first time during the tournament, the focus was, again, just to have some fun, but, again, we ended up doing quite well. In the end, we finished in third place overall, a position to be proud of (take note next year's FRM group...). This time our chosen team name (‘Spike by DHI’ – a pun on ‘spiking’ in volleyball and our often used software package ‘MIKE by DHI’. Get it?) did not receive a positive reception, met mostly by confusion and indifference. Regardless, we had a fantastic time, impressively supported by our classmates.

In addition to sporting fun, we were also lucky enough to witness one of the themed UNESCO-IHE social nights, this time taking us on a cultural tour of Asia! FRM was represented solely by Shristi, performing a traditional Nepali dance as if she was a professional dancer, not an engineer!  Followed by a night of Asian and world dancing at the disco, fuelled by Asian cuisine and Dutch beer, a rip-roaring time was had by all. 

A celebration of Asia at UNESCO-IHE!

And, less formally, in the fine weather that occasionally visited Delft, we held a number of barbecues, bike rides and made the most of the ever-dwindling time that we had together in the city. It was these moments that really gave us the best opportunity to explore the city of Delft and to finally say goodbye before a month of holidays in August and, then, the beginning of Chapter III: Barcelona.

The final push in Delft

Post-Florida and pre-holidays, our time in Delft flew and, before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to Delft. The two months in June and July saw us follow two courses at UNESCO-IHE – Flood Risk Management and Hydroinformatics for Decision Support Systems. These two months also saw us experience some good Dutch weather (and, admittedly  also some terrible Dutch weather), which we lapped-up willingly, so please refer to the following post that it wasn't all work and no play!

As the namesake of our entire masters, the Flood Risk Management course was one that had always held special resonance in the schedule. Having also undertaken a course of the same name in Dresden, it was of interest to see the difference in approaches from the two institutes. The course in Dresden took a very holistic approach, covering a wide-base of the entire Flood Risk Management spectrum – from insurance and legal frameworks to spatial planning and social vulnerability studies, the Dresden course was deemed to be the pinnacle of our studies in Germany, providing a fantastic insight into the field. All thanks must go to Dr Katya Siemens, Dr Jochen Schanze and the numerous guest-speakers. At UNESCO-IHE, the FRM module took an approach much more focussed on the modelling and data-manipulation used in flood risk management. With consideration of Early Warning Systems, and the creation of models to produce such warnings, spatial depth-damage curves and more, the course took a more specialised approach to flood risk management. Which was good if you liked computer and models.

The Decision Support Systems module provided a first experience of a new field for the class: using computer programs and set methodologies to help make better and more informed decisions. Having already gained experience in the principles behind such concepts as Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), it was of interest to see how computer programs could be used to formalise these procedures and facilitate more effective decision making. In addition to some very complicated website design/programming, excel macro-writing and, essentially, economics it was time to say goodbye to our academic life in Delft. It had been a hard ride, not a single member of the course was under delusions otherwise, but a ride in which a lot had been learnt.

The entire Delft group: Academic staff, Hydroinformatics students,
FRM students at the organised leaving party

To read about the social-side of our times in Holland, please check out the following post.

by Richard Vause

Florida Fieldtrip May 2012

It may be tardy, but maybe that is representative of how crazy the past five months have been! When you left us after the last post we were sat in our optional modules, pondering the intricacies of urban flood modelling and river basin modelling. The then near-future, the now recent-past, has seen us travel to Florida, follow three more modules at UNESCO-IHE, return home for a month of holidays (or travel for the more adventurous amongst us) and spend a month studying at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona. But before tales of the present are regaled, let us bring you up to speed with some of the experiences from the missing past five months! Beginning with our Florida fieldtrip.

Well, where do you begin? Upon acceptance of our scholarship, the of an international fieldtrip had us excited and after the announcement of over two weeks in Florida, our anticipation rarely dropped below the ‘very excited’ level.

The fieldtrip began back in Holland, when law students from the University of South Florida joined us at UNESCO-IHE for lectures covering the environmental and legal issues facing the state. It was an insightful introduction and the opportunity to meet our host in Florida, The Florida EarthFoundation’s Stan Bronson. With the promises of the time of our lives from Stan fixed steadily in our minds we embarked on the flight over the pond. With only mild visa issues (obviously, there were still some, but these appear to be inevitable on this course).

The trip started in Tampa Bay, as we spent time with the Patel School of Global Sustainability as part of the University of South Florida. Welcomed with exceptionally generous hosting (breakfasts, juices, packed lunches, t-shirts, pens and more!), we were introduced to the recently-established school, it’s work and motivations, whilst taken on a number of site visits and trips.

Next, it was onto West Palm Beach, where we were staying for our longest stretch, in beautifully stereotypical American-motel-style halls of residence. Whilst here, we were the guests of the South Florida WaterManagement District, which saw us receiving numerous lectures, workshops, tours and site visits. The emphasis placed on research at a water management district was both a pleasant surprise and enlightening, with some impressive innovation throughout the field of water management being achieved (through novel modelling, data sourcing, management and other approaches).

After our time in West Palm Beach, with the SFWMD, we were onto Orlando and Disneyland for the Intecol International Wetlands Conference, where we were the willing guests of the United States Geological Survey USGS). For many of the course this was our first experience of an academic conference and the opportunity to step into a tight, international and innovative community was eye-opening and inspiring.

(Almost) The whole group in Florida, including our main man Stan Bronson in the centre!

It was then our time to head home, back to Delft massively jet-lagged and in a varying spectrum of tans/sunburns. Obviously, there was a lot of socialising, partying, beach-fun, travelling and assorted relaxation activities throughout the evenings and weekends and these are too numerous to mention here.

For more information of our social antics, more detailed descriptions of our activities with the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel School, SFWMD and the USGS, please see our day-to-day diary. Written by a different student every day, it provides a detailed insight into the trip from a variety of perspectives. I would recommend reading Saturday 26th May, as it was written by myself and Siobhan and we are hilarious.

Here is the fieldtrip diary. For ease of reading, I would recommend opening the report in the following link:  Florida Fieldtrip

It must be noted that, despite being a group project, significant work was put in by Katarzyna Bozek to actually compile, format and edit the diaries! Much kudos sent your way.

On behalf of all the students, I would love to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to all of our hosts in Florida from the Florida Earth Foundation, The Patel School, SWFMD and the USGS and to all the amazing individuals we met in our time in the USA. Also, thanks must go to Biswa, Schalk and Leo from UNESCO-IHE for agreeing to come and for putting up with us the whole time! An especially massive thank you goes to Stan Bronson and Isabella Slagle who organised everything on the trip and who made all of this possible. Thanks!

by Richard Vause

Urban Flood Modelling in Dhaka

In the latest module at UNESCO-IHE, we have been given a selection between Urban Flood Modelling and River Basin Modelling. The splitting of our course has given us the opportunity to delve deeper into the aspects of flooding that most interest us and I believe all on the course can agree that the opportunity to select a course preference has been greatly rewarding.

Flood Hazard Map
by Siobhan Gleeson

Those on the FRM course who chose the Urban Flooding route have spent a considerable time creating (surprisingly) sophisticated models of Bangladeshi floods in the city of Dhaka. The main project that we have worked on in the course's three week duration, has been the creation of a 1D-2D coupled model. This has involved taking a 1D model of an urban drainage network (created on DHI's MOUSE software) and coupling (or, in less technical terms, 'linking') it to a 2D model, representing the surface topology (using MIKE 21). The surface model was created on a highly fine resolution (2.5m) and, accordingly, is able to accurately include road recesses, and micro-topology features, such as alleyways, in addition to accurately recording buildings. With such high resolution data, the models are very accurate in their representation of reality.

After the models were ran, complex flood risk maps were created on ARC GIS and analysed (as picured). This is a process that is a key component of the EU Flood Directive's recommendations, with all EU nations agreeing to have created extensive flood risk maps by September 2013. Accordingly, the work we are doing is extremely pertinent to the flooding sector upon our graduation and is likely to be relevenent to the working world upon our graduation.

As part of these models we were also able to plot the flood event in 3D through the streets of Dhaka. The below video displays the maximum water depth for the model with both buildings and on a bare-earth model. The building model is useful to demonstrate the height of water that will impact buildings, and the maximum wave heights can be seen by the blue 'splashes' on the sides of some buildings. The bare-earth model is of use to determine which buildings will be affected by the flood event, without the disruptances of flow that buildings provide - accordingly, this is the model that we use to create our flood risk maps.


Hope you enjoyed the video. And hope you equally enjoyed its Daft Punk soundtrack.

by Richard Vause

An international fieldtrip to Florida

As part of the Erasmus Mundus Flood Risk Management course, each student is fortunate enough to be provided with a monthly scholarship, from which a proportion is automatically taken each month to contribute towards the enticingly mysterious "international fieldtrip". In Dresden, as the course commenced, the vague information fuelled much speculation about the destination for the trip - 'Asia' was mentioned, many had their hearts set on Bangladesh, whilst other were hoping for somewhere Latin American. Ultimately, I think we were all agreed on hoping that the trip wasn't to the local river at the bottom of out street in our home country!

In early 2012, the mystery was answered and our location was announced: 17 days in Florida with the rest of the Hydroinformatics group from UNESCO-IHE. A collective sigh of relief was sighed with no American students in the group and much excitement quickly ensued.

The fieldtrip is part of an existing exchange and partnership between UNESCO-IHE and a number of organisations in Florida; namely the US Geological Survey and the Florida Earth Foundation, with contributions from the University of South Florida, South Florida Water Management District and the Department of the Interior.

The fieldtrip will take place from the 23rd May until the 7th June and is now rapidly approaching. With our visas applied for from the US consulate in Amsterdam, hotel rooms booked and base-tans being sought in anything that resembles sunlight, the group are raring to go now!

An initial draft for our schedule when we are in Florida can be seen here, containing a vast number of activities and lectures at an equally vast variety of locations. We will be closing our trip by attending the 9th Intecol International Wetlands Conference in Orlando, where the group have been bestowed the responsibilities of water ambassadors. We are greatly honoured by this privilege and look forward to making the most of the opportunity presented to us. As students, we are available for sponsorship, as water ambassadors, by firms from here - organisations have been welcomed to provide sponsorship to help continue the exchange program long into the future and all interested are advised to view the previous link.

But, for now, there are 18 excited students in Delft, researching sunglasses, sandals and swimsuits.

by Richard Vause

New beginnings in Delft

On the 1st of March we began the second leg of our academic relay-race at UNESCO-IHE in Delft. We were warmly welcomed by the staff at the self-contained institute who were both efficient and charasmatic as they helped us with the tricky formalities of opening bank accounts, learning the key dutches phrases ("Dank u wel" and "Alsjeblieft" being the top ones) and more. The department were even willing to provide transport to our accommodation upon our arrival and have rent us a top-end laptop for our time here to allow us to do high-end computer modelling. All very brilliant!

FRM participants at the  UNESCO-IHE American-
European party on our first night.

And upon our arrival, it just so happened that there was a party celebrating the diverse culture of UNESCO-IHE students from across the American and European continents. After a light-hearted and entertaining cultural showcase, South American cuisine and drinks were provided in the canteen and the lunch-floor was transformed into a dance-floor. It seems to have been a very lucky day for us to have arrived and gave us a real taste of the institute and an opportunity to meet the full range of students and staff! Through this and the efforts upon our arrival, it very much felt like we were the newest addition to a small and well-functioning academic family.

After the initial preparations and a few days of acclimatising, it was straight into the academic deep-end. With our first module 'Data Driven Modelling and Real Time Control of Water Systems' we were quickly facing 7-hour days and even a set of classes on Saturday in an intense but rewarding course. But with a assignment set on our very first day we were left under no illusions that this would be a hard couple of months. This is exacerbated by UNESCO-IHE's monthly module rota in which three weeks of lectures are followed by a week of exams. This high-intensity took some time to get used to, but quickly all eighteen of us were into the swing of things with our new, magnificent Hydroinformatics coursemates and were taking a great deal from the classes.

Currently we have just finished our second module's classes and we are working on our assignments on Groundwater Modelling and Catchment Modelling, with a focus upon learning to use a variety of hydrological modelling programs. After getting to grips with MIKE SHE, MODFLOW, RIBASIM and ArcSWAT our minds were left positively brimming with modelling experience.

Next, its time for our own choice of module and preparations for our fieldtrip to Florida. Watch this space for more.

by Richard Vause

Dresden: a brief recap

It seems odd that in the first real post of the site we say 'Hello' to the site and 'Goodbye' to Dresden. After the completion of six months and the first segment of our two-year Flood Risk Management journey in Dresden, the time came for the 18 of us to move on to Delft. Before we discuss our current situation, though, it seems fitting to provide a recap of our six months in Dresden.

Dresden, and specifically the Technical University of Dresden (TUD), welcomed us with open arms back in September and thanks to catching the end of a glorious summer and a number of introductory courses, we were soon into the full swing of the course as a unified group. And, with some highly basic German language skills! Sehr gut!

With the (very) last-minute declinations of places on the course by two participants, the door to the course was opened for two reserve candidates: Siobhán and Richard from Ireland and the United Kingdom respectively. After a brief period of organisational catch-up for the newcomers, the course was up to the full compliment of 18 by mid-October. Things were not always smooth and living in one of Dresden's hostels for a month whilst arranging accommodation was, at time testing, but, in the end, we were eventually all sorted.

With the academic courses at TUD split into 'Engineers' and 'Natural Scientists' (or, arguably more accurately, 'Non-Engineers'), everyone was given the opportunity to improve upon necessary academic fields in which they had less experience to achieve a more-equal level of ability. This seemed to be more useful for the 'non-engineers'! Overall, the modules were designed to provide an introduction to hydrology and it's basic principles, providing a sold foundation of knowledge upon which to build upon for the remainder of our flood studies.

And, so after six months that included snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures, fieldtrips, social trips and much, much more, our time in Dresden was up. It was a fantastic introduction to the course and each other and I know that we would all like to thank our fellow TUD Hydro- Science and Engineering coursemates (whom we reluctantly had to leave behind) and the academic staff who lectured us.

Then, with the aid of a Polish bus, it was onwards to Delft and the new academic and personal experiences that awaited in the Netherlands.

by Richard Vause

Welcome to our world!

Hello and welcome to the world of the Erasmus Mundus Flood Risk Management Course!

On this website a wealth of information will be made available to you. We hope you will find it both useful and interesting.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the content!

Thanks,

Richard Vause
(2011-13 FRM candidate and current Webmaster)