Re-Imagining Rivers and Local Resilience Building: A Youth-Led Initiative
Flooding and river dynamics are poorly understood by the general public, yet with increasing climate change impacts, flood risk is projected to rise significantly. While the NERC EvoFlood project addresses scientific knowledge gaps on river flooding, a critical challenge remains: bridging public understanding and action on flood resilience.
This project, funded by NERC Growing Roots, established a transdisciplinary and cross-sector partnership between geoscientists, environmental educators, youth leaders and flood risk authorities. It aimed to engage young people with the science of river flooding, equip them with knowledge and empower them to take local action on flood resilience.
Co-Researcher: Katie Parsons
Jill White - Head of Operations, Girlguiding North West England.
Dr Josh Wolstenholme - Geoscientist and Natural Flood Management Specialist, Loughborough University.
This project, emerged in response from Girlguiding North West England, which sought science-based activities to include in its nationwide 'Disaster Challenge Pack'. The challenge pack team (of which Katie and Alison were involved) identified a need for activities linking climate change to local flood impacts, equipping youth with knowledge and tools for action.
Building on previous research from INSECURE, Flood Stories and Creative Conversations, this project piloted an interactive learning activity inspired by EvoFlood research. Using scientific evidence as a stimulus, participatory workshops were developed where guides explored flood risk adaptation in their local communities.
Workshops & Engagement Activities
This project ran a series of three workshops with 21 Brownies (aged 7-10) in Lancaster, North West England.
Workshop 1 - Introduction to Wriggly Rivers.
What do we know about rivers?
Using drama techniques we became rivers through movement exercises
Science experiements to explore how water flows differently down straight, bendy and wriggly river channels.
Workshop 2 - Field Trip to the River Loon - Learning in Action!
We took a guided walk with River scientist Professor Dan Parsons down the river Loon, using our senses to explore the changes.
Created a visual art representation of something that reminded us of our walk by the river
Conducted science experiments exploring how we could stop Lancaster being flooded with all our new knowledge.
Workshop 3 - Adaptation and Resilience Building
Augmented our learning so far within the themes of Risk, Ready, Respond & Recover
Played the newly developed Mucky Dip game - exploring risks in floodwater
Made 'Fortune Tellers' on what to do during a flood to keep safe
Explored the positives of water
Throughout the process, local Environment Agency staff attended and provided insights, allowing participants to engage directly with flood management professionals.
Two educational resources were co-created with the Brownies
Flooding Mucky Dip! - A hands on activity on what may be lurking underneath the dark flood waters.
Evaluation & Lessons Learned
Youth Engagement & Learning: The Brownies demonstrated increased knowledge of river systems, climate risk and disaster response planning.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The project combined scientific research, participatory education and youth leadership.
Scaling Challenges: While highly successful, the projects resource-intensive nature suggests the need for future train-the-trainer models to expand impact.
Parsons, K, J., Lloyd Williams, A., Slater, L., Wolstenholme, J., and Parsons, D. (forthcoming) Re-Imagining Rivers: A creative and immersive approach to flood education.
