About the lecture

In this module, we think about the societal impacts of flooding, and the role of climate change in increasing flood risk. We focus on: (i) the key negative effects of floods on people; (ii) the record floods experienced in Europe in July 2021, and the general increase in flooding across the world in recent years; (iii) how increases in average temperature associated with climate change lead to greater chance of flooding; (iv) other ways humans have increased flood risk, such as changes in land use; (v) measures to increase flood resilience, and the key steps in a flood forecasting and warning system.

About the lecturer

Dr Linda Speight is Departmental Lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Oxford. Her research is focused on flood forecasting, communication and early warning systems, and she previously served as Senior Scientist at the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service.