Dr Ed Rollason

Assistant Professor

Department: Geography and Environmental Sciences

I am an interdisciplinary geographer interested in the management of water and river catchments, and concepts centred around community participation in environmental decision-making and resilience.

I have previously lectured at Teesside University, where I designed and delivered the physical geography components of the BSc Geography programme. I have taught across a broad range of topics including fluvial geomorphology and river management, Geographical Information Systems, and Water Management.

I also have a background in environmental consultancy, having worked for a number of years at Jacobs Engineering at the beginning of my career as a flood risk management specialist. I continue to work closely with water and flood management practitioners to develop my research.

My doctoral research explored community participation in catchment and river management and flood risk, exploring how people can be better integrated into the practices of flood risk management. I continue these research themes and am currently working on a Defra funded project exploring the reconceptualisation of Sustainable Drainage Systems as agents of urban development. Alongside this work I have also recently published papers on Interbasin Water Transfer, and I continue to develop research in this area.

A am currently an independent member of the Northumbria Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (NRFCC) where I have a remit for community and resilience activities. I also serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Flood Risk Management.

Email Ed

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research sits at the intersection of physical and human geography and is primarily focused on citizen participation in water management, with a particular interest in flooding and flood management. I draw from a broad range of methods from numerical modelling and traditional physical field research to participatory action research.

In particular I am interested in:

The role of people in catchment and river management
The development of flood resilience at a community level
The development of more inclusive and participatory practices of environmental decision-making and management
Sustainability, participation, and power in large-scale water management schemes

Key Publications

The Tri-Service Food Insecurity Study, Kiernan, M., Tomietto, M., Johnson, A., Serra, G., King, H., Rollason, E. 8 Feb 2024
Establishing a statement of principles for community engagement with civil engineering, Bell, S., Boyle, E., Canton, J., Khan, Z., Quinn, R., Rollason, E., Tully, K., Ward, S., Xavier, P. 1 Aug 2022, In: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Civil Engineering
Interbasin water transfer in a changing world: a new conceptual model, Rollason, E., Sinha, P., Bracken, L. 1 Jun 2022, In: Progress in Physical Geography
A new framework for integrated, holistic, and transparent evaluation of inter-basin water transfer schemes, Sinha, P., Rollason, E., Bracken, L., Wainwright, J., Reaney, S. 15 Jun 2020, In: Science of the Total Environment
Evaluating the success of public participation in integrated catchment management, Rollason, E., Bracken, L., Hardy, R., Large, A. 15 Dec 2018, In: Journal of Environmental Management
Rethinking flood risk communication, Rollason, E., Bracken, L., Hardy, R., Large, A. 1 Jul 2018, In: Natural Hazards
The importance of volunteered geographic information for the validation of flood inundation models, Rollason, E., Bracken, L., Hardy, R., Large, A. 1 Jul 2018, In: Journal of Hydrology

Current and Recent Projects

Pilot Project - Exploring community vulnerability and risk exposure, and the means of building ‘whole society resilience’ on Teesside, Rollason, E. (Principal Investigator), Hartlepool Borough Council, 01/03/22 - 31/08/22, £24,645.00

PGR Supervision

Sadiksha Chauhan Improved monitoring of hydrological extremes using low earth orbit small satellites. Start Date: 01/03/2025
Purnima Acharya Citizens as sensors? Integrating the Role of People in Flood Risk Mapping and Modelling. Start Date: 01/10/2022