Current water resource decision support systems are either closed or custom systems: a barrier to water management and planning studies. The HYDRA software platform will address this barrier and transform the sector by creating an open and flexible software system where data management, display, user interaction, and solution engines will be standardised and shared for advanced water resource planning. It will: 1) enable rapid development and customisation of complex models that help better manage water resources, 2) enable ground-breaking applied research advances to be swiftly integrated and adopted, and 3) link science with policy making to develop appropriate solutions to water, environment and development challenges. HYDRA will enable vast gains in water security to be achieved by integrating management and strategic planning that encompasses hydrological, engineering, socio-economic and political challenges on a local to transnational scale.

Availability of knowledge of the processes, dynamics, landforms and materials of the physical landscape is vital for sustainable environmental management and for development projects, risk reduction, resource use, and future planning under scenarios of climate change. It is essential for ecological conservation and biodiversity strategies and for conservation of our landscape heritage in Britain and Northern Ireland (NI). This proposal is for the foundation stage of an ambitious project to establish an interactive website which will make existing research knowledge of the physical landscape of Britain readily accessible to end-users. It will see the development of the "Physical Landscape of Britain" website (landscapebritain.org.uk), targeted at professional end-users, which include engineering consulting companies, government agencies concerned with environmental management and conservation, and major landowners and landscape managers. The major end-user partners involved in this proposal, representative of these spheres, are: Mouchel and Halcrow companies; Natural England, The Environment Agency; and The National Trust. Geomorphology is the science that analyses how physical processes, act on the Earth's surface to create landforms and landscapes. This project is promoted by the British Society for Geomorphology (BSG) on behalf of the geomorphological research community in Britain. Much research output is not readily available to potential end-users and there is a lack of awareness of potential benefits of this knowledge. This project is designed to overcome those deficiencies. The foundation phase will build on a pilot study to develop a spatial database of information, create a digital bibliography and produce an interactive website that provides lists and a digest of existing relevant published data. This database will be searchable both textually and spatially through a web map interface. This application is for funding to enable the crucial stage of design of the website interface and database to be completed, for a usable website to be populated with information for selected major parts of Britain, and for the facility to be made available to all potential end-users. End-user partners will provide guidance on what kind of information they require, how they use the information and what are the existing gaps in knowledge and thus help to design a valuable resource, and also eventually to set the future research agenda relevant to society's needs. The project will have feedback to the academic community in increasing their awareness of the key issues and challenges being faced by end-users in environmental management and thus for academics to see how their research could help. This project will provide essential evidence for evidence-based Government policy-making and will increase effectiveness of public services and design of appropriate policy and practices by enhancing availability of knowledge of landscape processes and materials, of past changes and environmental change impacts, and occurrence of hazards as inputs to sustainable environmental management and conservation. Economic benefits will arise from reducing desk study costs and increasing awareness of geomorphological and ground conditions affecting development, as well as more effective planning of infrastructure in relation to natural hazards and likely future environmental changes. Ecological conservation requires geodiversity and the maintenance of the physical habits so geomorphology is an essential component of ecological management. The landscape heritage and enjoyment of landscape are important for a high quality of life and health so knowledge of process and evolution of landscape are fundamental to aiding interpretation and fulfilling those needs. This project aims to provide access to information, data and knowledge on the geomorphology of the British landscape to professional end-users to enable them to deliver these benefits.

Counting animals - and the number of habitats occupied by animals - is fundamental to conservation decision-making. Despite recent advances in survey design and analysis, population assessments of amphibians and reptiles almost entirely rely on simple counts that usually bear little relationship to actual population sizes, densities or the number of habitats occupied. This is because simple counts fail to take into account variations in the detectability of animals between habitats, time periods or observers. Consequently, the quality of data collected on amphibian and reptile populations is extremely variable. We have been developing and testing survey methods for assessing the population status of a variety of amphibian and reptile species, that use designs and analytical tools that take account of variations in detectability. Because of the recent growth in interest in assessing the status of protected amphibians and reptiles, we believe that the time is right to make such tools more widely available to professional end-users. We therefore seek funds from NERC to make this happen, and put amphibian and reptile population assessment on a par with other taxa that have well-defined survey standards. The stakeholders involved with the project will be statutory agencies that provide advice and licensing for protected species; local authorities responsible for planning decisions and managing local nature reserves; ecological consultants who carry out surveys and mitigation projects on behalf of developers; and conservation organisations that provide advice, training and site management on amphibian and reptile issues. The project will be divided into three phases which will be overseen by a steering group that includes principal stakeholders. Phase I will comprise a series of regional workshops that will: (1) brief regional end-users on recent developments in tools to design and analyse survey data, available software, and how these might be applied to amphibian and reptile data; and (2) seek feedback on what the current pressing issues are in population assessments, the range of methods used and their advantages and disadvantages, and potential obstacles to applying new methodologies and analyses. From these workshops we will draft new standard protocols for survey design and analysis. In Phase II of the project the draft protocols will be 'road-tested' on real survey projects being carried out by end-users. We will provide a design and analysis service for a number of such projects, and in return the end-users will provide feedback on the performance of the draft protocols. In this way, end-users will gain hands-on experience of using statistical models and new protocols. In Phase III of the project, feedback from the road-tests will lead to revised, final survey protocols that will then be disseminated via the project partner network. In addition, we will run a training workshop that will ensure that more tightly defined best practice guidelines are adopted. We therefore intend the whole process to be one of knowledge exchange - rather than just knowledge transfer. The economic impact of the project will be widespread. With several million pounds being spent on development mitigation for amphibians and reptiles, debate rages over the cost-effectiveness of such actions. The protocols that will emerge from this project will therefore allow ecological consultants to produce much more effective mitigation plans for their clients. Equally, it will strengthen the decision-making processes involved with licensing by the statutory agencies, and local authorities will be better-informed when it comes to planning issues. Managers of nature reserves will also be able to carry out more effective surveys of amphibians and reptiles which will enhance our knowledge of the regional and national status of these animals.

There is irrefutable evidence that the climate is changing. There also is strong evidence that this is largely a result of human activity, driven by our insatiable consumption of resources, growing populations, unsustainable migration patterns and rapid overdevelopment in cities that are resulting in heavy ecosystem services losses. Humankind's solutions to these problems do not always work, as many rely upon quantities of resources that simply do not exist or that could not support the rate of change that we are facing, behaviour changes that sit uneasily with our current consumption patterns and quality of life aspirations, and government policies that emphasise long-term sustainable gain but potential short-term economic loss for businesses and local people. A radical revisioning of the problem is needed, not only to reverse current trends, but also to contribute positively to the sustainability and wellbeing of the planet, now and in the future. This proposal is that radical new vision, adopting a 'whole of government' focus to the changes needed in the ways that societies live, work, play and consume, balancing social aspirations against the necessary changes, and using CO2 emissions as a proxy measurement for the harm being done to the planet and the resources (particularly energy) that we use. Through the development of a city analysis methodology; engineering design criteria for quality of life and wellbeing; engineering design criteria for low carbon pathways and; radical engineering approaches, strategies and visioning-all generated in a multidisciplinary context-we aim to deliver a range of engineering solutions that are effective in sustaining civilised life, in an affordable and socially acceptable style. Our vision is to transform the engineering of cities to deliver societal and planetary wellbeing within the context of low carbon living and resource security. We seek to prove that an alternative future with drastically reduced CO2 emissions is achievable in a socially acceptable manner, and to develop realistic and radical engineering solutions to achieve it. Certain techno-fixes for a low-carbon society have been known for some time (e.g., installing low energy appliances in homes), but are not always deemed successful, in part because they have not been deemed socially acceptable. Current aspirations for material consumption are driven by social factors and reinforced by social norms, yet recent research shows that meeting these aspirations often does not enhance wellbeing. Thus, the challenge the research community faces is to co-evolve the techno-fixes with people's aspirations, incorporating radical engineering strategies within the financial, policy/regulation and technical contexts, to re-define an alternative future. A roadmap is required to chart the path from here to there, identify potential tipping points and determine how to integrate radical engineering strategies into norms. However, this roadmap can only be considered once that alternative future has been established, and a 'back-casting' exercise carried out, to explore where the major barriers to change lie and where interventions are needed. Our ambition is to create an holistic, integrated, truly multidisciplinary city analysis methodology that uniquely combines engineered solutions and quality-of-life indicators, accounts for social aspirations, is founded on an evidence base of trials of radical interventions in cities, and delivers the radical engineering solutions necessary to achieve our vision. We seek to achieve this ambition by using a variety of innovative and traditional approaches and methods to undertake five research challenges, which are outlined in detail in five technical annexes.