Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Our vision is to create an enduring, multidisciplinary and independent research community strongly linked to industry and capable of informing the policy making process by developing new knowledge and understanding on the subject of the shipping system, its energy efficiency and emissions, and its transition to a low carbon, more resilient future. Shipping in Changing Climates (SCC) is the embodiment of that vision: a multi-university, multi-disciplinary consortium of leading UK academic institutions focused on addressing the interconnected research questions that arise from considering shipping's possible response over the next few decades due to changes in: - climate (sea level rise, storm frequency) - regulatory climate (mitigation and adaptation policy) - macroeconomic climate (increased trade, differing trade patterns, higher energy prices) Building on RCUK Energy programme's substantial (~2.25m) investment in this area: Low Carbon Shipping and High Seas projects, this research will provide crucial input into long-term strategic planning (commercial and policy) for shipping, in order to enable the sector to transition the next few decades with minimum disruption of the essential global services (trade, transport, economic growth, food and fuel security) that it provides. The ambitious research programme can only be undertaken because of the project's excellent connection to shipping's stakeholders across the govt. non-govt and industry space. This is demonstrated by in excess of 35 organisations writing significant statements of support and including contributions to the project of 1.6m in-kind and 160k cash. The commitments of stakeholders with this breadth of knowledge and understanding is crucial both to: - Development of a relevant proposal (all Tier 1 partners of LCS and many Tier 2 and others were heavily involved in the development of the contents of this SCC proposal) - Ensuring that the research is undertaken using data and experience that can maximise its credibility, but importantly also - Guaranteeing a direct pathway to impact in all the key governance and commercial stakeholders of the sector. Shipping is a global industry and its challenges must therefore be considered in a global context. However, to provide focus for the research we will concentrate the application of our global modelling and analysis for understanding the impacts of changing climates on three key specific sub- global components of the system: UK, SIDS (Small Island Developing States) and BRICS shipping. The UK, for its importance to the funder and the UK stakeholders engaged in our project, the BRICS and SIDS because of their central role in the policy debate due to their high sensitivity to changing climates Research Excellence will be ensured through research across three interacting research themes: - ship as a system (understanding the scope for greater supply side energy efficiency) - trade and transport demand (understanding the trends and drivers for transport demand) - transitions and evolution (understanding transport supply/demand interactions) The research undertaken will be both quantitative and qualitative, apply for the first time new data and modelling techniques and be deployed to answer a series of cross cutting (themes) research questions. Shipping in Changing Climates will put the UK at the forefront internationally of research into the shipping system and inform the UK and EU debates around the control of its shipping GHG emissions.

We rely on access to water for so many important aspects of everyday life, for example: domestic water, food production, industrial production, transport, recreation, maintaining ecosystems, to name just a few. With increasing pressures on our water supplies from growing populations, climate changes and other factors, we need to continue to improve management of this precious resource if it is to remain a benefit to society. Good water management requires a sound knowledge of how much is present under different seasonal conditions, as well as how we use it and the consequences of this use, or potential overuse. Quantifying the highs and lows of the natural variability of water around us traditionally requires many decades of measurements to provide enough information to predict future availability. Unfortunately, this depth of water knowledge is not available for much of the world, and with our increasingly globalised societies this has consequences for all of us. Fortunately, improving international cooperation and a growing focus of water science on the global scale means that there are many recent developments that could be used to address this water knowledge gap. Scientists are developing increasingly accurate computer models of the global water cycle and proliferating satellites are measuring water from space in ever more detail. However, many people with a role in water management are not trained experts in either computer models or satellite data, limiting the value of this new data to everyday water challenges. This project will take the best data available from these exciting new science outputs, test it and make it available to all in an easy to use, online web map platform that will provide important water information anywhere in the world. Potential users of the platform will be involved at every stage of its development, ensuring it is directly useful and understandable. The easy to use platform will allow any user to get an independent, local estimate, of the range of water availability in their locality and help them understand the implications of the use of water as a resource, whether that is for irrigating crops, water for domestic supply or any other use. The project will also test the outputs of the platform for the Breede region of South Africa, where multiple, sometimes competing uses, of local water resources presents a challenge for fair access. An existing water stewardship project in the area, run by WWF-SA, has mobilised people and organisations with a direct interest in the fair management of water and they will be engaged in the local testing and improvement of the platform. The platform will be developed jointly by water@leeds scientists from the University of Leeds and the Earthwatch Institute, an international environmental charity with a track record of citizen involvement in global water science and the development of online platforms. Local South African expertise in water will be provided by Rhodes University, ensuring local relevance in the testing of the platform. The project will be guided by a number of key partners, WWF, Marks and Spencer, SSBN Ltd., as well as Richard Carter and Associates. The breadth of partners and their networks will ensure that a wide range of water issues will be represented, including; water risks to global food supply chains, environmental needs, and community water supply.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Reliable water supply is fundamental to human health and wellbeing, and in the UK is underpinned by inter-linked infrastructure for abstraction, storage, treatment and conveyance of potable and wastewater. Climate change has the potential to affect the UK water system in a number of ways: through changes in the water available for abstraction and storage, especially through altered drought frequency and intensity, changes in demand and changing risk of infrastructure failure.This project aims to develop a set of analysis tools and data on climate change and future demand that will enable users to identify packages of options that results in heightened reslience of the UK water system to these uncertain future drivers. The multi-criteria approach to be developed will also allow alternative adaptation options to be assessed against other criteria, such as environmental sustatinability, energy costs and public acceptability.The focus of the study is South and East England, an area that is already experiencing water system stress, and likely to be subject to additional stresses in the future due to climate change and demographic changes.The methods and results of this research will enable the UK to better plan for adaptation of the water system to climate change, and will help identify the polciy and regulatory changes that would be needed for adaptation to take place.The project has been designed in collaboration with stakeholders from government (DEFRA, EA, OFWAT, GLA), the water industry (UKWIR, Water UK and a number of water companies) and NGOs with an interest in water. These same stakeholders will be involved throughout the project as project partners.