by Brayton Noll
In May of 2022, I crossed the English Channel for the first time to spend two weeks as a visiting researcher at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) Grantham Institute. Specifically, I went to visit two researchers working there: Dr. Sara Mehryar and Dr. Viktor Rozer. Sara’s research concerns flood risk governance and resilience decision-making while Viktor’s work focuses on adaptation and resilience to flooding and other climate related risks with a focus on urban areas; both are experts on climate adaptation and resilience and are working on projects that are affiliated with the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance.
For the two weeks I was in London we met regularly to discuss one another’s research, I and attended several department events where we I heard about projects going on in the institute. Both Sara and Viktor’s work focuses on flood adaptation, yet approach the topic from a different perspective complementary to what our ERC SCALAR team does. In discussing their experiences using fuzzy cognitive mapping and stakeholder interviews, I gained a broader perspective on adaptation and flood resilience and was able to examine the survey data we had collected at SC3’s SCALAR project in a new light.
Despite the differences both in data collected and our typical methods of analysis, we discussed possible avenues of collaboration in comparing resilience across scales. Matching the data we had collected in our household level survey, I used a number of different socio-economic and capacity-measuring factors to estimate a Bayesian random effects model (visualized below) that estimates a composite score of “household level resilience.” Viktor and Sara, are in the process of coordinating with the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance to see if they are able to access community level resilience to estimate a model with similar community level data to compare the drivers and barriers of resilience across scales between the two data sets.
My trip to the UK however, was (fortunately) not all work. The folks at LSE were very welcoming and included me in a weekly pub gathering where I got to meet researchers from across the globe while enjoying a pint and yelling over the standard commotion of a London pub at 18:00 on a Thursday. I enjoyed the city very much and look forward to hopefully returning.
