Dr Felicity Monger

Background:

I completed my PhD titled ‘The impact of semi-natural woodland on flooding in the UK’ at the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, funded by UBoC and the University of Leeds.

My PhD project investigated the impact of semi-natural woodland on reducing flood risk in the UK and involved the development of a correlation catchment study at RSPB Haweswater, Cumbria. Soil properties and flood responses for small catchments dominated by semi-natural woodland or grazed pasture were compared. The impact of land cover on overland flow was also investigated for areas of woodland and wood pasture. Additionally, UK historical flow data was used to calculate catchment storage and identify trends between catchment storage and land cover. Finally, rainfall-runoff model, SD-TOPMODEL, was used to investigate the impact of woodland placement on flood peaks.

I achieved my master’s degree in Environmental Science at the University of East Anglia following the completion of my undergraduate degree in Environmental Science at the University of Portsmouth.

Research Interests:

My research interests include flood management, in particular the effectiveness of Natural Flood Management (NFM) strategies and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS). I am interested in the impact of land use management, especially woodlands, on soil properties and flood response.

Qualifications:

• 2017 – 2022: PhD, ‘The impact of semi-natural woodlands...’, University of Leeds
• 2013 - 2016: BSc in Environmental Science, University of Portsmouth
• 2016 - 2017: MSc in Environmental Science, University of East Anglia

Research groups and institutes:

• UBoC
• water@leeds