Sam Ramsden

Profile

I am currently an Impact Translation Fellow at ICASP which includes managing research projects and coordinating support to the West Yorkshire Flood Innovation Programme.

My research focuses on nature-based solutions, flood resilience and community development and I work with a range of stakeholders including from national government, local government, academics and civil society. I use a wide range of qualitative and quantitative research methods including interviews, focus groups, expert panels, surveys and systematic literature reviews.

A key focus of my research is feeding the results of high-quality research into policy and practice to achieve societal benefit.

Before moving to the University of Leeds, I managed a collaborative household flood resilience survey in Hull, targeting areas badly affected by flooding in 2007. I designed the survey and recruited, trained and managed a research team to conduct in-person surveys. We received a really good response in communities (457 responses), it was the first time many respondents had been asked about flooding, and they wanted to share their stories. More recently I worked with colleagues in the Hull York Medical School (HYMS) to produce both a health and wellbeing analysis and a statistical analysis of the survey findings.

I also have extensive research experience outside of flood resilience. I completed my PhD in Human Geography and researched the impacts and challenges of a charity-led environment and community development project working with marginalised people in a deprived urban area. The research focused on exploring community-level energy efficiency and urban agriculture activities within a sustainable place-making framework. Before my PhD, I obtained a distinction in my MSc in Environmental Change and International Development from the University of Sheffield in 2013, which involved field research in Nepal and Ghana, and GIS Mapping of Inequalities in urban areas. Towards the end of my PhD, I worked with Sheffield Hallam University on external evaluations of two nationwide environmental projects and supported an evidence-based cross-sector review of affordability support for the Consumer Council for Water. I also conducted Child Rights Situational Analysis for Save the Children in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu using systematic literature reviews.

Responsibilities

• Research Manager: Nature Based Solutions & Flooding
• WYFLIP Coordinator

Research interests

I have published reports, articles and media outputs in a number of areas including nature based solutions, flood resilience, energy poverty, water accessibility, community gardening and charity interventions.

(Please see Research Outputs below)

Qualifications

• PhD (2018) Department of Geography, University of Hull: Shoots and Leaves
• MSc in Environmental Change and International Development, University of Sheffield (Distinction)