Research Overview

Research

Nick’s research focuses on rainfall-runoff processes and nature-based solutions within upland UK & equatorial tropics.

Runoff pathways are regulated by meteorological & watershed effects and changed by our interventions, sometimes positively in the form of nature-based solutions (NbS). Changes in these hydrological pathways and processes are often key to methods for mitigating water pollution issues, in addition to reducing the risk of floods or droughts.

Current rates of development are giving profound changes to the water cycle (Wohl et al., 2012 Nature Climate Change), but advances in the design of NbS can give positive outcomes for flood mitigation (Chappell and Beven, 2024 Environmental Research Letters) and pollution mitigation (Chappell and Thang 2007 Unasylva).

Quantifying changes in these processes has demanded the use of new field sensor technology (Jones et al., 2014 Environmental Science and Technology), and parsimonious modelling involving interpretative machine learning (iML) or physics-based approaches (Chappell et al., 2017 Water Research; Beven and Chappell, 2021 WIREs Water; Beven et al., 2022 Hydrological Processes).

Ongoing research projects where Nick is the Principal Investigator at Lancaster include:

• Flood mitigation effectiveness of NFM interventions within the Cumbria Innovative Flood Resilience project ('CiFR-Lancaster’)
• Chief Science Advisor to NERC Flood and Drought Research Infrastructure
• Brampton NFM effectiveness monitoring (‘e-Brampton’)
• Effectiveness of SWEF water restoration interventions (‘SWEF-e’)

Recent research projects included:

• Cumbrian NFM effectiveness monitoring network ('C-NFM’)
• Quantifying the likely magnitude of nature-based flood mitigation effects across large catchments ('NERC Q-NFM’)
• Quantifying the benefits of NFM: Equivalent volume metrics (‘eVol-WwNP’)
• Working with natural processes: National opportunity mapping of high runoff soils ('Environment Agency project’)
• Working with natural processes: Life IP Natural flood risk targeting maps ('Rivers Trust project’)
• Regulation of water quality and biodiversity by runoff processes (NERC-BESS ‘DURESS project’)
• Regulation of extreme flood responses by rainfall characteristics associated with particular synoptic climatologies (NERC-CWC ‘Western Ghats’ project)
• Quantifying sensitivity of suspended sediment dynamics to environmental change within Papua New Guinea (‘RamuSED project’)

Over the period 2018-22, Nick held President-Elect, President and Past-President roles in the British Hydrological Society, see for example:

• Fourteenth National Hydrology Symposium, BHS2022: Programme (104 talks)
• Fourteenth National Hydrology Symposium, BHS2022: Book of Abstracts
• Fourteenth National Hydrology Symposium, BHS2022: Posters (54 posters)

Nick has a long-term research commitment to catchment monitoring (i.e., the discipline of hydrometry), particularly when combined with numerical modelling, see e.g., the SMART Watershed Network. For further details of Nick’s research publications and projects click these links and use the tabs above.

Research-led teaching and training

Nick in academic year 2026-7 will teach the core Year 1 and Year 2 hydrology courses and contribute to the Year 3 water resources course:

• LECX4273 Catchment Science
• LECX5174 Hydrology and Water Quality
• LECX6175 Water Resources Management

These courses are available to the BSc Environmental Science programme, BSc Physical Geography programme, and other programmes in LEC. Nick also supervises masters projects in field hydrology and hydrological modelling and is the Director of the MSc Sustainable Water Management and PgCert/PgDip/MSc Flood and Coastal Risk Management, PgCert Flood Risk Management (Department for Infrastructure) and new PgCert/PgDip/MSc Flood and Water Management programmes:

• PgCert/PgDip/MSc Flood & Coastal Risk Management (2025-7)
• MSc Sustainable Water Management (2025-6)
• PgCert Flood Risk Management (for DfI)
• PgCert/PgDip/MSc Flood & Water Management (2026-)

Nick is the author of the first eight chapters (focusing on hydrometry) of the latest edition of the hydrology reference text: Shaw EM, Beven KJ, Chappell NA & Lamb R 2011 Hydrology in Practice, Fourth Edition, Taylor & Francis

News

Research and teaching items that have appeared in news articles:

• Contribution to POST, UK Parliament report into Nature Based Flood and Drought Resilience (LU Policy Hub Linkedin 1 May 2026)
• Flood defence research fund ‘vital’ for resilience (Western Daily Press 2 Mar 2026)
• Contribution to POST, UK Parliament report on Changes to Nutrient Neutrality in England (LU Policy Hub Linkedin 17 Dec 2025)
• Where can all the water go? (LU Global Newsletter 12 Dec 2025)
• What would happen if Storm Desmond hit today? (BBC News 5 Dec 2025)
• Water Restoration Fund highlighting SWEF NFM project (Defra blog 3 Oct 2025)
• Improving UK's resilience to floods and droughts (LU News 3 Sep 2024)
• Environmental expertise in House of Lords flood mitigation report launch (LU News 30 Apr 2024)
• Creating a UK network to help tackle flood and drought risk (LU News 22 Feb 2023)
• Anglers ‘heartbroken’ after stretch of river stripped of trees (Independent 6 Feb 2022)
• Can beavers help reduce flood peaks? (LU News 19 Jan 2021)
• Interview on value of stream monitoring to assess effects of tree planting and floodplain storage at Lowther, Cumbria (ITV Border, 11 Dec 2020)
• Interview on natural interventions to reduce flood risk in Cumbria on the fifth anniversary of Storm Desmond (BBC Radio Cumbria, 4 Dec 2020)
• Natural Flood Defence to be created for Sandylands, Kendal (Cumbria Wildlife Trust Press release 12 Mar 2020)
• In praise of hydrology (LU News 9 Oct 2019)
• Interview on NERC research on Natural Flood Management (BBC Radio Cumbria 9 Feb 2018)
• Interview on flood mitigation with trees (BBC Radio 4 Farming Today 6 Feb 2018)
• New report reviews role of trees in flood alleviation (Oct 2017)
• Supporting business with NFRM research (Sep 2017)
• Was Storm Desmond really that extreme? (Aug 2017)
• Safe water hope for slum dwellers (Jun 2017)
• Natural flood management could have made a ‘significant difference’ during Storm Desmond (Apr 2017)
• Interview on natural flood management (BBC Radio4 22 Dec 2016)
• Interview on cause of Lancaster floods (BBC Radio Lancs 5 Dec 2016)
• JBA & LEC win Defra flood innovation prize (Nov 2016)
• Reducing floods using nature (Feb 2016)
• New postgrad courses to help stem tide of flood devastation in UK (1 Aug 2014)
• Student helps ‘Watermen’ (30 May 2014)
• High fliers land at Lancaster University (18 March 2013)
• Lancaster shares in £13M Biodiversity Research Programme (22 June 2012)
• Better water research in the tropics needed in order to protect people (18 July 2012)

For further information, see Nick’s personal webpages