Professor Richard Ashley
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Emeritus Professor of Urban Water
Full contact details
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research now spans disciplines from engineering through economics and social science in order to better influence policy makers, regulatory systems and the practice of ensuring health, welfare and security of all aspects of urban water systems.
Professor Richard Ashley
A Professional Chartered Civil and Environmental Engineer and former MD of the Pennine Water Group (PWG), with a research career spanning more than 50 years in the design and science of urban water systems. Highlights include: Member of the UK’s (Defra & DTI) Foresight Future Flooding research team in the early 2000s then to Sir Michael Pitt in 2007, Scientific Adviser to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry into Water Management in England in 2006; Scientific adviser to OECD for flood risk in the Loire Basin (2009); Greater Paris (2012). OECD consultant for future need for water and wastewater infrastructure in 2004 and in 2018. Research leader in the UK Building Knowledge for a Changing Climate programme on adapting local drainage to climate change 2002-2006. Various international projects, including in the Netherlands (e.g. the Room for the River programme review) and Australia, for example as part of the Cooperative Research Programme on Water Sensitive Cities on flood resilience (2014-2017). Recent activities include co-developing the CIRIA economic assessment tool for blue-green infrastructure (B£ST) and application to various projects.
Adjunct Professor at Lulea Technical University, Sweden. Recipient of the IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage 2014 triennial Career achievement award and 2008 IWA award for research into sustainable water systems. Richard has some 600 publications, mainly for adapting urban drainage and water systems to cope with future uncertainties.
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Research Themes
- Research interests
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Research interests include:
- All aspects of urban water systems, especially urban drainage, asset management and economics.
- Adaptation of infrastructure and water systems to climate and other societal changes.
- Sustainability of water systems, services and assets.
- Institutional and governance aspects of water services
- social and behavioural aspects of water service provision and utilisation.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Towards adaptive asset management in flood risk management: A policy framework. Water Security, 12, 100085-100085.
- Enhancing the calibration of an urban growth model using a memetic algorithm. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 50, 53-65.
- UK sustainable drainage systems: past, present and future. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering, 168(3), 125-130.
- SUDS, LID, BMPs, WSUD and more – The evolution and application of terminology surrounding urban drainage. Urban Water Journal, 12(7), 525-542.
- Assessing receptivity for change in urban stormwater management and contexts for action. Journal of Environmental Management, 146, 29-41.
- Climate changed rainfalls for urban drainage capacity assessment. Urban Water Journal, 11(7), 543-556.
- Water-sensitive urban design: opportunities for the UK. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Municipal Engineer, 166(2), 65-76.
- Taming global flood disasters. Lessons learned from Dutch experience. Natural Hazards, 65(3), 1217-1225.
- Learning and Action Alliances to build capacity for flood resilience. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 5(1), 14-22.
- Political and Professional Agency Entrapment: An Agenda for Urban Water Research. Water Resources Management, 25(15), 4037-4050.
- Disenfranchising customers: lessons from England and Ireland. Water and Environment Journal, 25(3), 438-440.
- Managing water as a socio-technical system: the shift from ‘experts’ to ‘alliances’. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability, 164(1), 95-102.
- Appropriate drainage systems for a changing climate. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability, 163(2), 107-116.
- Editorial: A time of uncertainty and fragility. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability, 163(2), 55-56.
- Addressing practical problems in sustainability assessment frameworks. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability, 161(1), 23-30.
- Estimation of uncertainty in long term combined sewer sediment behaviour predictions, a UK case study. Water Science and Technology, 57(9), 1405-1411.
- Making Asset Investment Decisions for Wastewater Systems That Include Sustainability. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 134(3), 200-209.
- The mosquito, the elephant and the House of Lords Water Management Inquiry. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 32(3), 283-297.
- Toward the Sustainable Management of Urban Storm-Water. Indoor and Built Environment, 16(3), 273-285.
- Adaptable Urban Drainage: Addressing Change in Intensity, Occurrence and Uncertainty of Stormwater (AUDACIOUS). Built Environment, 33(1), 70-84.
- Detailed observation and measurement of sewer sediment erosion under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Water Science and Technology, 52(3), 137-146.
- Sewer solids—20 years of investigation. Water Science and Technology, 52(3), 73-84.
- The acoustic attenuation and hydraulic roughness in a large section sewer pipe with periodical obstacles. Water Science and Technology, 50(11), 97-104.
- The utilisation of engineered invert traps in the management of near bed solids in sewer networks. Water Science and Technology, 47(4), 137-148.
- Determination of sewer roughness and sediment properties using acoustic techniques. Water Science and Technology, 47(2), 87-93.
Conference proceedings papers
- A GIS-based methodology for selecting stormwater disconnection opportunities. Water Science and Technology, Vol. 66(2) (pp 275-283)
- Water sensitive Urban design as an essential component of adapting water systems to cope with flood risks. WSUD 2012 - 7th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design: Building the Water Sensitive Community, Final Program and Abstract Book
- Low Impact Development: The Saviour of the 21st Century Suburban Irrelevance?. Low Impact Development 2010
- Appropriate Drainage Systems for a Changing Climate in the Water Sensitive City. Low Impact Development 2010
- Project Neptune: Improved operation of water distribution systems. Proceedings: Water Distribution Systems Analysis. South Africa, 17 August 2008 - 20 August 2008.
- Improved formulations for rapid erosion of diverse solids in combined sewers. Water Science and Technology, Vol. 52(5) (pp 143-150)
- Acoustic monitoring of boundary condition in drainage systems. Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress on Sound and Vibration (pp 3531-3538)
- Sewer sediment transport studies using an environmentally controlled annular flume. Water Science and Technology, Vol. 47(4) (pp 51-60)
- Towards adaptive asset management in flood risk management: A policy framework. Water Security, 12, 100085-100085.
- Research group