Emily O'Donnell

Contact

• workRoom A9 Sir Clive Granger Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 84 66143
• Emily.O'donnell@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Emily holds an MSci in Geographical Sciences from the University of Bristol in 2006 (First Class Hons) and PhD in Geography (carbon cycling in subglacial environments) from the University of Bristol, where she received the award for Best Research Degree Thesis in the Faculty of Science in 2012/2013 and a Postgraduate Commendation for Excellence in a Doctoral Thesis. After completing her PhD, Emily lectured in Physical Geography at the University of Bristol and moved to the University of Nottingham in 2013. Emily was a postdoctoral researcher and project manager on several national and international interdisciplinary research projects, exploring the multiple flood risk benefits of Blue-Green Cities (Blue-Green Cities), transformative change in urban flood risk management (Urban Flood Resilience), and multifunctional blue-green infrastructure for climate change adaptation (Blue-Green Futures).

Expertise Summary

My research experience spans the following areas:

Urban Flood Risk Management

Blue-Green Cities

Climate Change Adaptation

Blue-Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Drainage Systems

Social Learning (e.g. Learning and Action Alliances)

Public Perceptions

Stakeholder Engagement

Teaching Summary

I teach on the degree programmes for Geography (BA/BSc) and Environmental Leadership & Management (MSc), on the following modules:

Environmental Knowledge to Action (GEOG4096, GEOG4097, GEOG 4098) (module convenor)

Planet Earth: Exploring the Environment (GEOL1002)

Research Tutorial (GEOG2030) (module convenor)

Climate Change Decision-Making in Context (GEOG4095)

Tutorial (GEOG1005)

Dissertation supervision

Research Summary

My research specialises in urban flood risk and water management, Blue-Green Cities, social learning, and stakeholder engagement. I am interested in how cities are addressing current and future urban… read more

Selected Publications

• O′DONNELL EC, NETUSIL NR, CHAN FKS, DOLMAN NJ and GOSLING SN, 2021. International Perceptions of Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure: A Comparison across Four Cities Water. 13(4), 544
• O'DONNELL, E. C, GOSLING, S. N., NETUSIL, N. R., CHAN, F. K. S. and DOLMAN, N. J., 2021. Perceptions of blue-green and grey infrastructure as climate change adaptation strategies for urban water resilience Journal of the British Academy. 9(9), 143-182
• GREEN, D., O'DONNELL, E., JOHNSON, M.F., SLATER, L., THORNE, C.R., ZHENG, S., STIRLING, R., CHAN, F.K.S., LI, L. and BOOTHROYD, R.J., 2021. Green infrastructure: the future of urban flood risk management? Wires Water. 8, e1560
• PLUCHINOTTA, IRENE, PAGANO, ALESSANDRO, VILCAN, TUDOREL, AHILAN, SANGARALINGAM, KAPETAS, LEON, MASKREY, SHAUN, KRIVTSOV, VLADIMIR, THORNE, COLIN and O'DONNELL, EMILY, 2021. A participatory system dynamics model to investigate sustainable urban water management in Ebbsfleet Garden City SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY. 67,

• View all publications

Current Research

My research specialises in urban flood risk and water management, Blue-Green Cities, social learning, and stakeholder engagement. I am interested in how cities are addressing current and future urban water challenges associated with climate change, urbanisation and ageing infrastructure, and how visions may be developed for Blue-Green urban futures; where multifunctional Blue-Green infrastructure (e.g. green roofs, swales, rain gardens and ponds) is delivered by cross-organisational collaborations to generate environmental and societal co-benefits. My research uses novel toolkits to evaluate and monetise the social, environmental and economic benefits of Blue-Green infrastructure (in flood and non-flood periods) and identify the implicit and explicit perceptions of professionals and communities towards drainage infrastructure and the use of public greenspace. I work closely with UK local government and industry stakeholders to explore options for multifunctional blue-green infrastructure that can deliver benefits to the environment, society and the economy while creating environments resilience to flood risk and future climate change.

Past Research

I have been involved in several national and international research consortia exploring how urban flood and water management could be transformed to address the impacts of climate change while delivering co-benefits to the environment, economy and society. I have led the research on four interdisciplinary projects:

• Blue-Green Cities (2013-2016, EPSRC) that developed new strategies for managing urban flood risk as part of wider, integrated urban planning intended to achieve environmental enhancement and urban renewal
• Urban Flood Resilience (2016-2021, EPSRC) that aimed to enable the coordinated planning, design and operation of closely coupled urban water systems necessary to achieve transformative change in urban flood risk and water management
• Blue-Green Futures (2019-2021, British Academy), a UK-USA-China-Netherlands collaboration the explored how multifunctional infrastructure could address water challenges under Blue-Green futures
• River Leen (2019-2021), investigating how the delivery of Blue-Green infrastructure could drive economic growth and place making, funded by the University of Nottingham Interdisciplinary Research Cluster Initiative.

• O′DONNELL EC, NETUSIL NR, CHAN FKS, DOLMAN NJ and GOSLING SN, 2021. International Perceptions of Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure: A Comparison across Four Cities Water. 13(4), 544
• GREEN, D., O'DONNELL, E., JOHNSON, M.F., SLATER, L., THORNE, C.R., ZHENG, S., STIRLING, R., CHAN, F.K.S., LI, L. and BOOTHROYD, R.J., 2021. Green infrastructure: the future of urban flood risk management? Wires Water. 8, e1560
• O'DONNELL, E. C, GOSLING, S. N., NETUSIL, N. R., CHAN, F. K. S. and DOLMAN, N. J., 2021. Perceptions of blue-green and grey infrastructure as climate change adaptation strategies for urban water resilience Journal of the British Academy. 9(9), 143-182
• QI, YUNFEI, SHUN CHAN, FAITH KA, GRIFFITHS, JAMES, FENG, MEILI, SANG, YANFANG, O'DONNELL, EMILY, HUTCHINS, MICHAEL, THADANI, DIMPLE R., LI, GANG, SHAO, MENGQI, XIE, LINJUN, LIU, SITONG, ZHANG, CHUNGUANG, LI, XINAN, LIU, LINGYUN and ZHONG, MING, 2021. Sponge City Program (SCP) and Urban Flood Management (UFM)-The Case of Guiyang, SW China WATER. 13(19),
• PLUCHINOTTA, IRENE, PAGANO, ALESSANDRO, VILCAN, TUDOREL, AHILAN, SANGARALINGAM, KAPETAS, LEON, MASKREY, SHAUN, KRIVTSOV, VLADIMIR, THORNE, COLIN and O'DONNELL, EMILY, 2021. A participatory system dynamics model to investigate sustainable urban water management in Ebbsfleet Garden City SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY. 67,
• QI, Y., CHAN, F. K. S., O'DONNELL, E. C., FENG, M., SANG, Y., THORNE, C., GRIFFITHS, J., LIU, L., LIU, S., ZHANG, C., LI, L. and THADANI, D., 2021. Exploring the Development of the Sponge City Program (SCP): The Case of Gui'an New District, Southwest China Frontiers in Water.
• O'DONNELL, EMILY C and THORNE, COLIN R, 2020. Drivers of future urban flood risk. Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences. 378(2168), 20190216
• O'DONNELL, EMILY, MASKREY, SHAUN, EVERETT, GLYN and LAMOND, JESSICA, 2020. Developing the implicit association test to uncover hidden preferences for sustainable drainage systems. Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences. 378(2168), 20190207
• O'DONNELL E, THORNE C, AHILAN S, BIRKINSHAW S, BUTLER D, DAWSON D, EVERETT G, FENNER R, GLENIS V, KAPETAS L, KRIVTSOV V, LAMOND J, MASKREY S, O'DONNELL G, POTTER K, VERCRUYSSE K, VILCAN T and WRIGHT N, 2020. The Blue-Green Path to Urban Flood Resilience Blue-Green Systems. 2(1), 28-45
• MASKREY S, VILCAN T, O'DONNELL E and LAMOND J, 2020. Flood risk management in Learning and Action Alliances: capacity building as a catalyst for action Environmental Science and Policy. 107, 198-205
• O'DONNELL E, THORNE C, YEAKLEY JA and CHAN, FKS, 2020. Flood risk and stormwater management in Blue-Green Cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon Journal of the American Water Resources Association.
• QI, Y., CHAN, F. K. S., THORNE, C., O'DONNELL, E. C., QUAGLIOLO, C., COMINO, E., PEZZOLI, A., LI, L., GRIFFITHS, J., SANG, Y. and FENG, M., 2020. Addressing challenges of urban water management in Chinese sponge cities via nature-based solutions 12(10), 2788
• O'DONNELL, E. C. and THORNE, C., 2020. Urban flood risk management: the blue–green advantage. In: THORNE, C., ed., Blue-Green Cities
• O'DONNELL, E. C., MASKREY, S., SKENDERIAN, M., O'BRIEN, H., VANN, J. and THORNE, C., 2020. Overcoming barriers to innovation in urban flood risk management. In: THORNE, C., ed., Blue-Green Cities
• FENNER, RICHARD, O'DONNELL, EMILY, AHILAN, SANGARALINGAM, DAWSON, DAVID, KAPETAS, LEON, KRIVTSOV, VLADIMIR, NCUBE, SIKHULULEKILE and VERCRUYSSE, KIM, 2019. Achieving Urban Flood Resilience in an Uncertain Future WATER. 11(5),
• O'DONNELL, E, LAMOND, J and THORNE, C.R., 2018. Learning and Action Alliance framework to facilitate stakeholder collaboration and social learning in urban flood risk management Environmental Science & Policy. 80, 1-8
• TANG, Y-T, CHAN, F.K.S., O'DONNELL, E, GRIFFITHS, J, LAU, L, HIGGITT, D.L and THORNE, C.R, 2018. Aligning ancient and modern approaches to sustainable urbanwater management in China: Ningbo as a“Blue-Green City”in the“Sponge City”campaign Journal of Flood Risk Management. 1-14
• O'DONNELL, E, THORNE, C and YEAKLEY, J. A, 2018. Managing urban flood risk in Blue‐Green cities: The Clean Water for All initiative Journal of Flood Risk Management.
• O'DONNELL, E, LAMOND, J and THORNE, C, 2017. Recognising barriers to implementation of Blue-Green Infrastructure: a Newcastle case study Urban Water Journal. 14(9), 964-971
• O'DONNELL, E, WOODHOUSE, R and THORNE, C, 2017. Evaluating the multiple benefits of a sustainable drainage scheme in Newcastle, UK Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Management.
• O'DONNELL, E, WADHAM, J, LIS, G, PICKARD, A, STIBAL, M, TRANTER, M, DEWSBURY, P and FITZSIMONS, S, 2016. Identification and analysis of low molecular weight dissolved organic carbon in subglacial basal ice ecosystems by ion chromatography Biogeosciences. 13, 3833-3846
• WADHAM, J, HAWKINGS, J, TELLING, J, CHANDLER, D, ALCOCK, J, O'DONNELL, E, KAUR, P, BAGSHAW, E, TRANTER, M, TEDSTONE, A and NIENOW, P, 2016. Sources, cycling and export of nitrogen on the Greenland Ice Sheet Biogeosciences. 13, 6339-6352
• HAWKINGS, J, WADHAM, J, TRANTER, M, LAWSON, E, SOLE, A, COWTON, T, TEDSTONE, A, BARTHOLOMEW, I and NIENOW, P, 2015. The effect of warming climate on nutrient and solute export from the Greenland Ice Sheet Geochemical Perspectives. 1, 94-104
• THORNE, C, LAWSON, E, OZAWA, C, HAMLIN, S and SMITH, L, 2015. Overcoming uncertainty and barriers to adoption of Blue-Green Infrastructure for urban flood risk management Journal of Flood Risk Management.
• EVERETT, G, LAWSON, E and LAMOND, J, 2015. Green infrastructure and urban water management. In: SINNETT, D, BURGESS, S and SMITH, N, eds., Handbook on Green Infrastructure: Planning, design and implementation Edward Elgar. 50-66
• LAWSON, E, 2015. Evaluating the multiple benefits of a Blue-Green vision for urban surface water management In: UDG Autumn Conference & Exhibition 2015.
• E. LAWSON, J. WADHAM, M. TRANTER, M. STIBAL, G. LIS, C. BUTLER, J. LAYBOURN-PARRY, P. NIENOW, D. CHANDLER and P. DEWSBURY, 2014. Greenland Ice Sheet exports labile organic carbon to the Arctic oceans Biogeosciences. 11, 4015–4028
• LAWSON, E, THORNE, C, AHILAN, S, ALLEN, D, ARTHUR, S, EVERETT, G, FENNER, R, GLENIS, V, KILSBY, C, LAMOND, J, MANT, J, MASKREY, S, MOUNT, N, SLEIGH, A, SMITH, L and WRIGHT, N, 2014. Delivering and evaluating the multiple flood risk benefits in Blue-Green Cities; an interdisciplinary approach In: Flood Recovery Innovation and Responses, 2014 Poznan, Poland. WIT Press.
• LAWSON, EMILY C., BHATIA, MAYA P., WADHAM, JEMMA L. and KUJAWINSKI, ELIZABETH B., 2014. Continuous Summer Export of Nitrogen-Rich Organic Matter from the Greenland Ice Sheet Inferred by Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectrometry ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. 48(24), 14248-14257
• WRIGHT, N, THORNE, C and LAWSON, E, 2014. Delivering and Evaluating Multiple Flood Risk Benefits in Blue-Green Cities In: 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics HIC 2014, New York City, USA.
• WADHAM JL, ARNDT S, TULACZYK S, STIBAL M, TRANTER M, TELLING J, LIS GP, LAWSON E, RIDGWELL A, DUBNICK A, SHARP MJ, ANESIO AM and BUTLER CEH, 2012. Potential methane reservoirs beneath Antarctica. Nature. 488(7413), 633-7
• STIBAL, MAREK, WADHAM, JEMMA L., LIS, GRZEGORZ P., TELLING, JON, PANCOST, RICHARD D., DUBNICK, ASHLEY, SHARP, MARTIN J., LAWSON, EMILY C., BUTLER, CATRIONA E. H., HASAN, FARIHA, TRANTER, MARTYN and ANESIO, ALEXANDRE M., Methanogenic potential of Arctic and Antarctic subglacial environments with contrasting organic carbon sources GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY. 18(11), 3332-3345
• STIBAL, MAREK, LAWSON, EMILY C., LIS, GRZEGORZ P., MAK, KA MAN, WADHAM, JEMMA L. and ANESIO, ALEXANDRE M., Organic matter content and quality in supraglacial debris across the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY. 51(56), 1-8