
Dr Francesca Pianosi
ME, PhD
Expertise
Current positions
Associate Professor in Water & Environmental Engineering
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering
Contact
Press and media
Many of our academics speak to the media as experts in their field of research. If you are a journalist, please contact the University’s Media and PR Team:
Biography
Research interests
My research and teaching activities focus on improving the way we use data analysis and mathematical modelling for hydrology and water engineering applications. Currently my two key research interests are the use of simulation and optimisation methods to support decision-making, particularly for water resource management; and the quantification and attribution of uncertainty in mathematical models, and in particular models used for natural hazard assessment. More information on my work on uncertainty propagation in models, including access to the open-source SAFE Toolbox for sensitivity analysis, can be found at: safetoolbox.github.io.
Some short, non-technical account of my research interests and results can be found here:
- EOS Blog post on Urban landslides in an uncertain future (original Nature commentary)
- AXA XL White Paper on Pioneering catastrophe model evaluation with the SAFE toolbox
- EGU Blog post on EGU2022 Great Debate on Open Science
- HEPEX Blog post on The value of seasonal forecasts for water resources management
- Presentation on Why we need better handling of uncertainty in mathematical models (with focus on the (re)insurance and water sector)
- EGU Blog post on Hydrological modelling and pizza making
- EGU Blog post on "Quality through Equality" workshop
- EGU Blog post on All models are wrong, but...
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Water Management and Adaption based on Watershed Digital Twins
Principal Investigator
Description
This project will contribute to enhance resilience, adaptation and mitigation of hydroclimatic extreme events, such as floods and droughts, by improving our capability to predict and simulate water resource systems…Managing organisational unit
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design EngineeringDates
01/03/2024 to 28/02/2027
SMARTWATER: Diagnosing controls of pollution hot spots and hot moments and their impact on catchment water quality
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Planetary boundaries of river water pollution are at risk of being breached, with dangerous consequences for human and environmental health, economic prosperity, and water security. The current paradigm for environmental…Dates
01/11/2023 to 31/10/2028
Uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis for resilient infrastructure systems
Principal Investigator
Description
Computational modelling provides a vital tool to support infrastructure decisions, allowing to evaluate risks and benefits of different infrastructure options on a virtual system (or digital twin) before committing to…Managing organisational unit
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design EngineeringDates
01/10/2023 to 31/03/2025
Knowledge Transfer Partnership with JBA Risk Management
Principal Investigator
Description
The project is a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with JBA Risk Management (www.jbarisk.com) to embed uncertainty and sensitivity analysis functionalities into their Global Flood Modelling capabilities. The new features will allow…Managing organisational unit
School of Civil, Aerospace and Design EngineeringDates
01/03/2023 to 31/08/2025
Climate and Environmental Risk Analytics for Resilient Finance (CERAF)
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/04/2021 to 31/03/2024
Thesis supervisions
Using hydrological process knowledge to assess flood generation and changes on a global scale
Supervisors
Understanding the sensitivity of karst groundwater recharge to climate and land cover changes at a large-scale
Supervisors
Skill and value of seasonal forecasts for reservoir operations in South Korea
Supervisors
Quantifying reservoir impacts on river flows across Great Britain through large-sample hydrology and large-scale hydrological modelling
Supervisors
Uncertainty in modelling and optimising operations of reservoir systems
Supervisors
Exploring patterns of current and future residential flood risk in Great Britain
Supervisors
Uncertainty quantification and attribution in flood risk modelling
Supervisors
Quantifying the influence of informal housing on rainfall-triggered landslides in the humid tropics
Supervisors
Robust and Reliability-based Design Optimization of High Aspect Ratio Wings Including Geometric Nonlinearities
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
24/01/2025Exploring the value of seasonal flow forecasts for drought management in South Korea
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Developing water supply reservoir operating rules for large-scale hydrological modelling
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
How to use the impossible map - Considerations for a rigorous exploration of Digital Twins of the Earth
Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling
Skill of seasonal flow forecasts at catchment scale
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Synthetic libraries of urban landslide simulations to identify slope failure hotspots and drivers across spatial scales and landscapes
Landslides