Name and Contact Details
Malcolm Shead B.Sc., M.Sc. Faculty of Sciences Staffordshire University
Science Centre, Leek Road Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DF +44 (0) 1782
294105 m.shead@staffs.ac.uk
Malcolm is studying for a PhD funded by IESR, supervised by Dr. Janet Wright, Derek Pratts and Professor T.V. Kumaran (Madras University, Chennai).
Research Interests
- Climate change
- Risk Management
Research Project
Rapid urbanisation in Chennai and the associated environmental risk.
As a city characterising rapid urbanisation, Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India provides an opportunity to investigate the challenges of meeting economic and social development needs in a region which already demonstrates unsustainable resource use.Focusing on water consumption in urban and sub-urban areas this project aims to identify water vulnerable groups and look at the determinants which govern their ability to cope during scanty periods..
For an assessment of the future state of water vulnerability to encapsulate a sustainable ethos it is important that this project addresses the role climate change will play in forcing this fine balance. By incorporating climate change projections into the analysis it ensures that any recommendations can be made with an understanding of Monsoon variability, precipitation patterns and other important climate related features.
The objective of this project is to promote stakeholder engagement between the civil society, NGO’s and the public and private sectors so that the adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups can be enhanced alongside development agendas. By presenting the data in an accessible format it is the intention that meaningful decision making between the relevant parties can be facilitated.