Floods cause distress and damage wherever and whenever they happen. Flooding from rivers, estuaries and the sea threatens many millions of people worldwide and economic and insurance losses from flooding have increased significantly since 1990. Across the European Union, flood management policy is changing in response to the EU Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks, which requires a move from flood protection and defence to comprehensive flood risk management.

Flood Risk Management: Research and Practice includes about 200 contributions from the international conference FLOODrisk 2008 (Oxford, UK, 30 September – 2 October 2008). FLOODrisk 2008 was an initiative of the FLOODsite research project on Integrated Flood Risk Analysis and Management Methodologies. FLOODsite was a major “Integrated Project” in the European Commission Sixth Framework Programme; contract number GOCE-CT-2004-505420. The conference provided a forum for leading researchers, flood risk managers, policy makers and practitioners from government, commercial and research organisations to gain an overview of advances in this important subject. Flood risk management practice crosses several professions and disciplines and these are represented in the breadth of the scope of the conference and these proceedings. The conference covered all aspects of flood risk: the causes of floods, their impacts on people, property and the environment, and portfolios of risk management measuresm, while the principal themes included: climate change, estimation of extremes, flash floods, flood forecasting and warning, inundation modelling, systems analysis, uncertainty, international programmes, flood defence infrastructure and assets, environmental impacts, human and social impacts, vulnerability and resilience, risk sharing, equity and social justice, and, civil contingency planning and emergency management.

Flood Risk Management: Research and Practice will be of interest to an international readership, ranging from authorities, consultants and engineers involved in flood management; researchers, post graduate lecturers and students, to policy makers, particularly at national level.