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Ms Emma Rothero

Profile summary

  • Academic Related Staff
  • Manager
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences
  • emma.rothero

Professional biography

Emma Rothero

Floodplain Meadows Partnership Manager

January 2008-present; Floodplain Meadows Manager (Floodplain Meadows Partnership), Open University, Milton Keynes 

November 1997- December 2007; Fisheries, Recreation and Biodiversity Officer, Environment Agency, Blandford Forum, Dorset

Impact and engagement

My role is about engagement with people working or operating in the land management and conservation sector in the UK, with research focussed on the eco-hydrology of floodplain meadows undertaken by academics at the Open University. As the Manager for the Floodplain Meadows Partnership, I am responsible for maintaining contacts throughout the sector with this project, developing initiatives that will encourage engagement, and assesing impact of our enagement and involvement on people and floodplain meadows across the UK.

We are funded by a numkber of environmental trusts and grants, the most significnat of which is the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation who contributes a major proportion of staff costs. Our current focus is on restoration of floodplain meadows, their natural capital and training floodplain meadow ecohydrologists of the future. 

We have recently launched our technical handbook - Floodplain Meadows - Beauty and Utility. A Technical Handbook, which has been distributed to all our partner organsiations and is available as a free download, as well as to buy as a hard copy.

External collaborations

The Floodplain Meadows Partnership is a collaboration of major conservation organisations hosted and managed by the Open University. The organisations are Natural England, RSPB, Environment Agency, The Wildlife Trusts, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the National Trust, People Need Nature and the Field Studies Council. In addition, throughout the life of the project we have worked with many non academic partners, including commercial, charitable and the public sector in delivering our objectives on floodplain meadows.

We are currently working with a range of partners from as far away as Siberia, and across Northern Europe, to develop a European-wide floodplain meadow network.

Publications

Floodplain meadow partnership: A working model of effective communication between practitioners, academics and policymakers (2021)
Rothero, Emma; Tatarenko, Irina; Jefferson, Richard; Skinner, Ann; Wallace, Hilary; Gowing, David; Clarke, Stewart; Johnson, Matt and Davies, Gareth
Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 2, Article e12072(2)

Control of meadowsweet Filipendula ulmaria through a change of management from grazing to mowing at an English floodplain meadow. (2021)
George, Laura; Rothero, Emma; Tatarenko, Irina; Wallace, Hilary; Dodd, Michael; Reed, Nancy; Fleckney, Andy; Bellamy, Graham and Gowing, David
Conservation Evidence, 18 (pp. 44-49)

Recovering lost hay meadows: An overview of floodplain-meadow restoration projects in England and Wales (2020-12)
Rothero, Emma; Tatarenko, Irina and Gowing, David
Journal for Nature Conservation, 58, Article 125925

Restoration of a floodplain meadow in Wiltshire, UK through application of green hay and conversion from pasture to meadow management (2019)
Rothero, Emma E. C.; Wallace, Hilary H. L and Hosie, Catherine
Conservation Evidence, 16 (pp. 12-16)

Meadows and more: a botanical journal of five days on the Uists, Benbecula and Eriskay (2018-12)
Mountford, Owen; Clarke, Stewart; Gowing, David; Rothero, Emma and Wallace, Hilary
Hebridean Naturalist, 18 (pp. 72-88)

Floodplain Meadows: Beauty and Utility - A Technical Handbook (2016)
Rothero, Emma; Lake, Sophie and Gowing, David
ISBN : 978-1-4730-2067-2 / 978-1-4730-2066-5 | Publisher : Floodplain Meadows Partnership, The Open University | Published : Milton Keynes

Chapter 10 Restoration and creation of floodplain meadows (2016)
Lawson, Clare and Rothero, Emma
In: Rothero, Emma; Lake, Sophie and Gowing, David eds. Floodplain Meadows - Beauty and Utility. A technical handbook. (pp. 68-86)
ISBN : 978-1-4730-2067-2 / 978-1-4730-2066-5 | Publisher : Floodplain Meadows Partnership, The Open University | Published : Milton Keynes

Restoration success of British floodplain meadows (2018)
Rothero, Emma and Tatarenko, Irina
In : Ecosystem and Habitat Management: Research, Policy, Practice (27-28 Mar 2018, University of Worcester) (pp. 139-148)

Re-assemblage of plant communities: a survey of floodplain meadow restoration projects in the UK (2018)
Tatarenko, Irina; Rothero, Emma and Wallace, Hilary
In : Proceedings of the II international conference "Systematic and floristic studies in Northern Eurasia" (on the 90th anniversary of Prof. A. G. Elenevsky) (5-8 Dec 2018, Moscow, Russia)

The natural capital of floodplains: management, protection and restoration to deliver greater benefits (2018)
Lawson, Clare; Rothero, Emma; Gowing, David; Nisbet, Tom; Barsoum, Nadia; Broadmeadow, Samantha and Skinner, Ann
The Valuing Nature Programme