This innovative interdisciplinary project aims to develop an easy-to-use, evidence-based resource which can be used in decision-making in drought risk management. To achieve this, we will bring together information from drought science and scenario-modelling (using mathematical models to forecast the impacts of drought) with stakeholder engagement and narrative storytelling. While previous drought impact studies have often focused on using mathematical modelling, this project is very different. The project will integrate arts, humanities and social science research methods, with hydrological, meteorological, agricultural and ecological science knowledge through multi-partner collaboration. Seven case study catchments (areas linked by a common water resource) in England, Wales and Scotland will be selected to reflect the hydrological, socio-economic and cultural contrasts in the UK. Study of drought impacts will take place at different scales - from small plot experiments to local catchment scale. Citizen science and stakeholder engagement with plot experiments in urban and rural areas will be used as stimuli for conversations about drought risk and its mitigation. The project will: (i) investigate different stakeholder perceptions of when drought occurs and action is needed; (ii) examine how water level and temperature affect drought perception; (iii) explore the impact of policy decisions on drought management; (iv) consider water users' behaviours which lead to adverse drought impacts on people and ecosystems and; (v) evaluate water-use conflicts, synergies and trade-offs, drawing on previous drought experiences and community knowledge. The project spans a range of sectors including water supply; health, business, agriculture/horticulture, built environment, extractive industries and ecosystem services, within 7 case-study catchments. Through a storytelling approach, scientists will exchange cutting edge science with different drought stakeholders, and these stakeholders will, in turn, exchange their knowledge. Stakeholders include those in: construction; gardeners and allotment holders; small and large businesses; local authorities; emergency planners; recreational water users; biodiversity managers; public health professionals - both physical and mental health; and local communities/public. The stakeholder meetings will capture various data including: - different stakeholder perceptions of drought and its causes - local knowledge around drought onset and strategies for mitigation (e.g. attitudes to water saving, responses to reduced water availability) - insights into how to live with drought and increase individual/community drought resilience - the impact of alternating floods and droughts The information will be shared within, and between, stakeholder groups in the case-studies and beyond using social media. This information will be analysed, and integrated with drought science to develop an innovative web-based decision-making utility. These data will feedback into the drought modelling and future scenario building with a view to exploring a variety of policy options. This will help ascertain present and future water resources availability, focusing on past, present and future drought periods across N-S and W-E climatic gradients. The project will be as far as possible be 'open science' - maintaining open, real-time access to research questions, data, results, methodologies, narratives, publications and other outputs via the project website, updated as the project progresses. Project outputs will include: the decision-making support utility incorporating science-narrative resources; hydrological models for the 7 case-study catchments; a social media web-platform to share project resources; a database of species responses/management options to mitigate drought/post-drought recovery at different scales, and management guidelines on coping with drought/water scarcity at different scales.

This research is a study of the particular musical qualities of the work of Samuel Beckett, in his early work; Beckett uses music as a comparative model for literature; specific music works and philosophical notions of music are employed as part of his exploration of the limits of language and literature. My work examines his process and its relevance to key issues in the relationships between music, language and meaning, considering the ways in which Beckett's work subsequently becomes increasingly musical in its structure and effect, finally, I will consider the consequent implications of composer who work with Beckett's text.

European nations are often thought of as culturally homogenous. Yet over 200 national minorities have found recognition through the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, with many more European languages thought by UNESCO to be critically endangered. Clearly the picture is more complicated than meets the eye. One way that minority cultures express their distinct identities is through intangible cultural heritage (ICH). ICH describes a culture's traditions rather than its monuments: from language to crafts, from dancing to food, it is the 'traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants' (UNESCO). The ICH of national minorities is therefore an important part of this more complex cultural landscape between and within nations. Yet alongside these expressions of minority culture sit majority narratives. Influencing how a minority culture is seen from the outside, these can be powerful in creating imaginative geographies of minority cultures - such as through literature, television, or how tourist destinations are marketed. These may ring true with the minority culture but may also be dissonant, constructed by an external gaze. The dominance and visibility of these narratives across a nation's culture and beyond can mean the minority culture is less visible, less resilient, fragmented, and so marginalised. This marginalisation can mean that the ability of those who identify with a minority culture to feel at home in this national, European, and global context - to meaningfully express their perspectives and identities, and sustainably live their cultural heritage - is threatened. But these narratives and perspectives, too, are complicated, since the people who create and consume these narratives occupy not just a binary either/or of belonging to the minority or majority, but also a spectrum of more fluid identities both within communities and even within individuals. This project will use archival and desk research, primary data, and creative practice-based research - compared across minority cultures in the UK (Cornwall), Netherlands (Fryslân), Latvia and Estonia (Livonian) - to better understand this complex cultural landscape. Using live cultural events as a focus, taking inter-disciplinary and cross-national perspectives we will ask: How can a better understanding of the interplay between majority and minority narratives, perspectives, and performances of intangible cultural heritage enable us to make marginalised cultural landscapes more visible and resilient? Findings will inform recommendations for stakeholders from local communities to (inter)national policy-makers. By generating new knowledge about the socio-spatial geographies of existing heritage challenges, we intend that stakeholders will use insights to change policies, practices, or behaviours to make marginalised ICH more visible and resilient. Longer-term, we hope to impact the visibility and resilience of minority cultures within regional, national and global society, economy, and culture.

Aims To develop new approaches to computer game branching narratives, via the concept of a "virtual gamemaster", inspired by the gamemasters of tabletop roleplaying games (a gamemaster referees a game, directing play and storytelling). Objectives 1. Explain, analyse and contextualise computer game branching narratives within the field of interactive narrative structures in entertainment media. 2. Explain and analyse the role of the gamemaster in tabletop roleplaying games. 3. Investigate how the gamemaster's role might inform the design and function of computer game branching narrative structures, theoretically and practically. 4. Develop a virtual gamemaster system, utilising the outcomes above, to present branching narrative to a player while adhering to some beneficial principles of gamemastering. Prediction of final form of thesis Written thesis with images and diagrams Practical components: - written framework for adapting gamemastering techniques to computer game branching narratives - the principles of the virtual gamemaster which will be explored through practice; - exploratory software systems, games, and other game design practice investigating my branching narrative, developed in Unity, Twine and other systems as appropriate to the task, digital and non-digital

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.