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Rivers that discharge from mountain ranges support vast populations that depend on annual floods for irrigation and nutrient supply to crops. The largest population of this type is that of the Gangetic Plains where nearly 10% of the world's population depend on waters from the Himalaya. Much of this area is also characterised by extremely low income levels such as in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states in India, and in Nepal. Consequently, these regions have long been supported through the UK's overseas aid budget. Unfortunately, many of the Himalayan rivers are also the source of devastating floods, with effects further compounded where isolated communities, living on the river floodplain, lack disaster risk management and resilience measures. In Nepal, flood disasters were responsible for over USD 130 million losses and nearly one third of all natural disaster-related deaths between 2001 and 20081; this doesn't include the downstream cross-border impact in India. More recent examples include the 2008 Kosi River avulsion that killed hundreds and rendered millions homeless, and the 2013 Uttarakhand floods that killed over 5000 people and is viewed as India's worst natural disaster since 2004. Most of the damage generated by the Uttarakhand floods resulted from major zones of erosion and deposition during peak discharge of the channel; studies by the Edinburgh Land Surface Dynamics group demonstrated that the main signal of change driven by the dynamic nature of the alluvial topography during flooding was broadly predictable. The dangers of changing river morphology during floods has also been highlighted following major earthquakes such as the 2008 Wenchuan and 1999 Taiwan earthquakes where sediment released into the rivers from landslides caused river beds to rise by up to 18 m causing devastating floods in the years following the earthquakes due to re-routing of river courses. The 'seismic gap' left in western Nepal following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake suggests that readiness for a comparable cascade of flood hazards following a major earthquake is imperative for this region. In this proposal, we aim to build a unique interdisciplinary team based at Edinburgh University combining engineers, geomorphologists, social anthropologists, human geographers and sustainable building designers. This team will rise to the challenge of how academic research can help develop local economies and save lives in response to flooding in the Nepalese plains. We are working closely with the international NGO Practical Action who work with local communities and government bodies to improve resilience. Through a series of workshops in Nepal, we will understand the needs of the communities and the nature of the science that needs to be generated. We will use fieldwork in the region accompanied by the generation of remotely sensed topographic maps to reconstruct past floods, and as input into predictive models. Working with engineers, we will build models that not only predict the passage of flood waters, but also the changing shape of the underlying river bed during these enormous floods. Having developed predictions for future floods, we will also investigate the range of local building constructions that will enable more sustainable flood platforms to be constructed. This project represents the foundations for the expansion of this strategy into the future with applications all the way along the Himalayan floodplains in collaboration with the range of different ethnic and political contexts. Through

The glaciers and snowfields of the Himalayan mountain range provide meltwater that is critical for the many millions of people living in downstream areas, in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan for example. Their predominantly subsistence, agriculturally-based economies are entirely dependent on this supply of water during the dry (winter) season. These natural reservoirs are receding in the face of a warming climate, threatening food security in years to come. It is critical that vulnerable communities start to plan now for future water shortages, and develop simple but effective methods for harvesting and storing water during the rainy season, for use when the river discharge is low. At the present time, how the contribution of meltwater to river flows varies through space and time is poorly quantified. We need to know this to be able to identify those communities that will experience the greatest reductions in water supply in the future. We also know relatively little about the communities that depend most on this resource - those in the mountains, generally marginalised from wider society and the national economy. We need to better understand their needs so that we can work with them to develop adaptation solutions. Our understanding of the history behind their current methods for irrigation and water capture and the politics and arrangements that determine their access to water is also very superficial. This needs to be better defined so that we can respect community heritage and offer adaptation solutions that are successfully integrated into current practices and are, ultimately, sustainable. HARVEST will explore the methods with which we can close these knowledge gaps. Our team comprises scientists, social scientists, an environmental historian, an engineer, and an expert in public health. Critically, we are working with Practical Action, a leading international NGO based in Kathmandu, with expertise in grassroots development and poverty alleviation. The scientists will take river water samples at different times of the year and at different locations, and use the concentration of stable isotopes (i.e. chemical signatures) to determine how much of the flow comprises snow and ice melt. This will provide quantitative data to identify those communities that will experience the greatest future water shortages. The social scientists will design and implement a household survey that will explore current issues of water use in the mountains, as well as irrigation and water harvesting/storage methods. The environmental historian will explore the British and Nepali archives for information on water use in Nepal, and establish the political and social contexts on which current access arrangements operate. Our engineer will work with the health scientist and Practical Action to identify adaptation measures that have been used in the past in rural mountain communities, and establish mechanisms by which the findings of the research team can be best used within these communities. Rather than offering particular solutions at this stage, the HARVEST team will have gathered experience and knowledge that will form the foundation of a broader-scale project across the Himalaya in a future funding call.

As a core human capability, creative product design has the capacity to change the physical environment by envisioning, planning and executing solutions to real-world problems that can generate wealth and provide employment (IDSA 2015). Through the development of dedicated methods/tools, design activity has reached high levels of sophistication in the developed world, where outcomes have a major impact on quality of life embodied in the functionality of manufactured products and contribution to wealth generation/employment through a supply chain economy (Proximity Design, 2014). However, the economic and social benefits of such approaches remain problematic in ODA recipient countries due to a lack of appropriate training and education in opportunities and nature of the creative process. This project integrates the distinctive and emerging methods of arts and humanities research in creative product design to share, discuss, co-create and envisage ways in which the discipline can contribute to key areas of the UN2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development i.e. "emerging creative economies, creative practices.....and building on local crafts, products, expertise and experience" (United Nations 2015). The ultimate outcome is to provide employment to tackle poverty as identified in the UK Government Aid Strategy 9 (Department for International Development, 2015). The proposal exploits the PI and CI's expertise in the use of design to support product development for both developed and developing economies by facilitating the identification and application of approaches that are appropriate for ODA recipient countries. It builds on a recent PhD undertaken by the CI who has direct, first-hand experience of the key issues through field work in Myanmar. The project outcomes will be achieved via a six phase network-driven approach that promotes shared learning and dissemination of outcomes: Phase 1 - Establish latest thinking in the use of design-based approaches for creative product design in the four levels of ODA recipient country Phase 2 - Collate case study examples of creative product design undertaken in the four levels of ODA recipient country that effectively address opportunities/challenges Phase 3 - Deliver a UK networking event to explore the challenges and opportunities for creative product development in ODA recipient countries through the presentation/discussion of the Phase 1 case studies; generation of an approach for best practice; exploration/testing of this through a co-design task for a problem/issue/opportunity identified for each of the ODA recipient country (four design briefs); identify a consensus-driven approach for roll-out to all ODA recipient countries Phase 4 - Translate the consensus-driven approach and case studies/designed outcomes into an interactive website, video and booklet for dissemination at a launch event in each of the four levels of ODA recipient country plus distribution to key representatives (academic/government/business) in all 146 ODA recipient countries Phase 5 - Reflect on all project activities and identify opportunities to further extend the work through further applications for funding The outcomes from the project will be embodied in an interactive website and printed booklet that has relevance for anyone wishing to use creative product design in ODA recipient countries to address problems/issues/opportunities and create employment (direct/indirect) that will ultimately contribute to the alleviation of poverty as identified in the UN2030 Agenda. The outcomes from the network will be embodied in the distributed resources, with the interactive website continuing to develop beyond the six month project through the uploading of case studies that demonstrate the successful application of the identified approaches and edited/maintained on a voluntary basis by the PI/CI.