Rhiannon Marchi-Smith

Background

Rhiannon’s work focuses on the governance of groundwater and mine water, particularly how technical evidence becomes (or fails to become) action across organisations. She works at the boundary between hydrogeology and social science, drawing on years of practice as a consultant and public sector hydrogeologist. She is a Fellow of the Geological Society and chairs its Hydrogeological Group.

She holds a BSc in Environmental Geoscience from Durham University and an MSc in Hydrogeology from the University of Birmingham. She previously worked as Lead Hydrogeologist to Gateshead Council on the FCRIP coalfield flood risk programme (Project Groundwater Northumbria), co-authored the Northeast Coalfield Hydrogeological Conceptual Model with the Coal Authority and Environment Agency, supported the development of the mining and groundwater constraints screening tool (North East of England) to be used with the SuDS Manual (CIRIA C753, 2015) and worked in international mining consultancy. She has contributed to national technical forums including BGS, GO-Science and FCRIP.

Her PhD builds on this practical experience to ask why responsibility for mine water is so fragmented and what that means for managing flooding, reuse, pollution and heat.

Research opportunities

- Governance of mine water and other legacy subsurface infrastructure

- Boundary objects, evidence and decision making in fragmented governance systems

- Creative qualitative methods for stakeholder engagement

Current activities

Doctoral researcher (SENSS/ESRC-funded) investigating how boundary objects shape the translation of information into collective action in mine water governance.