Professor Dapeng Yu

Ph.D. (Leeds)

  • Professor of River Dynamics
Publications
Google Scholar
Dapeng Yu

Academic career

2019-present: Professor of River Dynamics, Loughborough University.
2015-2019: Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University.
2007-2015: Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University. 
2004-2007: Research Associate in Physical Geography, Durham University. 
2001-2005: PhD in Physical Geography (funded by Overseas Research Scholarship and Leeds University), University of Leeds, UK.
1999-2001: M.Sc. in Geographical Information Science (funded by the Netherlands government), Wageningen University & Research Centre, The Netherlands.

Professional responsibilities

2016-present: EPSRC Associate Peer Review College Member. 
2017: NERC Grant Assessment Panel Member. 
2017-2020: Visiting Professor: School of Geographical Sciences, East China Normal University, China. 
2016-present: International Advisory Board Member, School of Geographical Sciences, East China Normal University, China. 
Associate Editor: Frontiers of Earth Science. Springer.
Editorial board member: Journal of GeoVisulisation and Spatial Analysis. Springer.
2016-present: External Examiner of MSc Programme in Environmental Science at School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia. 
2016-present: Enterprise Director, Department of Geography, Loughborough University. 
2014-2015: British Council Researcher Links Programme Assessment Panel Member.

Innovation

2019 – present: Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Previsico, insurtech spinout providing real-time, property-level surface water flood forecasts to mitigate flood impacts globally, including live actionable flood nowcast and forecast warnings. Previsico’s mission is to be the leading global provider of cutting-edge flood prediction that saves lives and livelihoods, with the whole of the UK live and much of the USA mapped. Previsico is also targeting the Asia market and opened an office in Hong Kong in 2020.

Dapeng's research in recent years has been funded by NERC, EPSRC, Royal Geographical Society, and United Nations. His research expertise and interest lie in the following broad areas:

  • Hydrodynamic Modelling: Representative of Dapeng's work in hydrodynamic modelling is a 2D flood modelling software FloodMap, which is being used widely by researchers in many countries. He is the Loughborough Principal Investigator of two EPSRC grants (2015-2019) (Vaccinating the Nexus and STEPPING UP). He led a NERC climate service pathway project as Principal Investigator on Future Flood Risks, and involved in the Drone Watch project (2016).
  • Flood Risk Analysis and Impact Evaluation:  From 2014, Dapeng leads three NERC grants as Principal Investigator, including: (i) Resilience of critical infrastructure for emergency response to extreme flood events (NE/M008770/1), (ii) Real-time surface water flood risk mapping (NE/N013050/1); and (iii)  National assessment of emergency response accessibility during flooding (NE/R009600/1), in collaboration with organisations including Cabinet Office, Department for Communities and Local Governments, Met Office, Environment Agency, Resilience Forums, local authorities, Atkins Global, Transport for London and Transport Scotland.
  • Geocomputation and Spatial Analysis using Big Data: Dapeng has a MSc degree in Geographical Information Science from Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands. Representative of his expertise in this area is a risk analysis and mapping project in Yemen (as Co-I, working with Professor Robert Wilby (PI)), commissioned by the International Fund for Agricultural Development of the UN, which produced high-impact research outputs as well as practical guidance for risk managers internationally.

Undergraduate

Year 1

  • Tutorials (additional tutor). 

Year 2

  • Physical Geography Field course (additional tutor).
  • Remote Sensing and GIS (additional tutor). 
  • GRDP (additional tutor).

Year 3

  • GIS and Flood Management (module convenor). 
  • Dissertation (additional tutor). 

Postgraduate taught

  • Applied Environmental GIS (module convenor). 
  • Natural Hazards and Catastrophe Modelling (module convenor). 

Current postgraduate research students

  • Kate Mcanally (2015-) "Use of UAS in flood risk management". Principal Supervisor, with Dr David Graham.
  • Avinoam Baruch (2015-) "Crowd-sourcing for flood risk management". Co-Supervisor with Dr Andrew May, Design School.
  • Amelia Bulcock (2015-) "The geomorphic and hydraulic impact of complex weir removals: Evaluation risk in river restoration". Co-Supervisor with Professor Stephen Rice.
  • Samuel Dixon (2014-) "Hydro-power resilience". Co-Supervisor, with Professor Rob Wilby.
  • Daniel Green (2013-) "Coupling physical modelling with numerical modelling for urban flood inundation". Principal Supervisor.

Recent postgraduate research students

  • Xiaodan Wu (2012) "An evaluation of the impacts of land surface modification, storm sewer development, and rainfall variation on waterlogging risk in Shanghai". Visiting PhD student from East China Normal University.
  • Jie Yin (2011) "Flood risk analysis of Shanghai". Visiting PhD student from with East China Normal University.
  • Chanita Duangyiwa (2016) "Combined impact of land subsidence, sea level rise and storm surge on flood risks in Bangkok". Supported by Royal Thai Government Scholarship. Principal Supervisor, with Professor Rob Wilby.
  • Yin, J, Yu, D, Lin, N, Wilby, RL (2017) Evaluating the cascading impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding on emergency response spatial accessibility in Lower Manhattan, New York City, Journal of Hydrology, 555, pp.648-658, ISSN: 0022-1694.
  • Coles, D, Yu, D, Wilby, RL, Green, D, Herring, Z (2017) Beyond ‘flood hotspots’: Modelling emergency service accessibility during flooding in York, UK, Journal of Hydrology, ISSN: 0022-1694.
  • Yu, D, Yin, J, Liu, M (2016) Validating city-scale surface water flood modelling using crowd-sourced data, Environmental Research Letters, ISSN: 1748-9326.
  • Yin, J, Lin, N, Yu, D (2016) Coupled modeling of storm surge and coastal inundation: a case study in New York City during Hurricane Sandy, Water Resources Research, ISSN: 1944-7973. DOI: 10.1002/2016WR019102.
  • Yin, J, Yu, D, Yin, Z, Liu, M, He, Q (2016) Evaluating the impact and risk of pluvial flash flood on intra-urban road net- work: A case study in the city center of Shanghai, China, Journal of Hydrology, 537, pp.138-145, ISSN: 0022-1694.
  • Yu, D and Coulthard, TJ (2015) Evaluating the importance of catchment hydrological parameters for urban surface water flood modelling using a simple hydro-inundation model, Journal of Hydrology, 524, pp.385-400, ISSN: 0022-1694.
  • Yu, D (2010) Parallelization of a two-dimensional flood inundation model based on domain decomposition, Environmental Modelling and Software, 25(8), pp.935-945, ISSN: 1364-8152. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2010.03.003.
  • Yu, D and Lane, SN (2006) Urban fluvial flood modelling using a two-dimensional diffusion wave treatment, part 1: Mesh resolution effects, Hydrological Processes, 20(7), pp.1541-1565, ISSN: 0885-6087. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.5935.