Oli Etheringon

About me

Like everyone here at WWT, I have a great love for nature and the outdoors - instilled in me initially by my parents’ keenness for walking and their patient pointing out of all manner of interesting finds. This enthusiasm, combined with a strong sense of justice, motivates me towards work that I believe can make a tangible difference to protect and restore our natural world.

My undergraduate educational background is in mechanical engineering and chemistry. Whilst working as an emergency responder chemist (advising on chemical incidents) I developed an interest in environmental modelling and left to pursue a postgraduate diploma in geographical information systems and remote sensing at Aberystwyth University.

I then went on to design river restoration projects (primarily on chalk rivers across the South of England) and then to provide NFM advice, design, and project delivery along with general advice on farming for wildlife in Somerset.

My role / My project

I am WWT’s project manager for the Thames RFCC NFM project, funded by the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. Through this project, we aim to improve the adoption of natural flood management (NFM) across the whole Thames catchment – an area spanning over 16,200 square kilometres and 16 counties, with more than 15 million people living there – to the benefit of both people and wildlife.

NFM has the potential to mitigate the occurrence and severity of flooding (and drought) through a variety of different interventions, according to site characteristics and land use requirements. We attempt to emulate or restore natural processes that will slow the flow of water and increase its storage throughout the catchment, reducing the pressure at key points downstream.

Connecting stakeholders - to funding, expertise, and each other - is an essential component of this project and significant effort is being put into building the relationships between various community groups, landowners, and environmental charities. With ever increasing interest and engagement in NFM, we hope that we can empower local communities in ways that effect change and propagate understanding beyond the bounds of this one project.

Experience and interests

• Natural flood management / nature-based solutions.
• Geospatial analysis & opportunity mapping
• Detailed design, CDM
• Hydrology & flood risk