5th ICE/CIWEM Yorkshire and Humber flooding and water quality conference

Dr Devakunjari Vadibeler

Dr Devakunjari Vadibeler is a water scientist at Arup, passionate about tackling some of the water sector’s most pressing challenges through science, innovation, and collaboration. Her work focuses on improving water quality, resilience, and sustainability, with a particular interest in emerging micropollutants, including PFAS.

Before joining Arup in 2025, Deva was an Innovate UK-funded Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate, leading a Property Flood Resilience project that successfully bridged research and industry. The project was recognised as Outstanding by Innovate UK, and Deva was named one of the 50 Faces of KTP, celebrating individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the programme over its 50-year history.

Deva holds a PhD in Isotope Hydrology from Vienna, Austria and Deva brings international experience across research, industry, and consultancy, and is committed to developing practical, sustainable solutions for future water challenges.

Dr Rob Thomas

Rob is an environmental scientist with over 20 years' experience split between research and technical roles in the UK higher education sector and the US Federal Government. He has interests encompassing fluvial, estuarine and colluvial systems, and the interactions between these dynamic landscapes and socially vulnerable human communities.

He contributed to recent CCRA4 studies to quantify social vulnerability to climate-related hazards, and led or co-led projects examining optimal management strategies for the Humber estuary, testing land management practices to minimise water and nutrient losses from farmers' fields, establishing living labs to assess the efficacy of SuDS, optimising screen designs to prevent the entrainment of juvenile eels into water intakes, and assessing the efficacy of property flood resilience measures. 

David Owen

David is Resilience Partnership Portfolio Manager for the West area at Yorkshire Water. Trained in architecture, he began his career in housing design in Warwickshire before heading north.

He has spent more than 30 years in many varied water management roles across risk, resilience, asset strategy and water resources. Currently he is developing integrated water management plans that lever nature-based solutions, alongside traditional assets.

Based in Leeds, David is a visiting lecturer and mentor at the Leeds Centre for Projects and past chair and current member of the University of Leeds School of Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Committee.

Cllr Katie Kimber

Katie Kimber lives in the flood-prone Calder Valley and became a flood warden after her own home was flooded on Boxing Day 2015. Over the past ten years, she has helped her community prepare for flooding and support one another when it happens.

Katie believes that flood resilience starts with informed and connected communities. When people understand the flood risk to their homes, know where to find reliable information and are aware of the practical steps they can take, they are better able to prepare, respond and recover.