Floodplain Meadows Partnership Ambassadors

The Floodplain Meadows Partnership is an innovative project focussing on research, management, promotion and restoration of these special meadows in England and Wales. Floodplain Meadows Partnership Ambassadors have undertaken a two- to three-year training programme to study floodplain meadows, so they can understand impacts on these plant communities.

We are currently (spring 2023) completing the training for our third phase of these ‘Ambassadors’, having gone through two earlier phases. We are assessing the quality of this training provision with a view to making improvements should they be required. Through this cohort of Ambassadors we are also exploring how to create a community of practise by trialling different mechanisms for communication and learning.

Project team: Emma Rothero, David Gowing and Sarah Davies.

We would like to learn the following from our third cohort of trainees:

• How effective has our training been for trainees’ work/professional lives?
• Has it improved knowledge and experience within their organisations?
• Has it improved their career development?
• Has it resulted in improved floodplain meadow site management (better for the environment)?
• Can an online forum build a community of practise in the conservation sector?

Our cohort of Ambassadors include professionals or volunteers working in the conservation sector, engaged in providing professional, vocational training in wet grassland ecohydrology.

So far, we have completed the practical training and are waiting for the completion of the Ambassadors’ final reports about their sites, based on the data they have been collecting. We asked them to complete questionnaires after their first residential training course, and after their mid-point online data entry training course. We will ask them to complete a final questionnaire after they have submitted their reports. These questionnaires will then be analysed with a view to publishing the results.