The initiative aims to assess the health of urbanised rivers, while upskilling volunteers and fostering a sense of stewardship towards their local waterways.
The Birmingham River Champions citizen science project is gaining traction across the West Midlands after expanding its scheme to Rugby. The initiative - led by Dr James C. White from the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - seeks to assess the health of Birmingham’s highly urbanised rivers, empower volunteers and support the wildlife and ecosystems of local waterways.
The initiative first launched in autumn 2023 via Environment Agency seed funding - to date, over 200 volunteers have now signed up from 23 different groups. Communities collect data using various techniques, including ‘Urban Riverfly’ where underwater critters called ‘macroinvertebrates’ are sampled to characterise ecological health, and water chemistry sampling is used to measure a ‘cocktail’ of pollutants.
Most recently, the value of Birmingham River Champions was recognised by Rugby Borough Council, who are funding the university to establish their own equivalent within the region. This will entail engaging with communities across Rugby to monitor rivers including the Avon, Swift and Sow Brook, and will employ the same citizen science techniques being implemented within Birmingham.
We're delighted that we're expanding this project further afield to Rugby and hope to be able to continue this growth across the Midlands over the coming months and years. By educating communities and encouraging them to monitor their local rivers, we can help to futureproof the health of our waterways and their ecosystems.
This growth reflects the strength of a collaborative approach that brings together universities and local communities to address environmental challenges. As River Champions continues to develop, it demonstrates how university-led research can translate into real-world impact while empowering communities to play a direct role in protecting the natural environment.
Dr James White, the project leader, said: "Citizen science initiatives like Birmingham River Champions provide invaluable data to help us to better understand the pressures impacting urban watercourses and how we can address these challenges. We're delighted that we're expanding this project further afield to Rugby and hope to be able to continue this growth across the Midlands over the coming months and years.
"By educating communities and encouraging them to monitor their local rivers, we can help to futureproof the health of our waterways and their ecosystems."
Since the inception of Birmingham River Champions, volunteers have collected over 400 samples, with the 233 Urban Riverfly records surpassing the number of macroinvertebrate samples collected by the Environment Agency in the last 15 years.
A fundamental part of the project is to communicate citizen science findings back to volunteers, and university academics are innovatively applying their expertise to achieve this. This includes calculating and analysing ecosystem health metrics, which are showcased in a web application where volunteers can visualise and download their results.
Community monitoring not only strengthens stewardship, it also creates long‑term environmental records and local knowledge that researchers simply couldn’t gather alone.
Professor David Hannah, Director of the Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action, said: "Citizen science gives us insights into the health of our urban rivers. Community monitoring not only strengthens stewardship, it also creates long‑term environmental records and local knowledge that researchers simply couldn’t gather alone.
"These contributions make citizen science an essential partner to research in protecting freshwater ecosystems."
The success of the Birmingham River Champions has previously been recognised by a feature on the BBC news, but also through its role feeding into new initiatives. This includes forming a key part of the UNESCO-designation of the regional ‘Upper Tame’ catchment, and also facilitating a research project identifying how volunteers value local watercourses that will shape future restoration visions.
Learn more about Birmingham River Champions and how to get involved in future opportunities.
Research Fellow in Water Sciences
Dr James Christopher White is a global leader in guiding ecologically sustainable water management operations and river management solutions.
Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability)
Professor David Hannah studies hydroclimatology in cold regions, focusing on river dynamics, climate interactions, and ecohydrology.
