5: Next steps

5.1: The Rivalry Project

The researchers have successfully applied for a follow-on grant to continue their engagement with ARC. An IAA Advance award has been secured, to support a further 12 months of MH’s salary (and associated costs), from March 2025 to February 2026.  

This new phase is dubbed The Rivalry Project, in recognition of the tension between competition and collaboration that characterises many business engagements (see 3.4 above). The word ‘rivalry’ derives from the Latin rivalis, which literally means ‘relating to a river’. As a noun, it referred originally to those who lived along a shared riverbank – drawing from and stewarding the same waters. The word’s contemporary usage serves as a prompt to consider the possible forms those relationships can take, whether they are based in competition or reaching beyond it. 

The Rivalry Project entails the following: 

• The researchers will continue their listening role, within and on behalf of the ARC team - helping to provide an important sense of continuity as ARC is formally constituted as a CIC. During this process, some of ARC’s formative team will step away, and there will be a new emphasis on practical delivery.  

• MH has been formally seconded to LCC – and thence to ARC – shifting his role somewhat from that of ‘critical friend’ to that of public ambassador for ARC. Although MH is not tasked directly with fundraising, he is involved in relationship-building conversations with potential partners.  

• Performances of Inundated will be arranged for a variety of audiences, during the course of the project, to spark conversation and enhance engagement. In June 2025, for example, the piece was presented as a fringe event for both the Re: Generation Earth conference in Leeds (formerly Yorkshire Sustainability Festival), and the national Flood and Coast conference in Telford.   

• Further public exchange events will also be organised, bringing together representatives from the upstream farming community and downstream business community, to enhance dialogue and understanding. 

• MH will convene a stakeholder dialogue group in Leeds, modelled on SSB’s previous work with water-sector partners. Recurring meetings, chaired by MH, will explore the wider potential for business-sector engagement with climate resilience.  

• The researchers will develop workshop materials for schools and colleges, informed by ARC’s cross-disciplinary approach, and by the identified need for ARC to be associated with visible social benefits. 

The Rivalry Project will thus extend the researchers’ emphasis on listening and relationship-building, deploying these skills in fresh contexts across the catchment of the Aire.