Dr Feng Mao

Associate Professor of Global Sustainable Development

Director of Research for the School for Cross-faculty Studies

Feng.Mao@warwick.ac.uk

R2.14, Ramphal Building, School for Cross-Faculty Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL

Overview

Dr Feng Mao is Associate Professor of Global Sustainable Development and Director of Research at the School for Cross-Faculty Studies, University of Warwick. His interdisciplinary research explores the dynamic interactions between water, ecosystems, society, and technology to address complex sustainability challenges. His current work is structured around three interrelated themes:

Water security and resilience under climate change – examining socio-hydrological systems, urban water resilience, and climate adaptation strategies across diverse geographical contexts.
Data science and digital technologies for the environment and policy – applying tools such as sensors, AI, data visualisation, and environmental informatics to support evidence-based decision-making and governance.
Participatory and collaborative methods for sustainable development – advancing serious games, citizen science, and transdisciplinary co-creation to support stakeholder engagement and inclusive innovation.

Dr Mao leads and collaborates on a wide range of research initiatives, including projects in collaborations with researchers and non-academic partners from sub-Saharan Africa, South and East Asia, and Europe. He is a member of the NERC Future Leaders Council and sits on the UKRI-NERC Aviation Assurance Panel, helping to shape strategic directions for UK environmental science. Internationally, he serves as Theme Lead for Water Security in a Changing World within the ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort Programme, supporting a community of researchers to address local climate change challenges through research, training, engagement, and knowledge exchange. Dr Mao also serves as Sustainability Lead for the AHRC-funded CreaTech Frontiers project and Academic Lead for the Research England-funded Games and Innovation Nexus (GAIN) project, playing an active role in bridging research, sustainability, and innovation across the creative industries.

Academic Profile

Education

PhD in Geography, University of Cambridge
MPhil in Politics, University of Cambridge
MRes in Biodiversity and Conservation, University of Leeds
BSc in Biological Sciences, Zhejiang University

Career overview

Associate Professor of Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick (2022 - present)
Lecturer in Physical Geography and Environmental Sustainability, Cardiff University (2020-2022)
Visiting Scholar, Stanford University (2020)
Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University (2019)
Research Fellow, University of Birmingham (2015-2020)

Leaderships and Memberships

Director of Research, School for Cross-faculty Studies, University of Warwick
Theme Lead of Complex Ecosystems and Climate Change, Institute for Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick
Co-Director, Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholarships Programme, University of Warwick
Member, NERC Future Leaders Council
Theme Lead of Water Security in a Changing World, Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Programme, Association of Commonwealth Universities
Founder and Lead, GamEngage.org
Co-Founder, Resilient Cities in Fragile Contexts Research Network, Cardiff University
Fellow, Royal Geographical Society
Member, American Geophysical Union
Member, European Geosciences Union
Member, International Association of Hydrological Sciences

Recent Projects

DT-SEGA: Integrating Digital Twins and SErious GAmes for Climate Change Adaptation
Monash Warwick Alliance Research Activation Fund
Project Lead | £9,950 | 2025-2026

AI-driven Deep Learning Prediction for Subsurface Characterisation Using Random Fields
Fudan–Warwick Joint Seed Fund, University of Warwick
Project Lead | £10,000 | 2025–2026

Long-term Collective Student Research Programme (LoCoR)
Education Fund, University of Warwick
Project Lead | £14,917 | 2025–2026

CreaTech Frontiers
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Sustainability Lead | £6.75 million | 2025–2030

Mathematics for Resilient Cities and Communities in the Face of Extreme Weather Events
Interdisciplinary Research Spotlights Research Development Fund, University of Warwick
Project Co-Lead | £14,793 | 2024–2025

Localising Global Data through Participatory Interpretation: A Water Security Case Study in Nigeria (GLocalWater)
Participatory Research Fund, University of Warwick
Project Lead | £24,733 | 2024–2025

Decision Making for Water Security Under Climate Change: A Minimum Viable Prototype Integrating Serious Games, Data Science, and Behavioural Research (Water-MVP)
Interdisciplinary Research Spotlights Research Development Fund, University of Warwick
Project Lead | £14,873 | 2024–2025

Exploring Urban Green Transition Paths through Ecosystem Services
SJTU–Warwick Joint Seed Fund, University of Warwick
Project Lead | £2,410 | 2024–2025

Identification of Water Security Solutions and Climate Change Adaptation through Citizen Science and Co-Creation in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Case Studies from Nigeria, India and South Africa
British Council and Association of Commonwealth Universities
Project Co-Lead | £40,000 | 2024–2025

Games and Innovation Nexus (GAIN)
Research England Connecting Capabilities Fund
Academic Lead | £1.5 million | 2023–2025

Publications

Richelle, B., Mao, F., and Liebe, U. (2025) Towards equitable, integrated, and adaptive water-energy-food nexus research in Africa: a systematic literature review. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 115. 108043. doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2025.108043 ISSN 0195-9255.
Mao, F., Shanafiled, M., Ouellet, V., Hannah, D.M., Krause, S. (2025) Assessing river discharge dynamics through relative surface water extent changes in river basins. iScience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111598.
Zhao, W., He, W., Zhao, X., Chen, F., Zhang, J., Jin, X., Mao, F., Li, Z. (2025) Assessing the impact of small hydropower stations on the connectivity of the Chishui River and restoration strategies. Journal of Lake Sciences. https://doi.org/10.18307/2025/0112.
Feng, S., Wang, H., Zhang, J., Zhao, X., Zhao, J., Mao, F., Peng, W., & Chen, Q. (2025). Effect of Environmental Factors on Macrobenthic Community Structure in Chishui River Basin. Sustainability, 17(2), 469. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17020469.
Whitby, M., Mao, F., Stawarz, K., Marrero, S., Walton, J.L.(2024) Serious GamesCookbook: A beginner’s guide to using and designing serious games.University of Warwick Press.Available at:https://doi.org/10.31273/978-1-911675-13-6.
Zhang, X., Mao, F., Gong, Z., Hannah, D.M., Cai, Y., Wu, J. (2023) A disaster-damage-based framework for assessing urban resilience to intense rainfall-induced flooding. Urban Climate. 48, 101402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101402
Li, Z., Mao, F., Wu, C. (2022) Can we share models if sharing data is not an option? Patterns 3(11), 100603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2022.100603
Mao, F., Miller J.D., Young, S.L., Krause, S., Hannah, D.M., and HWISE Research Coordination Network (2022) Inequality of household water security follows a Development Kuznets Curve. Nature Communications 13, 4525. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31867-3
Ward, A., Packman, A., Bernal, S., Brekenfeld, N., Drummond, J., Graham, E., Hannah, D., Klaar, M., Krause, S., Kurz, M., Li, A., Lupon, A., Mao, F., Martí, E., Ouellet, V., Royer, T., Stegen, J., and Zarnetske, J. (2022) Advancing river corridor science beyond disciplinary boundaries with an inductive approach to hypothesis generation, Hydrological Processes.
Chen, Y., Ge, Y., Yang, G., Wu, Z., Du, Y., Mao, F., Liu, S., Xu, R., Qu, Z., Xu, B., & Chang, J. (2022). Landscape and Urban Planning Inequalities of urban green space area and ecosystem services along urban center-edge gradients. Landscape and Urban Planning, 217, 104266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104266
Chang, J., Yang, G., Liu, S., Jin, H., Wu, Z., Xu, R., Min, Y., Zheng, K., Xu, B., Luo, W., Mao, F., Ge, Y., & Cheong, K. H. (2022). A Gradient Model for the Spatial Patterns of Cities. Advanced Theory and Simulations, 2100486. https://doi.org/10.1002/adts.202100486
Wu, C., Xu, C., Mao, F., Xu, X., & Zhang, C. (2022). The impact of invisible-spreaders on COVID-19 transmission and work resumption. Plos One, 17(1), e0252994. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252994
Liu, S., Yang, G., Wu, Z., Mao, F., Qu, Z., Ge, Y., and Chang, J. (2021) Studying the distribution patterns, dynamics and influencing factors of city functional components by gradient analysis. Scientific Reports. 11, 17802. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97208-4
Chang, J., Ge, Y., Wu, Z., Du, Y., Pan, K., Yang, G., Ren, Y., Heino, M.P., Mao, F., Cheong, K.H., Qu, Z., Fan, X., Min, Y., Peng, C., and Meyerson, L.A. (2021) Modern cities modelled as "super-cells" rather than multicellular organisms: Implications for industry, goods and services. doi: 10.1002/bies.202100041
Mao, F., Ullah, S., Gorelick, S., Hannah, D.M., and Krause, S. (2021) Increasing nutrient inputs risk an upsurge of global nitrous oxide emission from mangrove ecosystems. One Earth. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2021.04.007
Junqueira, A. M., Mao, F., Mendes, T. S. G., Simões, S. J. C., Balestieri, J. A. P., & Hannah, D. M. (2021). Estimation of river flow using CubeSats remote sensing. Science of The Total Environment, 788, 147762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147762
Xu, L.,Mao, F., Famiglietti, J.S., Pomeroy J.W., Pahl-Wostl C. (2021) Understanding cascading effects of resilience in human-water systems: a conceptual framework, inMultisystemic Resilience: Adaptation and Transformation in Contexts of Change.Edited by Dr Michael Ungar.Oxford University Press.
Karpouzoglou, T., Dewulf, A., Perez, K., Gurung, P., Regmi, S., Isaeva, A., Foggin, M., Bastiaensen, J., Hecken, G.V., Zulkafli, Z., Mao, F., Clark, J., Hannah, D.M., Sagar, P., Buytaert, W., Cieslik, K. (2020) From present to future development pathways in fragile mountain landscapes. Environmental Science and Policy. 114, 606–613. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.09.016
Hannah, D.M., Lynch, I., Mao, F., Miller, J., Young, S.L. and Krause, S. (2020) Water and sanitation for all in a pandemic, Nature Sustainability. doi: 10.1038/s41893-020-0593-7
Mao, F., Khamis, K., Clark, J., Krause, S., Buytaert, W., Ochoa-Tocachi, B. F., Hannah, D.M. (2020) Moving beyond the technology: a socio-technical roadmap for low-cost water sensor network applications. Environmental Science and Technology. doi: 1021/acs.est.9b07125
Docherty, J., Mao, F., Buytaert, W., Clark, J., Hannah, D. (2020) A framework for understanding water-related multi-hazards in a sustainable development context. Progress of Physical Geography. doi: doi.org/10.1177/0309133319900926
Mao, F., Khamis K., Krause, S., Clark J., Hannah D.M. (2019) Low-cost environmental sensor networks: recent advances and future directions. Frontiers in Earth Science. doi: doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00221
Dewulf, A., Karpouzoglou, T., Warner, J., Wesselink, A.J., Mao, F., Vos, J., Tamas, P., Groot, A., Heijmans, A., Ahmd, F., Hoang, L., Vij, S., Buytaert, W (2019) The power to define resilience in social-hydrological systems: towards a power-sensitive resilience framework. WIREs Water. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1377
Mao, F., Zhao, X., Ma, P., Chi, S., Richards, K., Clark, J., Hannah, D. M., Krause, S. (2019) Revision of biological indices for aquatic systems: A ridge-regression solution. Ecological Indicators. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105478
Ochoa-Tocachi, B. F., Bardales, J. D., Antiporta, J., Pérez, K., Acosta, L., Mao, F., Zulkafli, Z., Gil-Ríos, J., Angulo, O., Grainger, S., Gammie, G., Bièvre, B. D., and Buytaert, W. (2019) Potential contributions of pre-Inca infiltration infrastructure to Andean water security. Nature Sustainability. doi: 10.1038/s41893-019-0307-1
Mao, F., Zhao, X., Ma, P., Chi, S., Richards, K., Clark, J., Hannah, D. M., Krause, S. (2019) Developing composite indicators for ecological water quality assessment based on network interactions and expert judgment. Environmental Modelling and Software, 115: 51-62. doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.01.011
Mao, F., Richards, K., Toland, M., Shi, Y., Hannah, D. and Krause, S. (2019) rivervis: a tool for visualising river ecosystems. Computers and Geosciences, 123: 59-64. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2018.11.007
Regmi, S., Bhusal, J., Gurung, P., Zulkafli, Z., Karpouzoglou, T., Ochoa, B., Buytaert, W. and Mao, F. (2019) Learning to cope with water variability through participatory monitoring: The case study of the Mountainous region, Nepal. Meteorology Hydrology and Water Management. 7. doi:10.26491/mhwm/106021.
Mao, F., Clark, J., Buytaert, W., Krause, S., and Hannah, D. (2018) Water sensor network applications: Time to move beyond the technical? Hydrological Processes, 32:2612–2615. doi:10.1002/hyp.13179
Du, Y., Ge, Y., Ren, Y., Fan, X., Pan, K., Lin, L, Wu, X., Min, Y., Meyerson, L., Heino, M., Chang, S., Liu, X., Mao, F., Yang, G., Peng, C., Qu, Z., Chang, J., and Didham, R. (2018) A global strategy to mitigate the environmental impact of China’s ruminant consumption boom, Nature Communications, 9:4133. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06381-0
Karpouzoglou, T. and Mao, F. (2018) What lies ahead? The future of the earth and society as an adaptive system, inClimate Changes in the Holocene: Their Impacts and Human Adaptation, edited by Chiotis, E., CRC Press. ISBN: 9780815365938
Mao, F., Clark, J., Karpouzoglou, T., Dewulf, A., Buytaert, W., and Hannah, D. (2017) A conceptual framework for assessing socio-hydrological resilience under change. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, doi:10.5194/hess-2016-499.
Clark, J., Gurung, P., Chapagain, P. S., Regmi, S., Bhusal, J. K., Karpouzoglou, T., Mao, F. and Dewulf, A. (2017) Water as “Time-Substance”: The Hydrosocialities of Climate Change in Nepal. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, doi: 10.1080/24694452.2017.1329005
Pandeya, B., W. Buytaert, Z. Zulkafli, Karpouzoglou, T., Mao, F., Hannah, D. (2016) A comparative analysis of ecosystem services valuation approaches for application at the local scale and in data scarce regions. Ecosystem Services, 22: 250–259, doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.10.015.
Grainger, S., Mao, F., Buytaert, W. (2016) Environmental data visualisation for non-scientific contexts: Literature review and design framework. Environmental Modelling and Software, 85: 299–318, doi:dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.09.004.
Mao, F., Shi, Y. and Richards, K.S. (2014)rivervis: River Visualisation Tool. R package. URL http://cran.r-project.org/package=rivervis
Mao, F. and Richards, K.S. (2012) Irreversible river water quality and the concept of the reference condition. Area, 44: 423–431, doi:10.1111/j.1475-4762.2012.01124.x.

Teaching Research Supervision

I am interested in supervising students and postdoctoral researchers working on topics including, but not limited to: water security; river ecosystems; water resources and disasters; climate resilience and adaptation; environmental and social data science; environmental policy and governance; serious games; citizen science; visualisation. Please get in touch to discuss your project ideas.

Find more about postgraduate research financial supportLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window and postgraduate research opportunitiesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window at Warwick.