Dr Shasha Han

Dr Shasha Han

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Assistant Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources

Contact details

Email
s.han.2@bham.ac.uk
Twitter

Dr Shasha Han is an Assistant Professor in Physical Geography (Hydrology and Water Resources) in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) at the University 麻豆精选 (UoB). Her research mainly focuses on three interlinked themes: 1) Enhancing probabilistic flood forecasts, flood inundation mapping, and advancing the modelling of hydroclimatic extremes with reduced uncertainty; 2) Investigating changes in floods (e.g. magnitude, frequency, timing, and flashness) over time in the changing world and attributing the drivers (e.g. climate, land use, and pre-flood conditions) behind these changes; and 3) Advancing our theoretical understanding of hydrological processes considering both natural dynamics and the impacts from human activities. 

Dr Han is passionate about hydroclimatic extremes, flood non-stationarity, hydrologic modelling, flood forecasting, climate change impacts, uncertainty analysis, urban hydrology, climate extremes and health, and data science.

 |  | Twitter: @DrShashaHan

Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) – University 麻豆精选, 2024

PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources – McMaster University, 2019

MSc in Environmental Science – Beijing Normal University, 2014

Biography

Dr Shasha Han completed her PhD at McMaster University (Canada), where her work focused on probabilistic flood forecasting using advanced Bayesian techniques. She contributed to the development of the Canadian Adaptive Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (CAFFEWS), and predicted future flood inundation by incorporating various sources of uncertainty and accounting for climate change impacts.聽 Before joining the University 麻豆精选, Dr Han worked as a research associate at the University of Oxford (UK), where the focus was on investigating the impacts of urbanisation on river flooding and projecting river flows in the UK considering both urban expansion and climate change. At the University 麻豆精选, her research has expanded into diverse areas, including flood non-stationarity, short-term flood prediction, long-term flood projection, integration of machine learning in hydrology, flood and drought alterations, surface water and groundwater interactions, as well as flooding and public health.

Teaching

Quantitative Analysis of Hydrological Processes (PGT, module lead)

Hydrology and Geomorphology (UG, module lead)

Field Research Skills (UG)

Dissertation Supervision

Personal Tutor

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Shasha Han welcomes inquiries from prospective PGR students in her areas of interest.

Research

Dr Shasha Han is an Assistant Professor in Physical Geography (Hydrology and Water Resources) in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) at the University 麻豆精选 (UoB).聽Her research mainly focuses on three interlinked themes: 1) Enhancing probabilistic flood forecasts, flood inundation mapping, and advancing the modelling of hydroclimatic extremes with reduced uncertainty; 2) Investigating changes in floods (e.g. magnitude, frequency, timing, and flashness) over time in the changing world and attributing the drivers (e.g. climate, land use, and pre-flood conditions) behind these changes; and 3) Advancing our theoretical understanding of hydrological processes considering both natural dynamics and the impacts from human activities.

Dr Han is passionate about hydroclimatic extremes, flood non-stationarity, hydrologic modelling, flood forecasting, climate change impacts, uncertainty analysis, urban hydrology, climate extremes and health, and data science.

听触听听触听Twitter:聽@DrShashaHan

A selection of involved funded research projects:

IDAI Pump Prime fund: Preprocessing multi-modal hydrological data to develop a causal foundation AI model of hydrological system (01/02/2025 - 31/07/2025)

NERC Doctor Training Partnerships (DTP): Towards the next generation probabilistic flood forecasting system for the UK聽(01/04/2024 鈥� 21/10/2027)

NERC Doctor Training Partnerships (DTP): Flood futures: how is flood risk evolving in the UK? (25/09/2023 鈥� 30/04/2027)

NIHR RIGHT5 grant (拢3M): Improving primary healthcare for patients with non-communicable diseases during severe flooding in India (01/01/2024 鈥� 31/12/2028)

John Fell Fund:聽The impacts of urbanisation on river flooding (10/09/2020 - 17/01/2022)

NSERC FloodNet Project (CAD $5M) Theme 3: Development of Canadian Adaptive Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (01/09/2014 鈥� 26/08/2019)

Current research group members:

Mohammed Alharbi (PhD; co-supervisor; 2022 - 2026): Integrated analyses of groundwater and surface water 鈥� impact of bedform geometry and flood conditions on groundwater-surfacewater interactions

Chenlu Yang (PhD; lead supervisor; 2023 鈥� 2027): Flood futures: how is flood risk evolving in the UK?

Ritesh Moon (PhD; lead supervisor; 2023 - 2027): Integrating machine learning with process-based models to enhance flood forecasting

Saad Ferman (PhD; co-supervisor; 2023 - 2027): Evolution of the transition between droughts and floods across the UK

Hanqi Zuo (PhD; co-supervisor; 2024 鈥� 2027): Towards the next generation probabilistic flood forecasting system for the UK

Dan Yang (Visiting Scholar; host; 2024 - 2025): Dynamic process and evolution of gully erosion

Chandni Thakur (Postdoc; co-supervisor; 2025 鈥� 2027): Flood risk and flood forecasting in Kerala and Bihar (India)

Chenguang Xiao (Data Scientist; lead supervisor; Mar 2025 - Jul 2025): Hydrological multi-modal machine learning

Daryl Cortez (Visiting Student; lead supervisor; Mar 2025 - Sep 2025): Improving hydrological modeling across diverse catchment types using machine learning

Other activities

  • Journal Reviewer for Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrology, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Hydrology Research, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, Natural Hazards, Journal of Flood Risk Management, Monthly Weather Review, Frontiers in Water, etc.
  • International Editorial Board for Pearl River Journal
  • Convener for the EGU session on ‘Hydrological forecasting in urban and regulated catchments’
  • Co-convener for the AGU Frontiers in Hydrology Meeting session on ‘interpreting and attributing the drivers of hydrological non-stationarity’
  • Membership: British Hydrological Society (BHS), European Geosciences Union (EGU), American Geoscience Union (AGU), and International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)
  • Fellow of Advance Higher Education Academy
  • Environmental Science Admissions Tutor

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Riazi, M, Khosravi, K, Samani, MR, Han, S & Eslamian, S 2024, '', Groundwater for Sustainable Development , vol. 25, 101179.

Han, S, Slater, LJ, Wilby, RL & Faulkner, D 2022, '', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 613, no. Part A, 128417.

Zahmatkesh, Z, Han, S & Coulibaly, P 2021, '', Water, vol. 13, no. 9, 1248.

Han, S, Coulibaly, P & Biondi, D 2019, '', Journal of Hydrologic Engineering.

Han, S & Coulibaly, P 2019, '', Journal of Hydrometeorology.

Han, S & Coulibaly, P 2017, '', Journal of Hydrology.

Zhao, Y, Han, S, Chen, Z, Liu, J & Hu, H 2015, '', Journal of Environmental Health.

Zhao, Y, Mao, G, Han, S & Gao, L 2015, '', Soil and Sediment Contamination.

Zhou, L, Zhao, Y, Wang, S, Han, S & Liu, J 2015, '', Chemosphere.

Conference contribution

Han, S & Slater, L 2021, . in EGU General Assembly 2021., EGU21-3084, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2021, 19/04/21.

Han, S 2018, . in AGU Fall Meeting 2018., H31A-04.

Han, S 2017, . in 2017 World Environmental & Water Resources Congress.

Editorial

Ganguli, P, Han, S, Munoz, D & Pal, S 2025, '', Frontiers in Water, vol. 7, 1579106.

Review article

Slater, LJ, Anderson, B, Buechel, M, Dadson, S, Han, S, Harrigan, S, Kelder, T, Kowal, K, Lees, T, Matthews, T, Murphy, C & Wilby, RL 2021, '', Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, vol. 25, no. 7, pp. 3897鈥�3935.