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    This site hosts the River Restoration Centre online training courses. Most courses require you to be registered as a student before you can access them. To book onto a course, check out the upcoming courses on the RRC website.

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Available courses

The course will cover aspects of geomorphology and hydrology, and will enable improved outcomes in the related fields of river restoration, ecology and natural flood management (NFM). The course is open to all practitioners with an interest in hydromorphology and river restoration, and will not require significant prior knowledge of these topics. This course is suitable for consultants, contractors, academics, catchment partners, and representatives from local authorities, local government and statutory agencies.

The hydromorphology for river restoration level 2 training course builds on the level 1 training course to provide a more in-depth knowledge of hydromorphological drivers, processes, forms, pressures and impacts and how they apply to river restoration. We introduce hydromorphological concepts such as river types, sediment transport and channel adjustment using evidence from the literature. The relevance of these concepts to river restoration planning and delivery will be discussed and you will apply these concepts in a series of activities. 

The hydromorphology level 3 course builds on and applies the concepts introduced in the hydromorphology Level 1 and Level 2 courses. This is an interactive course which involves hands-on application of basic sediment transport and flow regime equations. These will be used to help assess the current river condition and plan and design a river restoration project using case studies in urban and rural settings. We will provide the tools and training to help with these assessments and present river restoration and natural flood management techniques. 

The River Habitat Survey Course teaches participants the basic skills and knowledge to complete the River Habitat Survey.  It is tied to a residential component of the coure where participants practice the skills they have learnt.

The citizen River Habitat Survey Course teaches participants the basic skills and knowledge to complete the citizen River Habitat Survey.  It is tied to a residential component of the course where participants practice the skills they have learnt.

Erosion is a natural process in all rivers. This course will provide an introduction into: the types and drivers of river bed and bank erosion; the techniques for monitoring erosion, and approaches to manage and control erosion in different settings. The course is open to all with an interest in rivers and river restoration, and will not require significant prior knowledge of these topics.


This course provides an introduction on how ecological principles can be incorporated within river restoration strategies. It does so with a specific emphasis on freshwater macroinvertebrates, a diverse group of organisms that represent the core part of river ecosystems. In a fully virtual environment, participants will learn how river restoration practices can aim to (re)create specific habitats that are used by different freshwater macroinvertebrates to try and enhance the instream biodiversity. It does so through a series of interactive presentations and activities, including examining ecological and habitat datasets, 360⁰ imagery and video footage from a real-world restoration scheme.

Strategic catchment planning is essential for delivering successful river restoration and natural flood management projects. However, it is not always a straightforward task and is easy to get wrong. This one-day course will introduce participants to a methodology for developing a catchment-wide restoration plan which will help to identify and diagnose pressures and impacts, develop catchment-wide objectives and prioritise restoration projects. You will learn how to develop a strategic plan as well as learn from where other projects have gone wrong.