To better understand the performance of flood and coastal defences it is often necessary to consider "systems" of defences rather than single defences in isolation.

At present there is limited guidance on assessing risk to large floodplain areas which depend on numerous, perhaps extensive and diverse, systems of defence such as embankments, walls, and moveable structures.

 The aim of RASP is to develop and demonstrate supporting methods for dealing with such systems.

RASP is funded by The Environment Agency within the joint Agency/DEFRA Flood and Coastal Defence R&D Programme in Risk Evaluation and Understanding of Uncertainty