SoBRA was established in December 2009 and since that time has held 14 annual conferences and 11 summer workshops. More recently, SoBRA has also held early careers events.

SoBRA December 2023 Conference

SoBRA’s annual Winter conference again returned as a hybrid event in 2023. The morning session featured speakers from the Environment Agency, NCLOG, academia and consultancies. In the afternoon session, after announcing the winner of our Early Years poster competition, we were joined online by our international speaker, Valerie Hanely, and speakers from consultancy. We later heard updates from our funded research project and bursary award together with all the active sub-groups. Chair Joanna Wilding outlined the Society’s activities for this year and our plans for the next.

Thank you to our members for attending and our speakers for giving up their time so generously.

For the complete list of speakers and presentation slides please follow the link below (members only).

View programme and presentations.

SoBRA December 2022 Conference

SoBRA’s annual Winter conference returned as a hybrid event in 2022. The morning session featured speakers from the Environment Agency, NCLOG, academia and consultancies. In the afternoon session, we were joined online by our international speaker, Robert Ettinger, and had speakers from consultancy and UK HSA. We later heard updates from all the active sub-groups. Outgoing Chair Simon Cole outlined the Society’s activities for this year and our plans for the next.

Thank you to our members for attending and our speakers for giving up their time so generously.

For the complete list of speakers and presentation slides please follow the link below (members only).

View programme and presentations.

SoBRA Summer Workshop 2022

The Climate Emergency: Practical Considerations in Brownfield Risk Assessment

SoBRA’s annual summer event returned in 2022 for an ‘in person’ day of lectures and workshops focusing on the climate emergency. We featured speakers from the Environment Agency, industry and consultancies.

SoBRA’s chair Simon Cole and Vice-Chair share their thoughts on the Climate Emergency, and make the case for risk assessors playing a key role in climate change adaption and resilience for brownfield regeneration projects.

For the complete list of speakers and presentation slides please follow the link below (member only).

View programme & presentations.

SoBRA December 2021 Conference

SoBRA’s annual Christmas conference returned in 2021 as our first ever hybrid event. The morning session featured speakers from the Environment Agency, academia and consultancies. In the afternoon session, we heard updates from the C4SL project and all the active sub-groups. This included the launch of the Asbestos Toolkit which is the final document to be produced by the asbestos sub-group. Chair Simon Cole outlined the Society’s activities for this year and our plans for the next.

Thank you to our members for attending and our speakers for giving up their time so generously.

View programme & presentations including video recording of the event

SoBRA Summer 2021 Conference

SoBRA’s annual summer event returned in 2021 with a focus on emerging contaminants and risk communication. We featured speakers from the Environment Agency, industry, academia and consultancies.

For the complete list of speakers, presentation slides and recorded webinar please follow the link below (member only).

View programme & presentations.

SoBRA December 2020 Conference

Our first virtual conference! Thank you to all those who tuned in to hear the outgoing Chair Hannah White outline the Society’s activities for this year and our plans for the next. Our incoming Chair is Simon Cole.

Merry Christmas everyone.

View programme & presentations

SoBRA December 2019 Conference

Happy 10th Birthday SoBRA! Some highlights from SoBRA’s 10th anniversary December Conference.  Thanks to all SoBRA members for making this society a real success.

View programme & presentations

SoBRA Early Careers 2019 Workshop

In conjunction with RemSoc, SoBRA held its second early careers workshop at Manchester University. Attendees heard from experienced practitioners from the SoBRA community on topics covering vapours, groundwater, ground gas, asbestos, remediation and accreditation. A great day for knowledge sharing.

John Andrews
John Andrews sharing his knowledge in “Uncertainty in Vapour Risk Assessments”

Previous Summer Workshops

Presentations from the summer workshops are listed below and are available to SoBRA members.

Proceedings reports for the summer workshops can be found on the Resources page. Reports published within the past year are available to members only, older reports are accessible to all.