At The River Summit and Festival, we are thrilled to share the progress and exciting collaborations shaping next year’s UK River Summit at Morden Hall on July 8th, 2025.

The Future of Farming panel at The UK River Summit in May was a lively and thought-provoking session addressing the intersection of agriculture, environmental sustainability, and food production.

This panel, moderated by James Wallace of River Action UK, convened to address an increasingly pressing issue: the UK’s freshwater emergency. With growing concerns over water scarcity, pollution, and the degradation of ecosystems like chalk streams, the session brought together experts to examine both the roots of the crisis and potential solutions.

Looking back at this year’s Cross-Party panel, this blog will explore the main points each party raised, the proposed solutions and the long-term goals.

The Chalk Stream Poet Laureates initiative has been created by Juliet Nolan, with Robert Macfarlane, Linda Newbery and Mark Wormald as co-judges. It invites everyone to champion chalk streams with poetry, and took to The UK River Summit this year (2024) to begin ripples of creativity. Find out who this year’s competition winners are…

According to PitchBook, in 2023, all-women teams secured only 1.8% of the total venture capital pool. These numbers aren’t just disappointing—they’re regressive. The barriers that women face in securing funding are complex and multi-faceted but we see this as a challenge for The UK River Summit and invite anyone interested to support this venture…