Rivers sourced from the Himalaya irrigate the Indo-Gangetic Plain via majorriver networks that support approximately 10% of the global population and theirlivelihoods. However, many of these rivers are also the source of devastatingfloods. This brief captures the collaboration between an interdisciplinaryteam of geoscientists, engineers, social scientists and architects from theUniversity of Edinburgh alongside practitioners from the NGO PracticalAction and the Nepal Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. The teamsapplied new science and appropriate technology, and conducted researchwith communities to better understand flood risk in the Karnali river basin,Western Nepal from an interdisciplinary perspective.