Research
I have more than 35 years research experience in coastal dynamics and environmental change, with extensive experience in coordinating major research and innovation projects, including European Regional Development Funded projects (more than £15M). I have interdisciplinary expertise in coastal and maritime research for renewable energy projects, and in the development of tools and model applications to support coastal stakeholders in managing climate change adaptation. This has been delivered through large, multi-institution, interdisciplinary projects such as #gravelbeach, Co-Opt, BlueCoast and ARCOES. I am co-lead for the Net Zero Maritime Energy Solutions (N0MES) Centre for Doctoral Training, delivering 52 PhD projects in collaboration with more than 28 industry partners in the maritime energy sector, and the MaLaMi Place-based Impact Accelerator Account in Maritime and Last Mile Net Zero. I have led UoL’s Low Carbon Eco-innovatory over the last 12 years in the delivery of bespoke research support for SMEs in Liverpool City Region, enabling regional development funds to be aligned with public-private sector ambitions for net zero innovation and sustainable economic development.
Research Interests
Current research focuses on modelling and monitoring in support of coastal decision-making. Research expertise also lies in coastal geomorphology and environmental change over a range of timescales, including: exploring the sediment record of past coastal change; use of particle size analysis in estuaries and lagoon as a tool for environmental reconstruction; and interpreting the submarine record of coastal change in response to accelerated sea-level rise.
Research groups
Research grants
STREAM 1: Maritime and Last Mile Net Zero (MaLaMi)
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
July 2025 - June 2029
Interdisciplinary Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Resilience to Coastal Erosion in Bocas del Toro Panama
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (USA)
January 2024 - October 2024
Academic Capacity and Capability Study
NATIONAL SHIPBUILDING OFFICE
March 2023 - November 2023
UKSPF Supporting Businesses to Decarbonise
LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY (UK)
April 2023 - March 2025
COastal Communities And Seas Together for Resilience Network Plus (COAST-R)
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
April 2024 - September 2028
Gravel barrier resilience in a changing climate (#gravelbeach)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2023 - October 2027
Low Carbon - Net Zero UKSPF Transition Funding
LIVERPOOL CITY REGION COMBINED AUTHORITY (UK)
April 2025 - June 2026
Enhancing the climate resilience of the energy network sector: Forecasting the risk and vulnerability of electricity transmission towers to erosion
UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
June 2021 - November 2022
Resilient Coasts: optimising co-benefit solutions (CoOpt)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2021 - July 2025
Cross-disciplinary research for Discovery Science
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2023 - March 2023
Assuring safe port navigation by applying machine learning (ML) to wave data for monitoring changes in nearshore bathymetry.
MARRI UK (UK)
October 2020 - September 2022
LCEI Extension NON RESEARCH
DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (UK)
January 2020 - September 2023
Erosion hazards in a changing climate: making inland communities more resilient
UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
February 2019 - March 2021
Impact of climate change on the water cycle and ecosystem functioning at the river basin scale
UK-INDIA EDUCATION AND RESEARCH INITIATIVE (UK)
November 2007 - March 2014
Training Workshop for practicioners to discuss the economic valuation manual for regulating services
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP) (SWITZERLAND)
December 2010 - May 2011
Global Eco Innovation
DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (UK)
October 2015 - December 2019
Future vulnerability of evolving barrier coastlines - the impacts for flood risk management
PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (UK)
September 2016 - February 2020
Physical and biological dynamic coastal processes and their role in coastal recovery (BLUE-coast)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL, UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
May 2016 - January 2022
EPSRC Institutional Sponsorship 2016
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
July 2016 - March 2017
Urban and Community Transformation KE Fellow appointment
N8 INDUSTRY INNOVATION FORUM (N8 IIF) (UK)
September 2015 - January 2016
Coastal Flooding by Extreme Events (CoFEE)
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
May 2007 - October 2010
Salt Intrusion into Estuaries Related to Global Climate Change.
INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION (USA)
April 2014 - March 2018
Impact Acceleration Account - University of Liverpool 2012
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL, NATIONAL GRID COMPANY PLC (UK)
October 2012 - March 2017
The evolution and landscape history of Dungeness Foreland.
ENGLISH HERITAGE
October 2002 - March 2004
The Centre for Global Eco-Innovation
EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND
April 2012 - September 2015
Testing the apatite depletion hypothesis for early Holocene ecosystem acidification using the lake sediment record at Krakenes, Norway
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2008 - November 2009
Integrated COASTal sediments system (iCOAST)
NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTRE SOUTHAMPTON (UK)
February 2012 - January 2016
Sustainable river catchments for the South East (SURCaSE) Project LIFE04 ENV/UK/807
SOUTH EAST ENGLAND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (UK)
August 2005 - October 2008
Aggregate extraction in the Ribble Valley.
ENGLISH HERITAGE
March 2005 - September 2007
New approaches to managing ecosystem services in the marine environment
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2007 - February 2010
The Mkuze Wetland, South Africa - understanding the system and establishing baselines and recent trends.
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (UK)
July 2001 - September 2001
Sandscaping for Mitigating Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk: Dungeness Nuclear Energy Infrastructure
NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
October 2014 - April 2015
Celtic Seas Partnership
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
October 2012 - March 2017
Adaptation and Resilience of Coastal Energy Supply (ARCOES)
ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL
November 2011 - October 2017
Linking the structural and optical properties of biogenic silica.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL
July 2004 - September 2004
Research collaborations
Hodgson D
NERC-funded collaboration on CoFEE project.
Barham L
Collaborative research on Luangwa Valley Project
Frid C
NERC-ESRC TRansdisciplinary Seminar Series
Kidd S
ESRC-NERC Transdisciplinary Seminar Series