OCES Departmental Seminar: Coastal process research in support of operational and future coastal management
Effective coastal management is essential for supporting economic growth health and wellbeing, food and energy security, functional ecosystems and habitats, a unique heritage, and of course the safety and sustainability of coastal communities. This is especially true for island nations, and has to be underpinned by a robust evidence base which considers coastal change, drivers, and processes, while taking into account the likely impacts of climate change. I will present results from a variety of research projects ranging from small through to national scale, which aim to provide some of that underpinning evidence. This includes both observational and experimental approaches, including assessments of seabed ‘good environmental status’ through the Shelf Sea Biogeochemistry Programme, bio-hydrodynamics and sediment erodibility, novel approaches to monitoring our coasts, and how to operationalise the concept of resilience. I will also give an overview of wider coastal, and wider resource management currently underway at the University of Southampton.
Charlie is an Associate Professor in Coastal Processes and Sediment Dynamics in the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. With a research focus on the interactions between water and land, she has over 20 years’ experience working on multi-disciplinary coastal research. Research interests include the complex interaction between coastal vegetation and sediment transport, resuspension and exchange processes across the sediment-water interface, fluid and solid transmitted stresses, and novel techniques for monitoring coastal change. Recent research includes the NERC Highlight topic “BLUEcoast, Physical and biological dynamic coastal processes and their role in coastal recovery’, the UKRI funded ‘Coastal Resilience’, and the Environment Agency funded National Coastal Erosion Risk Mapping projects. She is the University of Southampton Lead for HKUST and UoS Double Award MSc in Global Marine Resources Management, and teaches on coastal processes, research key skills, and sediment dyanmics. She is also the Director of the Channel Coastal Observatory, which co-ordinates the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes (NNRCMP) in England. Through the NNRCMP, she ensures the collection of the evidence base which underpins Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management in England, working to provide consistent, continuous, and cost-effective monitoring of coastal change and its drivers.
Please contact Stanley Lau (scklau@ust.hk) or Julian Mak (jclmak@ust.hk)