Research group

Coastal Communities

View of Blackpool Tower, beach and coastal defences on a sunny day.

Coastal Communities SIG focuses on bringing together researchers and non-academic stakeholders to tackle challenges facing coastal communities. 

About

We are an interdisciplinary group of researchers interested in tackling real-world challenges in coastal communities. We aim to improve understanding and capacity to adapt to these challenges by bringing together those researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders who are affected, interested and/or involved in coastal communities. Through creating a forum for discussion, sharing methods and best practice, and doing research together, we can improve understanding and management of the challenges that coastal communities face, ranging from the health impacts of air pollution to social effects of climate change-driven coastal change.  

On an annual basis, the Coastal Communities SIG will host three formal meetings to:

  • Bring together researchers from across all faculties and institutes at the University of Southampton to discuss coastal communities research and identify opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. This will support the sustainability of existing working relationships, create space to build new partnerships, and facilitate interdisciplinary coastal communities bid development.
  • Invite University of Southampton researchers and external stakeholders to participate in a methods/best practice workshop, focusing on a cross-cutting approach. This will provide opportunity for researchers and other stakeholders to meet and upskill in methods/best practice they may not have encountered within their own discipline or working practice.
  • Hold a lunchtime forum with academic, policy and practitioners invited both as guest speakers and participants to learn from and network with each other. This will enable researchers and other stakeholders to share leading-edge research and practice and facilitate new collaborative partners for future research.

The Coastal Communities SIG invites those from within and outside of the University of Southampton to join the group. We welcome new ideas for events, trainings, speakers.

To find out more about the Digital Oceans Special Interest Group and what we do, get in touch with group champions Sien Van Der Plank and Lareb Dean.

Join the SMMI Community to sign up to this group and our other special interest groups.

People, projects and publications

People

Dr Matt Kerr

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Nineteenth-century literature and culture
  • Oceanic humanities
  • Waste and rubbish

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Matteo Scarponi PhD, CEng, MRINA, AMSNAME

Principal Enterprise Fellow
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Professor Matthew Loxham

Professorial Fellow-Research
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Dr Megen de Bruin-Molé

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • contemporary remix culture
  • monster studies
  • adaptation
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Dr Melike Kurt PhD

Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

Research interests

  • Fluid-structure interactions 
  • Bioinspired propulsion and energy harvesting 
  • Underwater robotics 

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Michael Grant BSc MSc PhD

Senior Enterprise Fellow
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Dr Michelle Newberry BSc Hons, MSc, PGCHE, FHEA, PhD

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Motivations for criminal behaviour
  • Violent offending (murder, intimate partner violence and animal cruelty)
  • Poaching and the illegal wildlife trade 

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Mike Bintley PhD, SFHEA, FRHistS

Assoc Professor in Medieval English Lit

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Mingyi Tan

Lecturer
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Related research institutes, centres and groups

Related research institutes, centres and groups

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Enquiries

If you're interested in joining us or collaborating, get in touch with the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.