Our people

Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute

Meet our academic experts and learn more about their research.

Browse the list of our academic members to learn more about our expertise at the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI).

If you’re looking to work with someone with specific expertise and need help getting connected, get in touch with us at smmi@southampton.ac.uk.

Join the University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is building on our world-leading success by appointing new academics.

Ambitious researchers and academics are invited to join our university as we further strengthen our reputation for education, research excellence and enterprise. We aim to tackle complex societal and environmental challenges and build on the University’s existing strengths.

Find out more about why this is such an exciting time to join the University of Southampton.

Professor Ian Williams

Professor in Applied Environmental Scien

Research interests

Waste and Resource Management
Carbon management
Air Pollution

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Ian

Email: I.D.Williams@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 8755

ORCID

Twitter

Dr Ibrahim Sari

Associate Director of Business Dev in ES

Research interests

Semiconductors
System Integration
Advanced Packaging

Connect with Ibrahim

Email: Ibrahim.Sari@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 5779

Google Scholar

IRE

Miss Irene Ruiz Espejo

Research interests

AI for Biodiversity

Connect with Irene

Email: ire1g20@soton.ac.uk

Dr Isha Gupta

Lecturer

Research interests

Advanced materials for extreme aerospace environments
High-temperature oxidation of refractory metals and alloys
Thermal and environmental barrier coatings

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Isha

Email: Isha.Gupta@soton.ac.uk

Professor Ivan Haigh

Professor

Research interests

I currently have 8 active research grants (4 as principle investigator (PI)) worth £4.8M.
I am the PI on two international grants that started in 2019, both looking at compound flooding. Compound flooding (when the combination, or successive occurrence of, two or more hazard events leads to an extreme impact e.g., coastal and fluvial flooding), can greatly exacerbate the adverse consequences associated with flooding in coastal regions and yet it remains under-appreciated and poorly understood. In the £788k NERC- and NSF- (US National Science Foundation) funded CHANCE project, I am leading a team (working alongside researchers from the University of Central Florida), to deliver a new integrated approach to make a step-change in our understanding, and prediction of, the source mechanisms driving compound flood events in coastal areas around the North Atlantic basin. In the £575k NERC- and NAFOSTED- (Vietnam’s National Foundation for Science and Technology Development) funded project, I am leading a team that is working with colleagues in Vietnam to map and characterise present, and predict future, flood risk from coastal, fluvial, and surface sources and, uniquely, to assess the risk of compound flooding across the Mekong delta; one of the three most vulnerable deltas in the world. I am also the PI on a grant, which started in 2021. In this 41k project, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), we are assessing past and future closures of the six storm surge barriers in the Netherlands.
In 2021, I was awarded a 3-year (50% of my time) prestigious Knowledge Exchange Fellowship funded by NERC (UK’s Natural Environmental Research Council) and worth £154k. This fellowship builds strongly on my prior research and the overall goal is to provide guidance and tools that will help storm surge barrier operators better prepare for the impacts of climate change across every area of their operation now and into the future. Within the fellowship I am working primary with the UK Environment Agency (EA) and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat). However, to ensure the work undertaken can benefit all the existing (and planned) surge barriers around the world, I am also working closely with I-STORM. I-STORM is an international knowledge sharing network for professionals relating to the management, operation and maintenance of storm surge barriers, and has representation from all the surge barriers worldwide.

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Ivan

Email: I.D.Haigh@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 6501

ORCID

Professor J. Andy Milton

Prof Fellow in Analytical Geochemistry

Connect with J. Andy

Email: jam1@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 2169

ORCID

Ms Jacqueline Nightingale LLB, BSc

Research interests

Ocean governance
Climate science
Social justice

Connect with Jacqueline

Email: j.nightingale@soton.ac.uk

ORCID

Professor Jadu Dash

Professor of Remote Sensing

Research interests

Satellite derived land surface phenology and its validation with ground data
Developing a chlorophyll content based production efficiency model to quantify terrestrial carbon uptake
Impact of extreme climatic events on vegetation phenology

Connect with Jadu

Email: J.DASH@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 2203

ORCID

Dr James Blake

Associate Professor

Research interests

James is interested in the fundamental way that fluid and structures interact and the practical consequences on the design and operation of marine vehicles:
Sustainable structural materials for composite boat design and production;
Experimental & theoretical analysis of composite material performance;

Connect with James

Email: J.I.R.Blake@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 9544

ORCID

Professor James Jordan

Professor

Research interests

The British Broadcasting Corporation
Holocaust studies
Post-war media in Britain

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with James

Email: J.A.Jordan@soton.ac.uk

Tel: +44 23 8059 4679