About the project
Beaches are of high economic and societal importance. They support tourism and provide essential protection from the marine environment by dissipating energy from tides, surges, and waves. Many beaches are becoming narrower under increasing effects of climate change. The situation is particularly acute for beaches with little or no contemporary sediment supply, resulting in some cases in complete beach loss with dire consequences for coastal protection, local economy, and coastal community resilience.
Despite a broad conceptual consensus on the impacts of the changing climate on beach size, lack of understanding of the variability of beach loss in space and time means that coastal management may rely on erroneous assumptions. For example, tourism and amenity value is often viewed as a transferable benefit (e.g. visitors could go to another beach), which would be incorrect in absence of significant spatial variability in beach loss.
This project will gain new insight into the relationship between beach loss and coastal community resilience by addressing the following questions:
- What is the spatial variability of observed beach loss and its key dynamical drivers?
- How is the variability of beach loss drivers projected to change under the changing climate?
- What are the implications for beach management?
The project will build upon new national scale numerical modelling led by the NOC under the CHAMFER project (https://projects.noc.ac.uk/chamfer/) and satellite observations led by the BGS (e.g. Digital Great Britain coastlines, DiGBcoast v1.0).
You will combine outputs from national scale numerical models with satellite observations to provide the necessary information on beach loss and its dynamical drivers. Output from numerical modelling will include time-slices under future climate scenarios.
Supervisors
As well as Dr Hachen Kassem, you will also receive supervision from Dr Laurent Amoundry (lead supervisor) from the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC), Southampton.
Please contact the lead supervisor if you require further information about the project.
Potential supervisors
Lead supervisor
Dr Hachem Kassem
Lecturer
Research interests
- Nearshore hydrodynamics and coastal sediment dynamics
- Coastal and ocean engineering and flow-structure-seabed-biota interactions
- Adaptive, nature-inclusive solutions to climate-mediated geohazards, including flooding, erosion and habitat degradation
Entry requirements
You must have a UK 2:1 honours degree or higher in a relevant subject.
You can also have its international equivalent.
International applications
If English is not your first language, you will need an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) overall score of 6.5, with a minimum of 6.0 in all components.
Visit our English language proficiency pages to find out about other qualifications we accept.
Fees and funding
For UK students, tuition fees and a stipend of £15,285 tax-free per annum for up to 3.5 years.
How to apply
Apply now
You need to:
- choose programme type (Research), 2025/26, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
- choose PhD in Ocean and Earth Science FLOOD CDT (full time)
- add the project title under ‘Topic or field of research proposed’
- add your supervisor in section 2
Applications should include:
- a 1 page statement of your research interests in flooding and FLOOD-CDT and your rationale for your choice of project
- a CV (resumé) giving details of your academic record and stating your research interests
- name two current academic referees together with institutional email addresses (on submission of your online application your referees will be automatically emailed requesting they send a reference to us directly by email)
- academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English) – if you have completed both a BSc and an MSc, we require both
- an IELTS/TOEFL certificate, if applicable
Contact us
Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences
If you have a general question, email our doctoral college: fels-pgr-apply@soton.ac.uk.
Project leader
For project specific queries, email the lead supervisor Laurent Amoudry: laou@noc.ac.uk.
