Professor Thomas Coulthard

Professor Thomas Coulthard

Professor of Physical Geography

Faculty and Department

  • Institutes
  • Energy and Environmental Institute

Qualifications

  • PhD / DPhil (University of Leeds)

Summary

Prof. Tom Coulthard is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Hull, modelling environmental systems specialising in the distributed and cellular modelling of fluvial and landscape systems.

Prof. Coulthard is CI on the NERC SEARCH estuary flooding program and PI of the recently completed NERC ERIIP Combination Hazards in ESTuaries (CHEST) researching surge/fluvial/tidal flood risk in UK estuaries. He was a member of the NERC SINATRA flooding from intense rainfall consortium, was a member of the NERC/EPSRC Flood Risk Management Research Consortium (FRMRC) parts 1 and 2. He has and held a further three NERC grants (GT4/95/147/F, GST/02/0758, NER/A/S/2001/00454), and has supervised five PDRAs and ten research students.

Tom has written over 100 papers in leading journals including Geology and Water Resources Research. In 2007 he chaired an independent review into the Hull floods and was lead author on the reviews influential report. Aside from work following the 2007 floods his research interests are diverse, spanning from modelling the impacts of environmental change, metal contamination in river systems and the impacts of vegetation on fluvial geomorphology. In 2005 he was awarded the Warwick award from the British Geomorphological Research Group and in 2008 the Vice Chancellors Prize from the University of Hull. Tom is the 2020 recipient of the EGU Bagnold Medal. He is also the managing editor (and founding editor) of the EGU journal Earth Surface Dynamics.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

Thresholds for estuarine compound flooding using a combined hydrodynamic-statistical modelling approach

Lyddon, C., Chien, N., Vasilopoulos, G., Ridgill, M., Moradian, S., Olbert, A., …Robins, P. (2024). Thresholds for estuarine compound flooding using a combined hydrodynamic-statistical modelling approach. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 24(3), 973-997. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-973-2024

Learning histories, participatory methods and creative engagement for climate resilience

McDonagh, B., Brookes, E., Smith, K., Worthen, H., Coulthard, T., Hughes, G., …Chamberlain, J. (2023). Learning histories, participatory methods and creative engagement for climate resilience. Journal of Historical Geography, 82, 91-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2023.09.002

Historic Spatial Patterns of Storm-Driven Compound Events in UK Estuaries

Lyddon, C., Robins, P., Lewis, M., Barkwith, A., Vasilopoulos, G., Haigh, I., & Coulthard, T. (in press). Historic Spatial Patterns of Storm-Driven Compound Events in UK Estuaries. Estuaries and coasts : journal of the Estuarine Research Federation, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-022-01115-4

Sensitivity of Estuaries to Compound Flooding

Harrison, L. M., Coulthard, T. J., Robins, P. E., & Lewis, M. J. (2022). Sensitivity of Estuaries to Compound Flooding. Estuaries and coasts : journal of the Estuarine Research Federation, 45, 1250–1269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-00996-1

The Coastline Evolution Model 2D (CEM2D) V1.1

Leach, C., Coulthard, T., Barkwith, A., Parsons, D. R., & Manson, S. (2021). The Coastline Evolution Model 2D (CEM2D) V1.1. Geoscientific Model Development, 14, 5507-5523. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5507-2021

Research interests

I am fascinated by how rivers shape our landscape.

More formally, my main research interests stem from fluvial Geomorphology and include (i) numerical modelling of morphodynamics in river basins and reaches over decadal to millennial time scales (ii) developing and refining 'reduced complexity' hydrodynamic and sediment transport models (iii) non linear, chaotic and complex behavior in natural systems.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

PAMANA: Philippine Mining at the National to Catchment Scale - from Legacy Impacts to Sustainable Futures

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£245,704.00

Started

26 October 2021

Status

Ongoing

Project

FLOODTWIN

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£222,089.00

Started

1 January 2024

Status

Ongoing

Project

Combination Hazard of Extreme rainfall, storm Surge & high Tide on estuarine infrastructure

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£74,008.00

Started

1 November 2017

Status

Complete

Project

Susceptibility of catchments to INTense RAinfall and flooding (Project SINATRA)

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£241,188.00

Started

1 September 2013

Status

Complete

Project

Collaborative Research Agreement relating to Long-term Morphodynamics and Sedimentation of the Holderness Coast and Humber Estuary

Funder

Environment Agency

Grant

£25,000.00

Started

25 February 2015

Status

Complete

Project

Long-term Morphodynamics and Sedimentation of the Holderness Coast and Humber Estuary

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£10,500.00

Started

25 February 2015

Status

Complete

Project

Present & Future Climate Hazard/Embedded Researcher Scheme

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£99,352.00

Started

10 August 2020

Status

Complete

Project

Philippine Mining at the National to Catchment Scale: from Legacy Impacts to Sustainable Futures

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£4,402.00

Started

12 April 2021

Status

Complete

Project

Rapid adjustments to catchment sediment yield following a catastrophic rock-ice avalanche and debris flow, Uttarakhand, India

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£6,286.00

Started

1 June 2021

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

The University of Hull Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships Centre on Water Cultures

Funder

The Leverhulme Trust

Grant

£1,350,000.00

Started

1 June 2021

Status

Ongoing

Project

Risky Cities: Living with water in an uncertain future climate

Funder

AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council

Grant

£333,903.00

Started

1 August 2020

Status

Complete

Project

On the Edge: a co-created exploration of young people’s eco-anxiety in the face of climate uncertainty

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£10,000.00

Started

1 July 2021

Status

Complete

Project

Coastal Flood Stories

Funder

Environment Agency

Grant

£29,984.00

Started

1 October 2022

Status

Complete

Project

NERC: Supporting Interdisciplinarity in Discovery Science 2022

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£14,197.00

Started

1 October 2022

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Current PhD supervisions

- Chloe Carter

Recently Completed PhDs

- Jun Xie

- Shona Thomson

- Jessica Moloney

- Chloe Morris

- Sergio Duran

Awards and prizes

EGU Bagnold Medal 2020

2020

Journal editorial role

Editor in Chief, Earth Surface Dynamics

2013

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