Our people

The Energy and Environment Institute gathers together world leading scientists, across this multidisciplinary space, to conduct impactful research on the global challenges presented by environmental change and securing a low-carbon energy supply.

Professor Jim Gilbert

EEI Director

Jim is a Professor of Engineering, working on initiatives relating to offshore wind energy, energy resilience and wider issues of sustainability

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Dr Joshua Ahmed

Early Career Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow

Josh is a fluvial geomorphologist interested in large river morphodynamics, floodplain evolution, and channel behaviour on this planet and beyond.

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Joanna Arnett

EEI Operations Coordinator

Joanna provides administrative support to Energy and Environment Institute team assisting in supporting the Institute’s activities and operations.

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Dr Ed Brookes

Research Fellow

Ed is a cultural geographer on the Water Data for People project, working with schools and communities to co-develop innovative and creative ways of engaging people with flooding and SuDS.

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Dr Leo Corredor-Garcia

Post Doctoral Research Associate in Experimental Fluid Dynamics

Leo is part of our Fluid Dynamics Group, working on the development and operation of experimental methods for environmental and industrial fluid dynamics, particularly around particle-laden, stratified flows.

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Professor Thomas Coulthard

Professor of Physical Geography

Tom’s research interests relate to modelling of flooding and fluvial geomorphology. He chaired the 2007 independent review into the Hull floods and was lead author on its influential report.

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Dr Giles Davidson

Strategic Projects Lead

Giles focuses on strategic EEI projects, including bringing Ark-National Flood Resilience Centre to fruition.

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Lisa Dearing

EEI Administrator

helps to provide administrative support to the activities and operations of the Energy and Environment Institute

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Joanne Dewey

PGR Centres Manager

Jo plays a key role in co-ordinating the Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy & the Environment, Leverhulme DSC for Water Cultures and the Panorama DTP.

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Dr Steven Forrest

Lecturer in Flood Hazard and Risk

Steven’s research focuses on bridging the theory-practice gap in flood resilience with a particular emphasis on governance, civil society, and serious gaming.

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Gina Kelly

EEI Operations Coordinator

Gina helps to provide administrative support to the activities and operations of the Energy and Environment Institute

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Dr Ben Kolosz

Lecturer in Renewable Energy and Carbon Removal

Ben works at the interface between renewable energy and carbon removal, assessing the energy needs of technological systems as well as their societal impacts on the global community.

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Dr Jing Li

Senior Research Fellow

Jing is working on heat pump technology and has experiences in solar collectors, solar PV, heat pipe and thermodynamic cycles.

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Dr Xiaoli Ma

Senior Research Fellow

Xiaoli is a Senior Research Fellow whose interests are in renewable/Sustainable energy technologies, energy efficiency technologies and energy in the built environment

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Professor Briony McDonagh

Coast-R Network and Centre for Water Cultures Lead

Briony’s research focuses on creative community engagement for climate and water action. She leads the Coast-R Network and the Leverhulme Centre for Water Cultures.

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Prof Stuart McLelland

EEI Deputy Director & Professor of Water Science

Stuart's research focuses on physical modelling of flow processes and sediment transport dynamics. He heads up the Aura CDT's PGDip Offshore Wind & the Environment.

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Brendan Murphy

Flume Experimental Officer & EEI Safety Officer

My primary role, as flume experimental officer, is to facilitate the set-up and running of experimental research work in the Total Environment Simulator (TES) at The Deep and the smaller recirculating flume in the Cohen building; I am also the local safety officer for EEI.

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Dr Alexander Osborne

Knowledge Exchange Fellow in Floods and SuDS

Alexander works on our campus-based SuDSLabUK as well as the DIG Project on water quality impacts of new SuDS schemes

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Dr Anandharuban Panchanathan

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Anandharuban is working with Prof Coulthard on our NERC-funded FloodTwin project to develop a digital twin for Hull and the Humber region.

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Andrea Prince

EEI Operations Officer

Andrea provides support to the Energy and Environment Institute team assisting in supporting the Institute’s activities and operations

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Amy Richardson

EEI Marketing Manager

Amy is responsible for Energy and Environment Institute marketing and communications, with a particular focus on education and stakeholder relations and events.

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Dr Stephen Simmons

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Steve is developing our understanding of sedimentary processes through the application of novel acoustic measurements of flow and sediment transport.

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Dr Kate Smith

Knowledge Exchange Fellow

Kate is a post-doctoral researcher on our Risky Cities project, with interests in the cultural anthropology of water, landscapes and flooding.

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Dr Saraswati Thapa

Post Doctoral Research Associate

Assessing the long-term integrity of the tailings dam in the Philippines, with research interests in flood hazards, sediment transport, and river morphology changes.

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Dr Robert Thomas

Senior Research Fellow

Rob's research centres around Geomorphology and Flood Risk with an interest in the development and use of novel technologies to study hydraulics, sediment transport, slope stability and the impacts of fauna and flora on those processes.

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Dr Grigorios Vasilopoulos

Lecturer in Geospatial and Earth Observation

Greg is a geomorphologist interested in fluvial interactions across scales. His work is focused on the evolution and resilience of rivers, deltas and estuaries under anthropogenic and climatic impacts.

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Dr Katerina Velentza

PDRA in Environmental Humanities

Katerina is a maritime archaeologist working on the interlinks between maritime archaeology, maritime heritage, climate change and sustainability.

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Dr Andrew Want

Lecturer in Renewable Energy

Andrew is a marine ecologist with specialist expertise in biofouling and hard substrate epifaunal assemblages in high-energy habitats targeted by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) sector.

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Dr Juan Pablo Winter

Y-PERN Policy Fellow

Juan is the Y-PERN Policy Fellow for Hull & East Yorkshire, joining a Yorkshire network of impact-focused academic positions, forming a bridge between academia and the policy world.

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Dr Hannah Worthen

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Hannah is a historian on our Risky Cities project, examining records of Hull’s medieval and early modern past to learn more about the ways in which people interacted with their watery landscapes.

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Dr Xuxu Wu

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Xuxu focuses on small-scale bedform (ripple) developed with cohesive materials including both physical and biological cohesion to quantify interactions of near-bed hydrodynamics, sediment transport dynamics and turbulence over developing bed.

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Dr Cheng Zeng

Lecturer in Renewable/Sustainable Energies

Cheng’s research covers solar heat storage and building energy efficiency.

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PhD community

Sophie Al-Mudallal

PhD Biological Sciences (Aura CDT)

Impacts of Seabed Vibration on Sediment Structure and Infaunal Organisms

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Mohammed Al-Saleem

PhD Energy Technology

A novel data centre cooling system using a micro-channel loop heat pipe system

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Lucrecia Alvarez

PhD Physical Geography

Quantifying and modelling global large river fluxes of microplastic

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Michael Anya

PhD Dip in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Innovative decommissioning for offshore foundation systems at Durham University

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Yazeid Aqqad

PhD Physical Geography

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Sarena Banu

PhD Biomedical Science

Climate change meets life’s crunch point - how do heatwaves affect the basic functions of life?

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Sarah Bee

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Researching advanced data analysis and robust statistics for structural health monitoring of wind turbines at the University of Sheffield

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Victoria Bessonova

PhD Computer Science (Aura CDT)

The future of global offshore natural capital with climate change

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Laura Birkenshaw

PhD History (Water Cultures)

Maritime quarantine and transatlantic slavery

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Dax Blackhorse-Hull

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Integration of wave and offshore wind energies at the University of Durham

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Julian Blumenroeder

PhD Biological Sciences

Microplastic in remote marine food webs

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Bas Bodewes

PhD Physical Geography

Catastrophic Flows: Scaling flood events and ecohydraulics in experimental models

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Maisy Bradbury

PhD Physical Geography (Aura CDT)

Scour Protection and the Test Tank of Secrets

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Lydia Brackwell

PhD Marine Sciences

Assessing the threat to Antarctic shallow marine ecosystems from hitchhikers on non-native kelp

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Adam Brassington

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Ultrasonic guided waves blade monitoring at the University of Sheffield

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Frederick Bricknell

PhD History (Water Cultures)

Water, Drought, Indentureship and Slavery in the nineteenth century British Empire

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Lydia Bryan-Smith

PhD Computer Science

Using Big Data, Internet of Things and AI to dynamically map flood risk

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Jordan Burgess

PhD Biological Sciences

The impacts of windfarm associated noise on commercially important invertebrates

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Harry Burton

PhD Physics (Aura CDT)

Low Power High Performance Neuromorphic Circuits for Remote Sensing and Monitoring in the Offshore Wind Sector

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William Burton

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Understanding the emergent macro-scale impacts caused by the rapid expansion of Offshore Wind within The North Sea System at the University of Durham

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Chloe Carter

PhD Physical Geography

Natural Flood Management: Optimising design to reduce geomorphic impact

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Geng Chen

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Hybrid modelling of loads and structural response on a floating offshore wind turbine at Durham University

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Jordan Chenery

PhD Earth Sciences

Can you stop a PDC? Assessing the impact of natural and engineered barriers on deadly volcanic flows in the built environment

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Fiona Chong

PhD Biological Sciences

Linking functional and demographic traits to predict population viability of marginal coral populations

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Ethan Clark

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Assessing the viability of multi-use Macroalgae Aquaculture within Offshore Wind Farms at Newcastle University

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Petra Codato

PhD Human Geography (Centre for Water Cultures)

Living on the Edge - Creative Community Engagement in Sites Affected by Coastal Change

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Stephen Collier

PhD Biological Sciences

Mapping and modelling flows upstream of pumping stations to minimise fish and eel entrainment

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Clare Collins

PhD Biological Sciences

Effective biodiversity monitoring of river rewilding projects using eDNA modelling

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Ellie-Mae Cook

PhD Biological Sciences (Aura CDT)

Cumulative and in-combination effects of offshore infrastructure on ecological resources

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Yu Cui

PhD Energy Technology

Advanced Carbon and Energy Management and Eco-design Platform for Urban Districts

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Vasudha Darbari

PhD Physical Geography

Sand mining sustainability: Quantifying rates and locations of sand mining using high-resolution satellite data

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Isabelle Daltry

PhD English (Water Cultures)

I am the sea: water, emotion, and geography in early modern literature and culture

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Yu Deng

PhD English (Water Cultures)

Discourse and governance of UK flooding and coastal erosion

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Nilotpal Dhar

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Enhanced mixing of stratified waters by offshore wind infrastructure with ORE Catapult at the University of Hull

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Sarah Dickson

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Assessing echolocating cetacean (porpoise and dolphin) occurrence and behaviour in offshore development sites using a novel passive acoustic monitoring system at Newcastle University

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Ifunanya Stella Ezeoye

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy & the Environment (Aura CDT)

Evaluating the Performance and Sustainability of Natural Fibre-Based Composites in Wind Turbine Components at the University of Hull

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Yi Fan

PhD Energy Technology

The solar assisted space heating and hot water supply technologies

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Tania Fu

PhD Education (Water Cultures)

Youth engagement and water governance: a case study of participatory research approaches in two European countries

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Jordan Fuentes Holden

PhD (Aura CDT)

Development of a novel active wind farm control method by using a smart wind-turbine equipped with morphing blade technology at the University of Durham

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Sojiro Fukuda

PhD Physical Geography

Palaeo-Environmental Reconstruction from Seafloor Landscapes

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Edward Gilbert

PhD Biology (Panorama NERC DTP)

Testing new genomic tools for identifying the winners and losers of climate change

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Eleanor Goodfellow

PhD Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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David Goodman

PhD in Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

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Paul Hambly

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Researching Advanced condition monitoring solutions for offshore wind generators at the University of Sheffield

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Samuel Hawksford White

PhD American Studies (Water Cultures)

‘Swirling Dust—River Rising’: A Comparative Analysis of Drought and Flooding in 1930s American Documentary Photography and Film

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Thandie Hlabana

PhD Human Geography (Water Cultures)

Gendered Survival: Women and Water Crises in Southern Africa

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Jordan Holden

PhD Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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Mathew Holliday

MSc (by Research) Chemical Engineering

Production of Nano-celluloses and Nano-carbons from Spent Pea Biomass for Waste Water Treatment and it is Techno-economic analysis

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Nathalie Holloway

PhD Human Geography (Water Cultures)

Creative community engagement for climate and water action: a comparative study

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Tobias Horkan

PhD English (Water Cultures)

Moving stories: narrating change along the shorelines of Spurn

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Gemma Hoyes

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Researching Satellite detection and mapping of sandbank crests: supporting location of offshore wind developments and conservation areas at Newcastle University

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Jessica Hurley

PhD Earth Sciences

The physiological effects of microplastic ingestion

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Aliyu Ibrahim-Nagidi

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Integrating offshore wind with Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage for a net zero Humber at the University of Hull

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Chang Jianpei

PhD Mechanical Engineering

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Siti Khadijah Hamzah

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Modelling and optimisation for a coordinated interconnected multi-terminal DC transmission infrastructure for integration of offshore wind energy at Durham University

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Quan Le

PhD Physical Geography

Sand mining sustainability, Quantifying rates and locations of sand mining using high resolution satellite data

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Scarlette Electra LeBlanc

PhD English (Water Cultures)

Holy Wells, Springs, and Water Cures (Imagining Water)

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Bethany Lettington

PhD English (Water Cultures)

Creature and Community: Water Mythology in Poetry of the British Isles from Early Modern to Present Day

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Enora Lecordier

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Assessing the potential for colocation of aquaculture with offshore wind energy farms using remote sensing at the University of Hull

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Andrew Lee

PhD Psychology

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Yunhai Li

PhD Engineering

A Novel Environment-Interactive-Wall for Zero Carbon Heating and Cooling for Buildings

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Xin Lim

PhD English (Water Cultures)

Water as a Frontier: Environmental Colonialism and Native American Resistance in Early Modern Virginia

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Haowen Liu

PhD Mechanical Engineering

Design and optimisation of novel thermoelectric cooler geometry

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Thomas Logan

PhD Biology (Panorama NERC DTP)

Reconciling lethal control of an iconic native species (red deer Cervus elaphus) with nature conservation within a multiple-use landscape.

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Flavia Manieri

PhD Human Geography

Living with Water: Perceptions of floods and flood risk in Hull, Past, Present and Future

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Hannah Marsden

PhD Chemical Engineering (Aura CDT)

From textile waste to advanced carbon materials for wind turbine blade manufacturing

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Catherine Mascord

PhD Physical Geography

Worms On Film: How, Where and When did Metazoans begin Bioturbating Microbial Substrates?

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Caitlin Matthews

PhD Human Geography

Preparing for a Climate Resilient and Net Zero Olympics

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Rick McCumskay

PhD Physical Geography

Time dependent ultraviolet degradation of marine plastics.

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Phoebe Medlicott-Revell

PhD History (Water Cultures)

Water Cultures in Conflict at Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska

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Luke Michno-Neville

PhD Physical Geography (Water Cultures)

Living on the Edge: Surviving and thriving in the Holocene Humberhead Levels

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Paolo Moccetti

PhD Biological Sciences

Quantifying the evolutionary response to anthropogenic selection in migrating species

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Angus Monaghan

PhD Fisheries Studies

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Oliver Morgan-Clague

PhD Mechanical Engineering (Aura CDT)

Numerical modelling of wind turbine blade manufacture

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Blessing Mucherera

PhD Human Geography (Water Cultures)

The Cultural Production of Flood Injustices

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Luke Neal

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

The effects of government policy on industrial development and employment relations in North Sea offshore wind at the University of Sheffield

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Ewan Norris

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Blade Factory Digital Twin for Recording and Analysing Production Parameters at the University of Sheffield

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Sara Peixoto

PhD Biological Sciences

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of environmental DNA for monitoring and management of priority invasive species

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Ben Pickett

PhD Geology (Aura CDT)

Palaeo record of Tsunami risk to Offshore Renewable Energy Infrastructure

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Peng Qin

PhD Engineering

Advanced Computational design/planning tool for district-scale carbon and energy prediction, management and optimisation

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Katharina Reimann

PhD Fisheries Studies

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Giulia Repetti

PhD Social Justice (Water Cultures)

Investigating the links between climate-related water stresses, migration and human trafficking

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Callum Rothon

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Wind Turbine Blade Inspection using Machine Learning for Diagnosis of Structural Faults at the University of Hull

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Isha Saxena

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Data-driven Infrastructure Planning for Offshore Wind Farms

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Victoria Scott

PhD Microplastics Researcher

Vicky is researching the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic organisms, including plastics and climate change predictions.

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Emily Settle

Aura CDT in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Researching "Digital twins Era for Coordinating Energy Network inTegration (DECENT)" at Durham University

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Thomas Shaw

PhD Dip in Offshore Wind Energy and the Envrionment

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Montgomery Simus

PhD History (Water Cultures)

Water Cultures in Conflict at Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska

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Jamie Smith

PhD Biological Science

Nutrigenomics and the resilience of bees in a changing climate

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Simon Smith

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Population-based offshore wind farm fleet health monitoring and performance prediction at the University of Sheffield

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Lisa Somerville

PhD Computer Science (Aura CDT)

Evaluating the impact of motion travel on cognitive ability of offshore workers: a VR experience.

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Zhiying Song

CSET

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Alice Swallow

MSc by Research in Earth Science

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Xin Tang

PhD Engineering

A novel tri-functional cooling photovoltaic/thermal (RC-PV /T) system

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Serena Teasdale

PhD Physical Geography

Sticky Coasts: Characterising the role of biological cohesion in modulating erosion in coastal fringe environments

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Felicitas ten Brink

PhD Earth Science

Impacts of Microplastic pollution on intertidal food webs

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Reuben Tinsdeall

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Digital twin output functions for monitoring wind turbines at the University of Sheffield

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Charlie Trotman

PhD Earth Science

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Eamonn Tuton

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

Digital Twin Logistics of Operations and Maintenance for Offshore Wind Farms at the University of Hull

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Thya van den Berg

PhD Physical Geography

Linking landscape processes and bioeconomies through translation of pollen archives

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Amber Wagstaffe

PhD Biological Sciences

The evolution of functional disparity in the avian skull

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Nemi Walding

PhD Earth Sciences

The PDC flow units problem: Deposit heterogeneity from varying cohesive behaviour and sediment flux

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Connor Walker

PhD Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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Zhichu Wang

PhD Engineering

Investigation of the Novel Photons Up-conversion PV Cells Enabling the Enhanced Solar Efficiency beyond the SQ Limit

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Kate Warnock-Smith

PhD Law and Environment

Children's environmental human rights and marine plastic pollution

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Anna Weatherburn

PhD Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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Connor Whiteford

PhD Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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Daniel Whitt

PhD Physics (Aura CDT)

Wind Sourced Energy Storage

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Nicholas Wilson

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Electricity Storage through Electrochemically Compressed Hydrogen at the University of Hull

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Michael Winter

PhD Biological Sciences

Nematode genomics and metagenomics to address agricultural threat

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Felicity Wood

PhD English (Water Cultures)

English literature, water, health, and wellbeing in estuary communities, 1500-1700

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Jack Wootton

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Xiang Xu

PhD Engineering

A novel net zero household heat pump heating system

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Jian (Miguel) Ye

PhD in Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment (Aura CDT)

Next Generation High Temperature Superconducting Generators for Floating Wind Turbines at the University of Sheffield

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Chang Zhou

PhD Engineering

A Novel Near-zero-carbon and All-climate-adaptive Air Conditioning System

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Jenna Zunder

PG Dip Offshore Wind Energy and the Environment

Aura Centre for Doctoral Training

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Associates

Dr Anna Bird

Lecturer in Geology

Anna is a lecturer in metamorphic geology who also works on Quaternary sediments.

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Dr Chris Skinner

Visiting Research Fellow

Chris specialises in using computer models to see how floods change our landscapes and how these changes influence future flood risk.

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Dr Vasiliki Skoulou

Lecturer

Vicky's research is focused in the field of thermochemical treatment (pyro-gasification processes) of lignocellulosic biomass residues/fossil fuels/waste for bioenergy-biofuels-biochemicals.

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Honorary fellows

Professor emerita Lynne Frostick

Lynne's specialisms are in flood and coastal risk management, ecohydraulics and estuarine hydraulics and sedimentation

Professor emeritus David Gibbs

David's research focuses on local and regional green economic development, sustainable cities and sustainability transitions theory

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Fellow emerita Dr Jane Reed

Jane's expertise is mainly in diatom-based palaeoecological reconstruction of long-term climate change from analysis of lake sediment cores.