A research-based consultancy group made up predominantly of academics at Plymouth University has completed its first year of operation.
The Coastal and Marine Applied Research (CMAR) group includes experts whose research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
It was founded in response to frequent approaches from government and non-government organisations requesting coastal and marine expertise.
Since its launch in October 2015, CMAR has worked on a range of projects across the UK, Europe and beyond, conducting field observations, literature reviews and numerical modelling.
Gerd Masselink, Professor of Coastal Geomorphology and Director of CMAR, said:
“We always knew there was a market for our type of expertise, addressing important issues in the coastal and marine environment. But even we did not foresee that in the first year of the business we would be asked to do projects dealing with coastal issues in England, Scotland, Ireland, Bulgaria and Lebanon. We are very optimistic for the future with several projects in the pipeline, the most exciting being to collect extreme storm impact data on the east coast of England over the next two winters. It is very rewarding to see how we have been able to capitalise on our world-leading storm-chasing expertise.”
CMAR includes academics from the University’s Coastal Processes Research Group, Marine Physics Research Group and Marine Institute, working alongside other collaborating universities. It specialises in:
- the collection, analysis and interpretation of air-, land- and sea-based coastal survey data
- making in-situ measurements of hydrodynamics (waves, currents and tides) and sediment transport processes in coastal, estuarine, nearshore and shallow marine environments, and conducting advanced analysis and interpretation of these data
- providing expert, research-informed advice on physical issues in the coastal zone
- numerical modelling of coastal processes and marine physics.
“Interestingly, with projects ranging from quantifying beach risk, to reviewing coastal flood risk, to assessing the impact of marine renewable devices, all these specialisms have been called upon this year. The organisational structure of CMAR maximises our ability to galvanise our coastal and marine expertise, and we can draw upon a very wide range of specific academic expertise present in the research groups.”
