Professor Gerd Masselink

The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Gerd's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

About Gerd

Professor Gerd Masselink is a Professor in Coastal Geomorphology at the University of Plymouth (UoP) with >150 refereed journal publications (GoogleScholar h-index = 68) and over 25 years' experience in collecting and analysing coastal and nearshore morphodynamic data.

Gerd did his MSc degree in Physical Geography at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) from 1984 to 1990, and completed his PhD in Marine Science at Sydney University (Australia) in 1994. After a 4-year postdoc at the University of Western Australia, he started as a Lecturer at Loughborough University (UK) in 1998.

Since 2005, he has been working at the University of Plymouth, first in the School of Geography, then in the School of Marine Science and Engineering, and currently in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences.

Gerd has been (or is) a PI/CI on 15 UK research council funded projects, all involving shoreline dynamics and nearshore sediment transport processes, and has been (or is) involved with supervision of 25 coastal PhD students. Currently, Masselink is: (1) Plymouth lead on the EA-funded Making Space for Sand project (£0.8M); and (2) PI on the UKRI-funded ARISE project (£2.8M), investigating the impact of sea-level rise on atoll islands. He was the chair of the organising committee of the 2013 International Coastal Symposium (hosted at the University of Plymouth), is the author of the A-level text book Changing Coastal Landscapes and the undergraduate textbook Introduction to Coastal Processes and Geomorphology, and is editor of the textbook Coastal Environments and Global Change. Apart from his academic role, Gerd has been Associate Head of School (Marine Science) and Associate Head of School (Research), and is currently co-director of the consulting group CMAR - Coastal Marine Applied Research. He is a member of the Coastal Processes Research Group (CPRG).

Research Expertise

2022–2026 Madeline Gee – ‘Shifting Seas – Ecological adaptation to changing rates of Sea Level Rise

2020–2024 Aikaterina Konstantinou – Coastal dynamics from space

2019–2024 Josie Alice-Kirby – Application of Coastal Change Management Areas (CCMAs) for coastal adaptation to climate change impacts in SW England (DoS)

2021–2022 Oak McMahon - Natural adaptive capability of coral reef islands to sea-level rise and implications for future human occupation (DoS) (no completion)

2017–2022 Anna Persson – Physical drivers of nursery function in juvenile flatfishes (no completion)

2016–2021 Erin King – Modelling sediment exchange between the beach and the inner continental shelf

2016–2020 Paul Bayle – Coastal resilience under sea-level rise (based at Bath, UK)

2016–2020 Mark Wiggins – Coastal cell response to a changing wave climate using autonomous aerial surveying

2016–2019 Megan Tuck – Dynamics of coral reef islands (based at Auckland, New Zealand)

2015–2019 Nieves Garcia Valiente – Sediment exchange between beach and inner shelf (DoS)

2014–2018 Olivier Burvingt – Beach response to extreme storms along the SW coast of England (DoS)

2015–2017 Rafael Jesús Bergillos – Multi-scale dynamics of mixed sand and gravel deltaic coasts (based at Granada, Spain)

2013–2017 Sebastian Pitman – Automatic Rip Current Detection (based at Southampton, UK)

2013–2017 Kris Inch – Extreme storm dynamics on sandy beaches

2011–2015 Claire Early – Field observations of wave induced coastal cliff erosion, Cornwall, UK (DoS)

2011–2015 Pedro Almeida – Swash Zone Dynamics of coarse-Grained Beaches during Energetic Wave Conditions (DoS)

2011–2015 Robert McCall – Modelling gravel beach storm response using XBeach (DoS)

2011–2014 Anissia White – Managing the Retreat: Understanding the Transition to Salt Marsh in Coastal Realignment Project

2010–2016 Antony Thorpe – Sediment Dynamics in Rip Currents

2010–2014 Saul Reynolds – Tidal Dune Dynamics (no completion)

2009–2013 Suha Zoozi – Estuarine Pollution Dynamics in Agricultural River Basins

2008–2012 Tim Poate – Impact of Wave Hub on Shoreline Processes and Beach Morphology

2007–2011 Alison Nock – An ARC Marine Decision Support System for Coastal Flooding (no completion)

2007–2010 Amaia Ruiz de Alegria Arzaburu – Measuring and Modelling Annual, Seasonal and Storm-Induced Morphological Response on a Gravel Beach (DoS)

2006–2010 Tim Scott – Classification of UK Beaches and Associated Nearshore Hazards (DoS)

2004–2008 Daniel Buscombe – Morpho-Sediment Dynamics of Gravel Beaches (DoS)

2002–2005 Martin Austin – Swash, Groundwater and Sediment Transport Processes on Gravel Beaches (DoS)

2000–2004 Darren Evans – Swash on Steep and Shallow Beaches (DoS)

2000–2004 Selma van Houwelingen – Spatial and Temporal Variability in Ridge and Runnel Morphology along the North Lincolnshire Coast, England (DoS)

2000–2004 Aafke Tonk – Longshore Sediment Transport on Low-Energy Beaches (DoS)