Skip to main content
Research group

Nature-Based Ocean Solutions

A person with a fishing line standing in the sea with lots of sea kelp

We aim to address societal, economic, environmental and engineering challenges through effective nature-based ocean solutions.

About

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems to address societal, economic and environmental challenges. Increasingly, NbS feature in adaptation policies and national and international pledges on climate action, sustainable development, biodiversity management, environmental protection and coastal resilience.

Our network links a diverse community of researchers and experts with ocean or blue economy stakeholders: communities; policymakers; the public sector; regulators; non-governmental organisations; engineering consultancies; energy developers.

As a collective, we aim to improve understanding and generate the evidence base for nature-based solutions. NbS's are important in adaptation and mitigation policies that address climate emergencies and loss of biodiversity.

We want to inform adaptive nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration and management. The aim is to alleviate coastal and marine hazards such as coastal flooding and erosion, habitat degradation and biodiversity loss and changing ocean biochemistry. This will provide healthy ecosystems for climate mitigation, carbon and nutrient management and sustainable food provision.

We want to inform engineering and management practices to enhance community resilience and embed nature-inclusivity in engineering technologies for scalable energy harvesting and renewable energy generation. This will inform the next generation of engineering designs, to be environmentally friendly and have minimal impact on marine and ocean environments. 

To find out more about the Nature-based Ocean Solutions Special Interest Group and what we do, get in touch with group champion Hachem Kassem.

Join the SMMI Community to sign up to this group and our other special interest groups.

People, projects and publications

People

Dr Adrian Nightingale

Lecturer in Microfluidics&Sensor Design

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: a.nightingale@soton.ac.uk

Address: B7, East Highfield Campus, University Road, SO17 1BJ

Professor Alberto Naveira Garabato

Professor in Physical Oceanography

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: acng@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Dr Alexandra Karamitrou PhD

Research Fellow

Research interests

  • Artificial Intelligence and Image processing algorithms 
  • Geophysical Archaeology
  • Image Processing techniques

Email: a.karamitrou@soton.ac.uk

Address: B65a, Avenue Campus, Highfield Road, SO17 1BF

Dr Amber Annett

Lecturer

Research interests

  • Oceanography
  • Marine biogeochemistry
  • Trace elements

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: a.l.annett@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Professor Andrew Cundy

Chair in Environmental Radiochemistry

Research interests

  • Environmental radioactivity and radiochemistry
  • Environmental geology
  • Contaminated land, wastes and water management

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: a.cundy@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Dr Anna Hickman

Lecturer

Research interests

  • The role of marine phytoplankton in biogeochemical cycles
  • Phytoplankton ecology, primary production, photo physiology and bio-optics
  • Understanding the physical controls on biological processes and associated feedbacks

Email: a.hickman@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Dr Benjamin Cerfontaine

Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering

Research interests

  • Offshore renewable energy - wind, tidal and wave
  • Numerical and Physical Modelling of infrastructure for renewable energy
  • Constitutive modelling of geomaterials for cyclic loading

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: b.cerfontaine@soton.ac.uk

Address: Boldrewood Campus, Burgess Road, SO16 7QF

Professor Bharath Ganapathisubramani

Professor of Experimental Fluid Mechani

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: g.bharath@soton.ac.uk

Address: Boldrewood Campus, Burgess Road, SO16 7QF

Dr Cathy Lucas

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • The role of gelatinous zooplankton in ecosystem structure and function.
  • Causes and consequences of jellyfish blooms.
  • Jellyfish and ecosystem servives in the coastal zone.

Accepting applications from PhD students

Email: c.h.lucas@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Dr Charlie Thompson

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Coastal Monitoring
  • Coastal Processes
  • Sediment Stability, Resuspension and Exchange processes

Email: celt2@soton.ac.uk

Address: National Oceanography Centre, Waterfront Campus European Way, SO14 3ZH

Related research institutes, centres and groups

Related research institutes, centres and groups

Connect with us

Enquiries

If you're interested in joining us or collaborating, get in touch with the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.