- Room 301a, Marine Building, Drakes Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586122
- deborah.greaves@plymouth.ac.uk

Profiles
Professor Deborah Greaves OBE FREng
Professor in Ocean Engineering
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
- Fluid structure interaction
- Engineering
- Government policy
- Offshore wind energy
- Tidal energy
- Women in science
- Wave energy
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Biography
Biography
Director of the COAST Laboratory
Member of the COAST Engineering Research Group
Qualifications
- DPhil, University of Oxford (1995): Numerical modelling of laminar separated flows and inviscid steep waves using adaptive hierarchical meshes
- BEng Hons, Civil Engineering, University of Bristol (1988)
I am Professor of Ocean Engineering, Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Decarbonisation and ORE, Director of the COAST Laboratory and was Head of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (2017 -2022) . Alongside this, I am also a member of EPSRC Council, Board Member and Inaugural Chair for PRIMaRE, Director of the Supergen ORE Hub, and Non-Executive Director of Wave Hub Plc.
Prior to joining the University, I was a lecturer at the University of Bath in the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and University College London in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. I also held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship for six years, and have worked in industry as a Civil Engineer.
I have made contributions to industry and society in engineering and offshore renewable energy through media and outreach activities, and being a strong advocate for women in STEM. In 2018 I was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to marine renewable energy, equalities and higher education, was shortlisted for the 2014 WISE Research Award, and in 2020 was voted as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering.
My research expertise is in the areas of marine renewable energy, physical and numerical modelling of violent free surface flow and wave-structure interaction, have published over 240 peer-reviewed papers and secured over £27 million in research funding, working with industrial and academic collaborators.
Since its inception in 2017, I have been Director of the £9m the Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub. I was appointed to develop the strategy and consortium for the new Supergen ORE Hub that brings together offshore wind with marine energy sectors. I also lead the Collaborative Computational Project on Wave Structure Interaction (CCP-WSI), and have consistently pioneered the development of new technologies in offshore wind, wave and tidal power. This has included novel types of wave energy converter, analysis methods for offshore renewable energy farms and extreme wave-structure interactions. In addition to my research, I have led high-profile national and international initiatives designed to ensure such technological advances can be applied in real-world scenarios to help meet the country’s future clean energy demands.
A full list of research projects can be found under the ‘research’ tab.
Highlighted Awards
- Top 50 Women in Engineering (WE50) 2020: Sustainability (2020)
- OBE – Queen’s Birthday Honour List for services to marine renewable energy, equalities and higher education (2018)
- Shortlisted for 2014 WISE Research Award (2014)
Professional membership
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (elected 2020)
Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Engineering Council, Chartered Engineer
Fellow of the Women’s Engineering Society
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
Fellow of the Leadership Foundation
Senior Fellow HEA 2017
Roles on external bodies
Member of the RCUK Energy Programme’s Scientific Advisory Committee (2016 – 2020)
Member of the Editorial Advisory Panel of ICE’s international journal Engineering and Computational Mechanics
Member of the editorial board for the International Journal for Marine Energy
Member of the technical committee for EWTEC (European Wave and Tidal Energy Conference)
Member of the Offshore Wind Innovation Hub Technical Advisory Group
Member of the Plymouth Employability Skills Board
Member of the Peer-review College of the EPSRC
Member of the NERC Pool of Technologies Reviewers
Member of the Royal Society’s research Grants Board 20K (Physical Sciences) (2019 – 2021)
Reviewer for international funding bodies (Singapore Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC), German Academic Exchange Service), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, NOW.
Member of the Pool of Experts for the United Nations, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (OLA)
Previous member of the international Engineering Science Panel for Research Environment Evaluation of Uppsala University KoF2017 Quality and Renewal 2017 Uppsala University
Highlights
Research
Research
Research interests
Details of Grants Awarded
EPSRC integrated wind-wave control of semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine platforms (FOWT-Control) (£376,518 FEC for 36 months), with Queen Mary University of London (lead), University of Manchester and University of Exeter.
InnovateUK development of an innovative, floating, dual-energy platform (60kW) for small island developing states (£220,421 FEC for 18 months), working with AEON Energy.
EPSRC High efficiency reversible solid oxide cells for the integration of offshore renewable energy using hydrogen, PI for UoP EP/W003732/1 £355k FEC to UoP, led by Imperial College London, with University of Warwick, University of St Andrews and UoP 2022 – 2025. Analyse the whole system benefits of the ORE and rSOC system in comparison to other options, and offer insight to technology developers of the value of a range of characteristics such as flexibility and efficiency.
ERDF Cornwall Flow Accelerator, led by Wave Hub Development Services, PI for UoP Deborah Greaves, £6,047,029 (£1,685,740 to UoP). The project will work with local businesses to support the development of Floating Offshore Wind in the Celtic Sea. 2021 - 2023
EPSRC Extreme Loading on FOWT under Complex Environmental Conditions, EP/T004177/1, PI Martyn Hann, Co-I Deborah Greaves, is £490,282., 2019 – 2022.
EPSRC ORE Supergen Hub additional funds, EP/S000747/1, PI Deborah Greaves, £4 million, 2019 – 2022. The consortium is led by UoP, with co-Directors from Universities of Southampton, Oxford, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Exeter, Warwick, Aberdeen, Hull and Manchester.
EU INTERREG Atlantic Area PORTOS, Ports towards energy self-sufficiency, PI Dave Simmonds, Co-I Deborah Greaves, 2.6 milion euro, led by Universidade do Porto, 2019 - 2022.
EU INTERREG Channel, TIGER project, Tidal Stream Industry Energiser Project, PI Jon Miles, Co-I Deborah Greaves, Dave Simmonds, led by ORE Catapult, 46.7 million euro, 2019 - 2023.
UKERC Whole Systems networking Fund: A whole systems approach to realising the potential of hydrogen for optimising the offshore energy system, October 2018 – March 2019, £74,872
EPSRC ORE Supergen Hub, EP/S000747/1 , PI Deborah Greaves, £5 million, 2018 – 2022, the role of the Supergen ORE hub is to provide research leadership for the ORE community to enable transformation to future scale ORE. The consortium is led by UoP, with co-Directors from Universities of Southampton, Oxford, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Exeter, Warwick, Aberdeen, Hull and Manchester.
Wave Energy Scotland (WES) Very Large Scale Wave Energy Generation, with Ove Arup, £79,628 (£8000 to UoP), March 2018 – June 2018.
STFC ARCHER eCSE Developing Dynamic Load Balancing library for wsiFoam, January – November 2018, £31k, PI
IUK/EPSRC MTG2 Modular Tide generators, Oct 2017 – Mar 2019, £1,068,872, £330,490 to UoP, PI
EPSRC EP/R010765/1 ORE Supergen Leader Deborah Greaves, July 2017 – Jan 2018, £183,377, PI, six-month engagement and consortium building project to develop the strategy and proposal for the new ORE Supergen Research Programme.
EPSRC EP/P026109/1, Partnership for Research In Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMaRE), Aug 2017 – July 2020, £300,760, PI
Marine-I project, Department for Communities and Local Government – European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), £1,025,109, (PI for UoP), Jan 2017 – Dec 2019.
A feasibility study on Elastomeric-based WECs (ELASTO), Wave Energy Scotland, WES, £55,701, PI for UoP with Edinburgh University, 2017-2018.
MARINET2, Marine Research Infrastructures Network for Energy Technologies, H2020 £216,275 (PI for UoP), 2016 – 2021. The 10 million Euro trans-national access MARINET2 project has 40 partners, and seeks to ensure the continued integration and enhancement of all leading European research infrastructure and facilities specialising in research, development and testing of offshore renewable energy systems. MARINET2 will bring researchers and developers from Europe to Plymouth and provide access to 100 days of testing in the COAST Lab’s 35-metre long ocean basin.
EPSRC EP/N022947/1 STORMLAMP: STructural behaviour Of Rock Mounted Lighthouses At the Mercy of imPulsive waves, £453,077, Co-I, 2016 – 2019: Partners: Exeter, UCL. The project is being led by Plymouth, conducting physical modelling in the COAST laboratory, CFD modelling and continuing our work instrumenting the rock lighthouses of Trinity House, the Northern Lighthouse Board and the Irish Lights.
- H2020 HYDRALAB Plus, grant agreement 654110, (PI for UoP), Associate Partner, 2015-19
- EPSRC EP/N008847/1: A Zonal CFD Approach for Fully Nonlinear Simulations of Two Vessels in Launch and Recovery Operations, £572,177, (PI) 2015 -2018: Partners: City, MMU. The aim is to develop a fast and efficient numerical simulation method using a zonal approach alongside cutting edge experiments.
- IUK/EPSRC Innovate UK, MTG Tidal Raft Platform Concept, £117,027, (PI for UoP) 2015 – 2016. This project investigates a new concept for deployment of tidal turbines in a modular tidal raft system.
- H2020 WETFEET: Wave Energy Transition to Future through Evolution of Engineering Tools, £221,964, (PI for UoP), 2015 – 2018, led by Wave Energy Centre in Portugal with 12 European partners. This project investigates breakthrough technological advances for wave energy conversion.
- EPSRC EP/M022382/1: CCP-WSI, Collaborative Computational Project for Wave Structure Interaction, £603,949, PI and CCP Chair, July 2015 – June 2020. This is a new Collaborative Computational Project that aims to bring the computational fluid dynamics and experimental fluid dynamics communities together in wave structure interaction, led by PU in collaboration with MMU, City, Bath, Exeter and RAL.
- EPSRC EP/K038303/1: Virtual Wave Structure Interaction (WSI) Simulation Environment, £360,636, Co-I, 2013 – 2016. This project involves the development of a numerical wave tank in a shared open source environment and is led by MMU with Plymouth and RAL.
- EPSRC EP/K012177/1: The hydrodynamics of deformable flexible fabric structures for wave energy conversion, £433,565, PI, 2013 – 2016. Funded as part of the UKCMER SuperGen Marine Challenge, this project is led by PU and is a collaborative project with Southampton University. New concepts for wave energy conversion are investigated through model testing and numerical modelling.
- EPSRC EP/J012866/1 FROTH: Fundamentals and Reliability of Offshore Structure Hydrodynamics, £436,113, PI, 2012 – 2015. In this project a series of cutting edge experiments are carried out in the ocean basin at PU in order to provide insight into the hydrodynamics of offshore wave impact. New developments in computational fluid dynamics are made to tackle different aspects of wave impact and then applied to simulation of the experiments. Led by UoP, the project is collaborative with City, MMU and Bath with a total budget of £1,075,832.
- EPSRC EP/J010235/1 SuperGen Marine Challenge: X-MED: EXtreme Loading of Marine Energy Devices due to Waves, Current, Flotsam and Mammal Impact, £258,624, (PI for UoP), 2011 - 2014. Led by the University of Manchester, UoP’s contribution is to carry out laboratory scale experiments and develop CFD simulations of extreme loading of a wave energy device.
- NERC: NE/J004219/1 FLOWBEC Flow & Benthic Ecology 4D, £140,000, (Co-I), 2011 -2014, investigating new techniques for environmental monitoring of wave and tidal energy demonstration sites.
- EPSRC SUPERGEN Marine 3 Associate Partner, £61,075, (PI for UoP), 2011 - 2016, Deborah Greaves is a member of the UKCMER Steering Group and supervises a PhD studentship funded by the programme.
- Marine Energy in Far Peripheral & Island Communities (MERiFIC) Interreg, £197,482, PI for UoP, 2011 – 2014, led by Cornwall Council and with 10 European partners, the project investigates aspects of marine energy development and was selected under the European Cross-Border Cooperation Programme INTERREG IV A.
- OWEL Marine Demonstrator, TSB project led by IT Power, £2.5 M, PI for UoP, consortium for deployment of the Offshore Wave Energy Ltd (OWEL) 2010 – 2013.
- EU FP7 Infrastructures Project MaRINET, Marine Research Infrastructures Network for Energy Technologies, £86,421 PI for UoP. Led by UCC, this project has 36 European partners and has funded the use of the PU COAST Laboratory Ocean Basin by European and international researchers, total budget approx. 10 million euro, 2011 – 2015.
- SOWFIA (Streamlining of Offshore Wave Farms Impact Assessment) European Project: Intelligent Energy Europe Programme IEE, total 1.9 million euro, PI and Coordinator of 10 Partner Project: 2010 - 2013. The project investigated impact assessment and consenting of offshore wave energy in Europe and developed recommendations for streamlining.
- PROTTEC (Public Research Organisation Technology Transfer through Regional Economic Clusters) EU Interreg Project £115.6k, PI for UoP, 2009 – 2011.
- FP7 Project THESEUS (Innovative technologies for safer European coasts in a changing climate), €386,427, Co-I, 2009 – 2013.
- GWR Studentship Development of an Assessment Model for Coastal Flooding and Erosion due to Climate Change with Edenvale Young Associates, 59.2k, Co-I, 2008 –2011.
- GWR Research Project 358’ Resource Assessment Tool for Tidal Power Generation: Inter Array Modelling. With Garrad Hassan, Tidal Generation, International Power and Bristol, Plymouth and Exeter University. Value 59.2k, Co-I, 2008 – 2011.
- EPSRC Industrial Case Studentship with Arup, Wave energy converter & mooring/tether dynamics modelling, £85k, PI, 2008 – 2011.
- ERDF, PRIMaRE, Coupled Dynamic Response of Wave Energy Converters and Mooring Systems, £387k, Co-I, 2007 – 2010.
- GWR Research proposal, Survivability and Tuning of the Sperboy Wave Energy Converter, with University of Bath and Embley Energy,£55,200, PI, 2009-2012.
- EPSRC EP/D077508 Extreme wave loading on offshore wave energy devices using CFD: A hierarchical team approach, £95,604, PI, led by Plymouth, jointly with Manchester University, Oxford University and Manchester Metropolitan University, 2006-2009.
- Royal Society University Research Fellowship Grant, Novel adaptive mesh methods in CFD, £157,669, PI, 2000 – 2006.
- Royal Society Grant for joint project with Shanghai Jaiotong University, China, Nonlinear fluid/structure analysis of a body entering water with high speed, Co-I (Q741 1998-2001).
- EPSRC GR/L24083, Coupled solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for marine hydrodynamic analysis, £93,709, Co-I. Collaborative project with Oxford University,1997-99.
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals