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. Phil's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Phil
Phil Hosegood is an observational physical oceanographer with more than 25 years experience in investigating the physical processes that govern the ocean across environments ranging from coastal shelf seas to the open Southern Ocean. He has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and has led research projects investigating the oceanography of some of the world's most remote marine environments, including the Southern Ocean and central Indian Ocean, and the role of physical processes in shaping their ecosystems.
Phil obtained his PhD cum laude from Utrecht University after studying the mechanisms that drive enhanced turbulent mixing over continental slopes. He then spent two years at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington, Seattle, investigating how submesoscale dynamics influence air-sea exchange and vertical circulation in the upper ocean.
Based at Plymouth University, Phil has secured numerous research grants, mostly as Principal Investigator, to investigate the near coastal shelf sea environment, exchange at the continental shelf edge, upper ocean submesoscale dynamics, and the influence of oceanographic processes on the regional ecosystem. Working closely with marine ecologists and biologists, Phil applies physical oceanography to understand challenges such as bleaching throughout mesophotic coral ecosystems, the mechanisms triggering manta ray aggregations in the Maldives, and shark foraging over seamounts.
He has participated in several ocean-going cruises and led a research cruise aboard the RRS James Clark Ross to make the first purposeful measurements of submesoscale dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Over the past decade, he has led multiple multidisciplinary cruises to the central Indian Ocean, including extensive and sustained programmes in the Chagos Archipelago and in the Maldives, alongside field campaigns in Ascension Island and, most recently, the Caribbean.
In addition to a broad research portfolio, Phil teaches the fundamental aspects of physical oceanography across a range of undergraduate degree programmes at the University of Plymouth. He has led the BSc Ocean Science programme for the past decade and has championed practical, field-based teaching that equips students with the independence, adaptability, resilience and technical skills required for careers in marine science.
Supervised Research Degrees
PhD/MPhil supervision (ongoing):
- Harvey Cairns: 'Understanding the role of dynamical oceanographic mechanisms driving habitat use at tropical atolls: a numerical modelling approach', Bertarelli Foundation, 2022 - present
- Corbyn Johannes: 'Causes, Character and Consequences of Antarctic Turbisity Currents', ARIES, 2024 - present
- Chloe Renn: 'Combining local fisheries knowledge with novel ecollogical survey methods to identify and understand critical elasmobranch habitats and their threats', NERC, 2023 - present
PhD supervision (completed):
- Ted Robinson: 'Oceanographic drivers of ecosystem variability throughout British Indian Ocean Territory', Garfield Weston Foundation, 2019 - present
- Clara Diaz: 'Investigating the distribution and diversity of mesophotic reefs in British Indian Ocean Territory', Garfield Weston Foundation, 2019 - present
- Joanna Harris: 'Oceanographic drivers of manta movements and ecology in British Indian Ocean Territory', Garfield Weston Foundation, 2019 - present
- Danielle Eager: 'Identifying and quantifying pelagic biomass over seamounts in the Chagos Archipelago in relation to local oceanographic processes', Garfield Weston Foundation, 2019 - present
- Jaimie Cross: 'The Dynamics of Suspended Particles in a Seasonally Stratified Shelf Sea'. NERC-funded, 2009 - 2012
- Ed Steele: '3D Turbulence Structure in the Sea', SMSE funded, 2011 - 2015
- Sam Cox: ''Physical drivers of predator foraging in the marine environment', NERC-funded, 2011 - 2016
- Megan Sheridan: 'Dynamics of small-scale coastal plumes', SMSE-funded, 2012 - 2018
- Marcus Zannachi: 'Physical controls on primary production in marginally stratified shelf seas', NERC-funded, October 2013 - 2019.
- Llucia Mascorda Cabre: 'Oceanographic impacts of offshore mussel farms', 2019 - present
- Maxine King: 'Deciphering submarine slope processes in the Ross Sea, Antarctica', SoBAMS, 2018 - present
Teaching
*** Nominated 'Most Inspirational Teacher' SSTAR awards, 2011, 2016***I teach on a number of modules across the BSc Marine Science programme and lead two modules:
- OS201 Global Ocean Processes: This module teaches students about the major oceanographic processes that influence the ocean circulation and have implications for biogeochemical processes throughout the marine environment.
- OS206 Researching the Marine Environment: This module teaches students advanced practical skills appropriate to their specific degree. We train students to be able to independently conduct fieldwork with minimal supervision, including instrument programming, preparation, deployment and recovery, in addition to project planning and management.
Contact Phil
Room 110, Reynolds, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 584729
phil.hosegood@plymouth.ac.uk
