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. Tim's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Tim
- Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration
- Programme lead for MSc Hydrography
- Coastal Marine Applied Research (CMAR) consultancy
- Member of Executive Board - National Centre for Coastal Autonomy
- Education and Research Working Group - UK Centre for Seabed Mapping
Dr Tim Scott is an Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration and has been actively contributing to internationally recognised research in fields of beach and submarine geomorphology, coastal morphodynamics, and coastal hazards. His recent research has focused on storm impacts, rip current circulation and coastal hazards in Europe, and has been published in high-quality international journals. Tim has more than 20 years experience in the collection and analysis of coastal morphological, hydrodynamic and hydrographic data. He been actively involved in national and international collaborations with external partners (e.g., RNLI, UK Met Office, Environment Agency, Natural England, Royal Navy local and regional councils and external universities). His academic research has resulted >80 peer-reviewed international journal articles and numerous conference papers, technical reports, invited lectures, workshops and media outputs. In addition to academic research Tim has contributed to and led a range of consultancy projects, including working closely with the RNLI for over a decade, improving understanding of physical coastal hazards and developing operational risk assessment tools. Tim have several years of commercial offshore experience working in seismic and hydrographic industry as well as acted as expert witness in rip current drowning cases.
Tim has been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of successful field-based research and consultancy projects. His research typically involves extensive field data collection in challenging environments, including intertidal, nearshore and inner shelf oceanographic instrument deployment (Eulerian and Lagrangian), surf zone circulation tracking (GPS surf-zone drifters), as well as topographic/bathymetric, sedimentological and seismic surveying of the coastal zone. More recently he has been involved in research utilising autonomous survey platforms for unique coastal data collection, including development of hydroacoustic techniques for autonomous SAV detection and rapid storm response sub-tidal morphological survey. Tim is programme lead for MSc Hydrography at the University, building on the successful track record of training the next generation of hydrographers and developing industry links with the University.
RESEARCH GRANTS/CONSULTANCY/AWARDS
- 2024 - 2026 - WSSP South Africa SA24_4.2 ‘Advancing rip current forecasts for beach locations across South Africa’ (CI) (~£100k)
- 2024 - NERC Special Highlight Topic: Gravel barrier resilience in a changing climate (#gravelbeach) (CI) (£3m)
- 2024 – 2025 Innovate UK DEFRA: Improving Observation Capabilities of Biodiversity in UK Waters: Phase 2 (sub-contractor) (~£30k)
- 2023 – 2028 UKRI Natural Adaptation of Atoll Islands to Sea-Level Rise Offering Opportunities for Ongoing Human Occupation (ARISE) (CI) (£2,771k)
- 2023 – 2025 FISP Ropes to Reefs: Assessing ecological benefits of offshore mussel farm (PI) (£870k)
- 2023 – 2023 Innovate UK DEFRA: Improving Observation Capabilities of Biodiversity in UK Waters: Phase 1 (PI) (£50k)
- 2022 – 2027 DEFRA/EA Making Space for Sand (MS4S) (CI) (£866k)
- 2022 - 2023 Natural England: 'Remotely operated vehicles for seagrass habitat monitoring' (UoP/Swansea University)
- 2021 – 2022 Innovate UK Smart Grant HydroSurv/UoP Autonomous Acoustic Ground Discrimination System for Seagrass Characterisation (PI) (£80k)
- 2020 – 2021 GCRF grant Physical impacts of climate change on coral reef islands (CI) (£50k)
- 2020 – 2021 MetOffice-Newton grant WCSSP Africa (Marine and Coastal Applications) Developing operational coastal risk models for rip currents and storm overtopping (CI) (£100k)
- 2019 – 2020 EMFF Habitat Classification and Fisheries Sensitivity Mapping Tool for Isles of Scilly
- 2019 – 2021 GCRF Sustainable Abalone Ranching in South Africa (PI) (£50,000)
- 2016 – 2020 Physical and Biological Dynamic Coastal Processes and their Role in Coastal Recovery (BLUE-coast) (CI) (£760.000 to Plymouth)
- 2014 – 2015 NERC Urgency grant: Impact of sequence of extreme storms during 2013/14 winter on southwest coast of England (CI) (£80,000)
- 2012 – 2014 RNLI/MetOffice/Marine Institute: Topographic rip currents TOPORIP (CI) (£99,000)
- 2010 – 2014 NERC/RNLI – Partnership grant: Dynamics of Rips and Implications for Beach Safety (RF with – PI: G. Masselink; CI: P. Russell) (£550,000)
- 2009 RNLI: UK beach and hazards database project: Good Beach Guide integration (PI) (£10,000)
- 2008 Royal National Lifeboat Institution, University of Plymouth, Naval Postgraduate School: Macro-tidal rip current experiment (PI with Dr Martin Austin) (representing c. £ 3,000)
- 2006 – 2010 RNLI/HEIF2 PhD studentship with full fees and stipend ( £60,000)
- 2003 – 2004 Full NERC scholarship for M.Sc. Applied Marine Science
- 2001 Derbyshire prize: Physical Oceanography student of the year ( £100). University of Wales Bangor.
Supervised Research Degrees
- 2024-current Rebecca Turley - "Ocean Sediments” Quantifying the interaction of anthropogenic impacts and hydrodynamics on Ocean Sediment habitats to inform ecosystem-based management of an understudied habitat
- 2024-current Tom Hamilton - Morpho-sedimentary-dynamics of gravel beaches
- 2023-current Aitana Gea Neuhaus – Sediment provenance, budget and pathways associated with atoll islands
- 2023-current Wassim Seksaf – Assessment of coastal sediment resource and regional sediment transport pathways: SW England
- 2022-current Liane Brodie – Making Space for Sand: Coastal Dune Dynamics Across Cornwall and Future Predictions
- 2020-current Aikaterina Konstantinou – Coastal dynamics from space (DoS)
- 2020-current Emily Hunt - Predicting coastal resilience to climate change
- 2019–current Josie Alice-Kirby – Application of Coastal Change Management Areas (CCMAs) for coastal adaptation to climate change impacts in SW England
- 2017–2022 Anna Persson – Physical drivers of nursery function in juvenile flatfishes
- 2016–2020 Mark Wiggins – Coastal cell response to a changing wave climate using autonomous aerial surveying (DoS)
- 2015–2019 Nieves Garcia Valiente – Sediment exchange between beach and inner shelf
- 2014–2018 Olivier Burvingt – Beach response to extreme storms along the SW coast of England
Teaching
Coastal hydrography, submarine geomorphology and coastal morphodynamics/evolution/hazards. Tim is particularly passionate about field-based learning.
2021 - Programme leader of the year (Science & Engineering) - SSTAR AWARDS
Current responsibilities:
Degree programs
Degree programs
- Hydrography - MSc (programme lead) [2021 SSTAR Awards: Faculty Programme Leader of the Year Award]
- Applied Marine Science - MSc
- Ocean Exploration and Surveying - BSc (Hons)
- Oceanography and Coastal Processes - BSc (Hons)
- Ocean Science and Marine Conservation - BSc (Hons)
Undergraduate modules
- OS203 - Seafloor Mapping (Multibeam Survey)
- OS314 - Ocean Science Field Course (Maldives; Hydrogrphy)
- OS301 - Ocean Science Research Project
Postgraduate modules
- MAR520 - Hydrography field week (Bathymetric surveying)
- MAR522 - Survey Project Management (Module Leader)
- MAR524 - MSc Dissertation (Hydrography)
- MAR537 - Applied Marine Autonomy (Module Leader)
- MSc research project supervision - Beach morhodynamics and submarine geomorphology [>50 complete]
- PhD expert commentator
- PhD supervisor - 13 x PhD students (3 x DoS) [3 complete]
