Dr Tim Scott

I am an Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration and have been actively contributing to internationally recognised research in fields of beach and submarine geomorphology, rip current dynamics and coastal hazards. My recent research has focused on storm impacts, rip current circulation and coastal hazards in Europe, and has been published in high-quality international journals. I have more than 20 years experience in the collection and analysis of coastal morphological, hydrodynamic and hydrographic data. I have been actively involved in national and international collaborations with external partners (e.g., RNLI, UK Met Office, local and regional councils and external universities). My academic research has resulted >70 peer-reviewed international journal articles and numerous conference papers, technical reports, invited lectures, workshops and media outputs. In addition to academic research I have conducted a number 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. I have several years of commercial offshore experience working in seismic and hydrographic industry and I have also acted as expert witness in rip current drowning cases.

I have been principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of successful field-based research and consultancy projects (see research). This work has involved intertidal and nearshore oceanographic instrument deployment (Eulerian and Lagrangian), surf zone circulation tracking (GPS surf-zone drifters), RTK-GNSS, total station, laser scanner and UAV SFM topographic/bathymetric surveying, nearshore single- and multi-beam bathymetric surveying, video remote sensing (surf zone and seabed ROV), as well as collection and processing of shallow water sidescan sonar and sub-bottom profile data. More recently I have been involved in research utilising autonomous survey platforms for unique coastal data collection. My work in the commercial offshore surveying industry involved the acquisition of shelf- and deep sea seismic data, and ROV-based video, multibeam and sidescan sonar data processing. I now also act as programme lead for MSc Hydrography at the University, building on our successful track record of training the next generation of Hydrographers and developing industry links with the University. 

2020 – present:    Associate Professor in Ocean Exploration, University of Plymouth

2015 – 2019:      Lecturer in Ocean Exploration, University of Plymouth

2013 – 2015:      Research and Teaching Associate, University of Plymouth

2010 – 2013:        Research and Knowledge Exchange Fellow, University of Plymouth (Website)

2006 – 2010:        PhD Coastal Processes, University of Plymouth 

2005 – 2006:           Consultant Geophysicist, DeepOcean, Norway

2003 – 2004:           MSc Applied Marine Science, University of Plymouth

2001 – 2003:           Shelf Sea Seismic Acquisition, WesternGeco, Mexico

1999 – 2001:           BSc Geological Oceanography, University of Wales, Bangor

1998 – 1999:           National Diploma, Art and Design, Exeter College