In partnership with the UNDP Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, we recently conducted a social feasibility assessment of coastal adaptation strategies across Funafuti Atoll, working directly with local communities to understand perspectives, concerns, and priorities surrounding future adaptation pathways. Alongside this work, we surveyed coral reef health around the atoll using a drop-camera system, documenting widespread reef degradation following the 2024 mass bleaching event. Now my PhD student, Liav Stern, gets to watch many, many hours of underwater footage while processing the reef survey data for her thesis.

Published in March 2026 in Geomorphology and led by Masters student Claudia Le Quesne, this study used UAV-derived high-resolution topographic data to reveal how Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle (2023) reshaped coral rubble islands at One Tree Reef, Great Barrier Reef. While both islands experienced erosion and sediment loss, storm-driven waves also redistributed large volumes of rubble, causing attached spits to migrate landward and naturally reinforce sections of the shoreline.

Published in Feb 2026 in Geomorphology, this study led by my PhD Student, Gazi, compared the hydrodynamics and geomorphology conditions around estuarine beaches in Vigo, Spain and Pittwater, Australia. Results revealed that exposure to ocean swell fundamentally controls beach shape and sediment characteristics within estuaries. Beaches exposed to stronger swell developed steep, convex profiles with coarser sediments, while sheltered beaches formed flatter, concave morphologies dominated by fine, poorly sorted sand.