Room: 312 Craig Mair          Phone: 01248 38 8161

Email: [email protected]

Web: @KJJVanLandeghem      Google Scholar     ResearchGate

I lecture in Marine Geology and Geophysics. 

I study seabed morphodynamics around objects and its links to (1) sustainable management of engineering projects (2) glacial dynamics and (3) habitat suitability and the wider ecosystems.

I work in large projects supporting developing economic opportunities in Low Carbon, Energy and Environment (projects SEACAMS and SEEC) and I was Sêr Cymru NRN-LCEE Returning Fellow on seabed scour around seabed structures. I assess and predict seabed mobility in complex (palaeo)glaciated environments (NERC project NE/J009768/1), underpinned by more accurate modelling. My work underpins habitat maps in the Irish Sea (InterReg projects HabMap and MESH) and in polar regions (NERC project NE/P003087/1). I specialise in amplified sediment waves (EC Grant no. 228344) and accelerated seabed erosion around windfarms and cables (Supergen ORE Flexfund-EPSRC), with ecological implications (NERC project NE/X008886/1). My knowledge transfer projects have received funding from statutory advisers to UK Government, marine engineers and consultants, aggregate industry, marine renewable energy developers, offshore infrastructure connectors and coastline managers. 

I sit on several external Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committees. I work towards widening participation in environmental sciences (NERC funded project NE/W007649/1). I am Course Director for the Marine Science & Conservation Undergraduate Programme.  

I am Associate Editor Board member of Ocean Challenge and of Frontiers in Earth Science. I lead a Fully Sponsored Open Access Project for topic collection on seabed morphodynamics in Geosciences (MDPI Journal), which offers funding for under-represented groups in marine geosciences.

I focus my research on seabed sediment mobility:

A. Seabed sediment transport and bedform dynamics:

1. Understanding the role of methane seepage in the formation of amplified sediment waves:
-> 2014-2019: project “Bedload transport of sediment mixtures in shelf seas”, funded by NERC (ENVISION PhD studentship, with CASE partner NOC-L and extra funds from Llanelli Sand Dredging Ltd
-> 2011 onwards: project “AmSedIs”, funded by the European Commission (EUROFLEET) and with experts in biogeochemistry, seabed geomorphologists, sedimentologists, geophysics experts and numerical modellers across Europe.

2. Understanding enhanced sediment mobility around seafloor objects:
-> 2021 - 2022: project "Cable scour from fluid-seabed interactions in regions of mobile sedimentary bedforms" funded by EPSRC   
-> 2018-2022: project “Seabed integrity around objects in a complex marine environment”, funded by KESSII (PhD studentship) and via multi-disciplinary collaboration with experts in marine geo-archaeology, Computational Fluid Dynamics and sediment transport modelling.
-> 2016-2018: project “Unstable shipwreck sites in sand & gravel”, funded via a Returning Fellowship by Welsh Government: Sêr Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and Environment (NRN-LCEE)
-> 2015: project “WWI Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea”, with shiptime funded by the Marine Institute, Ireland

3. Seabed dynamics and its link to sustainable management of engineering projects:
-> via collaboration with renewable energy developers and with links to iCRAG (Ireland’s national geoscience research centre supported by Science Foundation Ireland).
-> 2022-2023: Seabed dynamics as a key consideration for renewable energy projects. Funded by a windfarm developper.
-> 2022-2026: ECOWind-ACCELERATE: Ecological impacts of accelerated seabed mobility. Funded by NERC and The Crown Estate.

B. Seabed morphodynamics linked to glacial dynamics:

1. Understanding the demise of marine-terminating ice streams from investigations of the seafloor:
-> 2015-2019: project “Glacial sculpting and post-glacial drowning of the Celtic Sea”, funded by NERC (ENVISION PhD studentship)
-> 2012-2018: Consortium project “BRITICE-CHRONO”, NERC-funded and with experts in glacial geomorphology, geochronology, palao-oceanography and ice sheet modelling 
-> Ongoing: object-oriented modelling for glacial landscape recognition, in collaboration with modellers in India. 

2. Understanding seabed habitat suitability on exposed seafloor when glaciers have retreated:
-> 2017-2020: project “Impacts of deglaciation on benthic marine ecosystems in Antarctica (ICEBERGS)”, NERC funded (CONICYT - NERC Antarctic programme), in collaboration with experts in benthic ecology, palaeo-oceanography, glacial dynamics and sclerochronology.
-> 2014: project “The collapse of the Irish Ice Sheet in the Celtic Sea sector and its marine habitat legacy”, with shiptime funded by the Marine Institute, Ireland 

I teach undergraduate and postgraduate modules with content ranging from general earth sciences to applied marine geology.

I supervise MSc and PhD projects during which the students acquire in-depth knowledge and key skills to investigate seabed dynamics, bedform formation, sediment transport and/or glacial geomorphology.

I have supervised four PhD students to completion (three as lead supervisor) and currently supervise five PhD students (four as lead supervisor).