Room: Room 212, Marine Centre Wales     Phone: 01248 383938

Email: [email protected]

Web: Google Scholar; ResearchGate; Amazon Author Page; Twitter; Google Knowledge Panel

I am professor in physical oceanography, specializing in ocean renewable energy: characterizing the wave and tidal energy resource, understanding wave-tide interaction, optimizing grid integration of arrays of marine renewable energy devices, and quantifying the environmental impacts of extracting energy from the oceans. I am founder and course director of an MSc in Marine Renewable Energy, and committee member of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), working on revising IEC Technical Specification 62600-201: Tidal Energy Resource Assessment and Characterization. I am a member of the editorial board of the Elsevier journal Renewable Energy, have written a textbook on marine energy "Fundamentals of Ocean Renewable Energy: Generating Electricity from the Sea", and am lead sediment scientist at FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy). I also have other shelf sea research interests, including palaeoceanography, sediment dynamics, and simulating the dispersal of marine organisms and microplastics.

I currently lead a wide range of research projects at Bangor University, including:

• NERC – SE Asia Plastics. South East Asia MArine Plastics (SEAmap): Reduction, Control and Mitigation of Marine Plastic Pollution in the Philippines. Neill SP (PI), Hiddink JG, Robins PE, Lewis MJ, Skov MW, Dunn CP (School of Natural Sciences), Taboada E (University of San Carlos, Philippines); £708,034. 2020-2023.
• European Regional Development Fund. Smart Efficient Energy Centre (SEEC) (£7M) Simon Neill (PI), Iestyn Pierce & Graham Ormondroyd. 2019-2023.

Research Areas

• Ocean Physics
• Earth System Science and Climate Change
• Marine Conservation and Resource Management
• Sediment Dynamics and Morphology

I am course director (and founder) of an MSc in Marine Renewable Energy, and module organiser of OSX-4023 "Marine Renewable Energy" at MSc level. At undergraduate level, I am module organiser of OSX-3016 "Ocean Modelling" and OSX-2007 "Prince Madog Cruise" – a multidisciplinary module that is based around our 35 m research vessel RV Prince Madog. I also contribute to modules OSX-4009, OSX-4016, OSX-3000, OSX-3005, OSX-2000, OSX-1000, and ONS-1001. I have been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2011. I am also the external examiner (2018-2022) for the MSc Marine Renewable Energy at Plymouth University.

I supervise many undergraduate and masters level research projects, particularly on the theme of marine renewable energy. In addition, I currently supervise the following PhD students:

Mike Case – impact of underwater noise propagation on fish.

Mike Ridgill - Remote Sensing of renewable energy resources

Nia Jones - Dispersal of microplastics in the marine environment

Aaron Furnish - Pathways to Realistic Impact Modelling in Estuarine Areas

European Social Funds KESS2 MSc (research) studentship (Neill, Lewis, Robins) Remote Sensing of renewable energy resource (2018-2019) £18k (In partnership with Repetitive Energy Ltd.). Student: Mike Ridgill.

INTERREG IRELAND/WALES (Jenkins, Neill, Davies, Robins) ECOSTRUCTURE: climate change adaptation through ecologically sensitive coastal infrastructure (2017-2020). £774k (part of £3.5 million multi-partner grant)

European Social Funds KESS2 PhD studentship (Neill, Robins, Malham) Simulating variability of North Wales mussel populations (2015-2018) £53k (In partnership with Extra Mussel). Student: Jonathan Demmer.

Sêr Cymru NRN-LCEE (Neill, Masters, O’Doherty) QUOTIENT - Quantification, optimisation, and environmental impacts of marine renewable energy (2015-2018). £506,873

Santander Mobility Grant (Neill) Marine renewable energy visit to Instituto Superior Technico, Lisbon (2014). £857

EPSRC standard grant EP/J010200/1 (O'Doherty, Neill, et al.) The effects of realistic tidal flows on the performance and structural integrity of tidal stream turbines (2012-2015). £1,389,372

Fujitsu/HPC Wales (Neill) Feedback between tidal stream array operation and the marine environment - PhD studentship (2012-2016). £75,000 

European Fishery Fund (Kaiser, LeVay, McCarthy, Hiddink, Neill) Sustainable use of fisheries resources in Welsh waters (2012-2015). £2,503,000

Fujitsu/HPC Wales (Hashemi, Neill, Robins, Jago) Simulating the impacts of climate change on estuarine dynamics using an integrated catchment-to-coast model - PhD studentship (2012-2015). £70,100 

NRW - Ecosystem Resilience Fund (Davies, Neill, et al.) Drivers of change and the connectivity of Sabellaria alveolata reefs within Wales (2013-2014) £89,000 

Welsh European Funding Office (Neill, Davies, et al.) Low Carbon Research Institute (LCRI) Marine (2010-2013). £538,559 

Welsh Crucible (Neill, Grimstead) Simulating the impacts of climate change on the coastal zone: putting the end-user in the driving seat (2011-2012). £5,752

Welsh Crucible (Gil, Neill, et al.) Development of a new sustainable elastomeric energy harvester for marine environments (2011-2012). £9,000

Santander Mobility Grant (Neill) Marine renewable energy visit to University of Santiago de Compostela (2011). £1,000

NERC PhD studentship. (Neill and Scourse) Palaeoceanographic modelling of the NW European Shelf Seas since the LGM (2010-2014). £70,000

NERC standard grant NE/G020302/1 (Jago, Baas, Kennedy, Neill). Impacts of hydrological variability on material transfers through the River-Estuary Transition Zone (2009-2012). £592,776

INTERREG IVA (Malham, Neill, et al.) Shellfish productivity in the Irish Sea: working towards a sustainable future - SUSFISH (2009-2013). £638,602

NERC directed grant NE/F001266/1 (Creer, Hiddink, Neill). Sequencing the meiofaunal metagenome of the marine/freshwater interface in key estuarine ecosystems (2008-2011). £66,581

NERC urgency grant NE/E011268/1 (Hiddink, Carvahlo, Gascoigne, Kaiser, Neill). Recovery of benthic invertebrate communities and fishery overspill effects in newly created marine reserves (2007-2008). £281,251