Office location: Room 115, Marine Centre Wales, Menai Bridge

(Tel: 01248 383961)

Email:  p.robins@bangor.ac.uk

Author profiles: Google Scholar | Researchgate

I'm a Professor in Physical Oceanography at the School of Ocean Sciences. I gained my Degree in Mathematics and Physical Oceanography (2003) and Ph.D on internal tides (2008) from Bangor University. I'm interested in a wide range of human and biological impacts of coastal dynamics and change, with applications to coastal hazards (coastal flooding, water quality degradation, pollution and public health risk), coastal morphology, marine population dynamics and connectivity, and marine renewable energy resource and impact studies.

My research generally involves developing hydrodynamic models that simulate coastal processes, such as realistic representations of the past, future climate change impact studies, or hypothetical scenarios such as simulating flood mitigation, the impact of tidal-stream turbines on sediment transport, or marine population spread via larval dispersal. I'm especially interested in estuaries because of the multiple complex estuarine processes that affect communities and wildlife - and as there is still much to discover, with current research focussing on improving our understanding of compound flooding and public exposure to water-borne pathogens. I enjoy working with a wide range of scientists across different disciplines, with climate modellers to ensure their projections are relevant for coastal impact, and with coastal policy makers so that our research has real world outcomes. 

I currently supervise the following PhD students as primary supervisor:

Thomas Clough - Predicting future compound hazards of coastal flooding [KESS-Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, 2020-24]

Aaron Furnish - Pathways to Realistic Impact Modelling in Estuarine Areas [NERC ENVISION, 2021-25]

Megan O'Hara - What drives cold pulses at remote tropical reefs? [NERC ENVISION, 2022-25]

Ankita Bhattacharya - The influence of groundwater to future flood risk [NERC ENVISION, 2022-25]

Dani Crowley - The socio-ecological importance of elasmobranchs to coastal communities in a changing climate [NERC SuMMeR, 2024-28]

Adam Winrow - Modelling the fate of wastewater-derived human pathogenic fungi from catchment to coast [NERC RED-ALERT, 2024-28]

.... and as co-supervisor:

Deanna Groom - Historical Shipwrecks and the impacts of climate change [Private, 2021-24]

Claire Carrington - Understanding responses of coastal seabirds to local and daily-scale meteorological variations [NERC ENVISION, 2022-26]

Jake Jackman - There and back again: monitoring the returning fish to the Mersey estuary [Salford/Bangor/MerseyGateway, 2022-26]

Nina Baskerville - Using an interdisciplinary approach to elucidate pollution impacts and antimicrobial resistant pathogen dynamics across terrestrial, estuarine and marine environments [NERC - SuMMeR, 2023-27]

Kaila Kormblum - Factors limiting marine connectivity at a species range edge – the case of the pink sea fan, Eunicella verrucosa [NERC - SuMMeR, 2023-27]

Lauren Evans - Using prey availability metrics to explain the foraging distribution of deep-diving seabirds.  [NERC ENVISION, 2023-27]

Stephen King - Exploring factors underpinning resilience and identifying avenues for restoration of maerl beds, a priority habitat for marine conservation [NERC ENVISION, 2024-28]

Alireza Moradi - Evaluating the influence of a Pumped Storage Hydropower plant on the hydro-environmental characteristics of Loch Ness, Scotland [Glen Earrach Energy, 2025-28]

Past supervision:

Mirko Barada - Coastal flooding: using historical records to mitigate future risk. [Cemlyn Jones, 2020-24, Primary supervisor]

Nic Chopin (MPhil) – Variability in the Irish Mussel shellfishery [BIM, 2020-24, co-supervisor]

Nia Jones - Dispersal of Microplastics in the Marine Environment. [NERC ENVISION, 2020-23, co-supervisor]

Michael Ridgil - The Global Riverine Hydrokinetic energy Resource [KESS, 2019-22, co-supervisor]

Jonathan Demmer - Simulating the temporal and spatial variability of North Wales mussel populations [KESS, 2017-20, Primary supervisor]

I welcome potential Phd projects on a range of coastal oceanography topics: e.g. estuarine processes, flood risk, water quality, coastal dispersal, marine renewable energy, sediment transport and climate change. Please get in touch with your ideas...

Please visit findaphd.com for up-to-date funded phd opportunities...