Exit edit profile

Edit your staff profile

Your staff profile is made up of information taken from systems including Pure and Subscribe.  This page explains how to update each section of your profile.

Dr Melike Kurt

 PhD
Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

Research interests

  • Fluid-structure interactions 
  • Bioinspired propulsion and energy harvesting 
  • Underwater robotics 

More research

Accepting applications from PhD students.

Connect with Melike

Email: M.Kurt@soton.ac.uk

Google Scholar
ORCID
LinkedIn
Twitter

Profile photo 
Upload your profile photo in Subscribe (opens in a new tab). Your profile photo in Pure is not linked to your public staff profile. Choose a clear, recent headshot where you are easily recognisable. Your image should be at least 340 by 395 pixels. 

Name 
To change your name or prefix title contact Ask HR (opens in new tab)  If you want to update an academic title you'll need to provide evidence e.g. a PhD certificate. The way your name is displayed is automatic and cannot be changed. You can also update your post-nominal letters in Subscribe (opens in a new tab).

Job title 
Raise a request through ServiceNow (opens in a new tab) to change your job title (40 characters maximum) unless you're on the ERE career pathway. If you're on the ERE path you can not change your main job title, but you can request other minor updates through Ask HR (opens in new tab). If you have more than one post only your main job title will display here, but you can add further posts or roles in other sections of your profile.

Research interests (for researchers only) 
Add up to 5 research interests. The first 3 will appear in your staff profile next to your name. The full list will appear on your research page. Keep these brief and focus on the keywords people may use when searching for your work. Use a different line for each one.

In Pure (opens in a new tab), select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.

Contact details 
Add or update your email address, telephone number and postal address in Subscribe (opens in a new tab). Use your University email address for your primary email. 

You can link to your Google Scholar, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts through Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’.  In the 'Links' section, use the 'Add link' button. 

ORCID ID 
Create or connect your ORCID ID in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’ and then 'Create or Connect your ORCID ID'.

Accepting PhD applicants (for researchers only) 
Choose to show whether you’re currently accepting PhD applicants or not in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. In the 'Portal details' section, select 'Yes' or 'No' to indicate your choice. 

About Research Publications Supervision Teaching External roles and responsibilities Biography
Exit edit profile

About

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Maritime Engineering Group at the University of Southampton, where I teach undergraduate Hydrodynamics and postgraduate Offshore Engineering and Analysis. My path into academia has been shaped by a long-standing fascination with fluid motion and its interaction with engineered systems, particularly in marine environments.

My research focuses on experimental fluid mechanics, with an emphasis on fluid–structure interactions in unsteady flows. I am particularly interested in hydrofoils and bluff bodies, and in understanding how flow separation and vortex dynamics can be manipulated through passive and active control strategies. The broader motivation behind my work is to improve hydrodynamic efficiency while reducing drag and hydroacoustic noise in marine applications. To explore these questions, my group uses advanced experimental techniques, including high-resolution flow diagnostics, high-speed imaging, and detailed force and pressure measurements, allowing us to resolve complex flow physics and connect them to practical engineering design.

I was born in Turkey and began my academic journey in Mechanical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University. I completed my MSc at Boğaziçi University in 2014, where my interest in fluid mechanics began to deepen. I then moved to the United States to pursue doctoral studies at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where I worked on a bioinspired fluids problem, collective swimming (fish schooling), to understand and characterize multi-body (multi-hydrofoil) flow interactions and vortex dynamics, and developed my expertise in experimental fluid dynamics.

In 2020, I joined the University of Southampton as a postdoctoral researcher in Aerospace Engineering. Since January 2023, I have been part of the Maritime Engineering Group as a full-time academic, continuing to develop my research and teaching in hydrodynamics as maritime engineering applications.

I am currently the MSc in Maritime Engineering Science programme lead and admissions tutor. I am also a member of the EPSRC Engineering Early Career Researcher Forum.  

You can update this in Pure (opens in a new tab). Select ‘Edit profile’. Under the heading and then ‘Curriculum and research description’, select ‘Add profile information’. In the dropdown menu, select - ‘About’.

Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.

You’ll be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.

Update this section in Pure