Research project

HEIF 2025/2026 Seagrass Watch and Resilience Development at Brownsea Island

Project overview

The SWARD project aims to develop best practices for systematic monitoring of seagrass habitats, improving assessments of ecosystem health and resilience and informing proposed nature-based solutions (NbS) in shallow coastal environments. The project will employ and test new technologies and novel sensing tools around Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, to collate a comprehensive dataset on environmental conditions and seagrass ecosystem health, working with local stakeholders the National Trust to support habitat restoration initiatives.

Staff

Lead researchers

Dr Hachem Kassem PhD, MSc, FHEA

Lecturer
Research interests
  • Nearshore hydrodynamics and coastal sediment dynamics
  • Coastal and ocean engineering and flow-structure-seabed-biota interactions
  • Adaptive, nature-inclusive solutions to climate-mediated geohazards, including flooding, eros…
Connect with Hachem

Other researchers

Dr Christopher Tomsett

Enterprise Fellow
Research interests
  • Autonomous surveying techniques (UAVs, USVs)
  • Eco-geomorphology
  • Geospatial modelling
Connect with Christopher

Professor Julian Leyland

Professor
Research interests
  • Fluvial and Intertidal Geomorphology
  • Remote Environmental Sensing
  • UAVs, USVs and Autonomy in Geoscience
Connect with Julian

Professor Blair Thornton

Professor of Marine Autonomy
Research interests
  • seafloor 3D visual reconstruction: development of deep-sea imaging hardware and processing pi…
  • automated interpretation of data: development of AI methods for rapid scalable interpretation…
  • robotics: development of low-cost, long endurance seafloor imaging floats and highly intellig…
Connect with Blair

Ken Collins

Connect with Ken

Dr Emma Curtis

Research Fellow
Connect with Emma

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs