People

Nick is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Adelaide. He is currently Vice-President and Life Member of the Australian Coastal Society. Formerly he was Director of the Centre for Coastal Research at the University of Adelaide; Vice-Chair of the international scientific steering committee for ‘Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone’ (Netherlands) and a member of the South Australian Government’s Coast Protection Board.

Nick was also one of the Lead Authors for the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which in 2007 was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nick has over 40 years of experience in coastal research, and over 200 publications including scientific papers and books.

Known as the founding father of ACS, Emeritus Professor Bruce Thom is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney.

In 2010, Bruce was awarded a member of the Order of Australia for his significant contribution to the ecological management of the coastal zone and as a contributor to a public debate on natural resource policy. If you want some commentary on coastal management issues for the media, get in touch with Bruce via admin@australiancoastalsociety.org.au

Sarah Joyce has an extensive background in environmental planning, natural resource management, policy development and public consultation within state government.

Dr Jo Mummery is an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Environmental Governance, University of Canberra, with a research interest in how the evidence for climate change can be better integrated into decision-making and policy settings. Jo is the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Climate Systems Hub of the National Environmental Science Program, and is an independent member of the National Benefits Assessment Committee for Australia’s Marine National Facility. Jo has also worked extensively on climate change adaptation and the management of climate science at senior executive levels in Australian Government Departments. She initiated and led Australia’s first pass national coastal and climate change risk assessment, built national datasets and capacity to assess coastal risk, and commissioned guidance and tools to integrate climate change into coastal decision-making, including through the National Committee on Coastal and Ocean Engineering of Engineers Australia. Internationally Jo has led the design and oversight of significant programs delivering climate knowledge and adaptation to some 14 countries in the Pacific. Jo also contributed to the development of CoastAdapt by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility.

Dr Mitchell Harley is a Scientia Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW Sydney. Mitchell is an expert in coastal erosion and how it impacts coastlines worldwide. His research entails the use of advanced monitoring technologies to enhance understanding and prediction of coastline change.

After completing his PhD at UNSW in 2009, Mitchell spent 5 years in Europe leading developments of Early Warning Systems to forecast coastal erosion risk. Upon returning to Australia in 2015, he now leads the historic Collaroy-Narrabeen coastal monitoring program – one of the longest-running beach monitoring programs worldwide. In 2017 Mitchell founded the CoastSnap citizen science beach monitoring program that is now established in 16 countries worldwide.

Dr Marie Ferland was a university lecturer /researcher (Australia, USA, and Fiji) specializing in Quaternary coastal and marine geology, climate change and environmental science. After conducting research at the University of Sydney with Prof. Bruce Thom and Dr Peter Roy, she worked at the University of Wollongong and several overseas Universities.

Marie returned to Australia in 2013 and worked as a Senior Geological Editor with the Geological Survey of Western Australia, from which she recently retired. She is now an advocate for protecting coastal habitat, native vegetation, biodiversity and Indigenous cultural heritage, and in 2021 she shared the Bessie Rischbieth Conservation Award in recognition of her efforts. Since 2020, Marie has helped to produce the Quarterly e-Newsletter of the WA ACS which shares relevant research, coastal policy initiatives, and news about the activities of local stakeholder groups, with the WA coastal community. Marie now integrates her lifelong interests in the sustainable management of coastal and marine environments with community education and minimizing the negative impacts of development and climate change

Christine is an experienced engineer working across waterway, estuary, and coastal management. She started her journey with a Civil Engineering degree in NZ, followed by PhD Investigating sediment transport in rivers. This was followed by a post-doc at TU Delft in the Netherlands. From here Christine then spent 8 years working in the UK In the research and consulting roles, before moving to Victoria in 2008. Over the last 16 years she has been fortunate to work on a wide range of water related projects in Victoria and across Australia including catchment and coastal flood modelling, river and estuary environmental flows, and coastal hazard assessments.

She has maintained a keen interest in coastal and estuarine processes and the evolving challenges posed by climate change. Christine contributed to the Victorian Coastal Hazard Guidelines released for Victoria’s Resilient Coast Adapting to 2100+ program and has developed the Victorian Guidelines for Modelling the Interaction of Catchment and Coastal Flooding.