Life below Water – Conserve & sustainably use oceans, seas & marine resources

The School of Geography and Environmental Sciences is the proud owner of an inshore research vessel.

Laconia which is a state-of-the-art platform on which to conduct coastal and marine multidisciplinary science at sea.

A team of coastal scientists from Ulster University is conducting regular surveys of Co. Down’s Newcastle to Dundrum (Murlough Bay) beach system to find out how and why our coastline changes.

Their findings will be used to predict future changes to help better plan how we use and also protect our fragile coastal environment.

Research by Dr Susann Power from the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management explores the phenomenon of beach cleaning as an activity for environmental activism and coastal recreation.

Recent facilities grants awarded to staff demonstrate our applied research strengths.

These include grants awarded by Natural Environment Research Council, the EU and the Marine Institute.

Professor Derek Jackson, from the School of Geography and Environmental Sciences has been recognised as one of Ireland's leading  researchers.

His work focuses on dynamic coastal landscape change due to marine (wave) erosion and build-up.

Our researchers develop impactful projects and strategically target a wide variety of funders from the UK, EU, all-Ireland and trans-continental sources that have supported our research activities in 6 continents, 31 countries, 3 oceans and on Mars.

Ulster University is part of the £2.9 million Unpath'd Waters: Marine and Maritime Collections in the UK Discovery Project.

UNPATH aims to reshape the future of UK marine heritage, making records accessible for the first time across all four UK nations and opening them to the world.

It will devise new ways of searching across collections, visualising underwater landscapes, and identifying wrecks and artefacts from them.