Research group

Healthy Oceans

Shoal of herring swimming in the ocean

Ocean health links researchers and practitioners in all aspects of marine biology. This includes resilience, biodiversity, conservation, evolution, and the impacts of pollution and anthropogenic activities on marine ecosystems.

About

The Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) Healthy Oceans Special Interest Group promotes cutting-edge research and engaged industry expertise to address the critical environmental, ecological and conservation challenges facing our oceans. 

Our collaborative approach aims to bridge the gap between academia, policy, industry, and the public. This enables us to develop and communicate innovative solutions that contribute to the health of our oceans.

We are particularly interested in key areas such as: 

  • monitoring marine biodiversity
  • investigating the impacts of marine pollution
  • understanding anthropogenic impacts on marine life
  • exploring marine resilience  

Our interests span spatial scales from studies of individual organisms to those covering whole ecosystems and the communities that depend upon them.  

To find out more about the Healthy Oceans Special Interest Group and what we do, get in touch with group champion Christopher Goatley.

Join the SMMI Community to sign up to this group and our other special interest groups.

People, projects and publications

People

Professor Peter Sunley

Professor in Human Geography

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Professor Peter Wells

Professor

Research interests

  • Heterogeneous Catalysis
  • Operando Spectroscopy
  • Nanoparticle Design

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Philip Leadbitter

Research Fellow (PSDI)

Research interests

  • Digital lab Notebooks and paperless note-taking
  • Human and technological road blocks to paperless note-taking
  • Use of Autonomous Underwater Platforms to further research in remote ocean regions
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Dr Phillip Fenberg

Associate Professor

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Professor Phyllis Lam

Professor

Research interests

  • Dr. Lam's research interest lies in the functional roles of microorganisms in biogeochemical cycling, particularly the nitrogen and carbon cycles, in diverse marine and aquatic systems. In collaboration with researchers inside and outside the university, her work integrates state-of-the-art molecular ecological techniques, stable isotopic analyses, process rate measurements, hypothesis-driven experimentation and modelling, to disentangle complex microbial interactions and their impacts on biogeochemical environments especially in the context of global change.
  • Current research topics include:
  • Shortcuts in the nitrogen cycle – novel pathways and microbial players for nitrogen remineralisation in the ocean’s twilight zoneMicrobial carbon remineralisation pathways and fluxes in the mesopelagic oceanUsing proteomics tools to disentangle active microbial nitrogen and carbon cycling processes in oceanic oxygen minimum zonesImportance of particle-associated microeukaryotes on the efficiency of oceanic biological carbon pumpMicrobial production and consumption pathways of greenhouse gases
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Professor Prof Larry Lynch

Head of School

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Qin Zhou

Lecturer in Operations Management

Research interests

  • Applications: Operations Management: closed-loop supply chain management, production outsourcing, remanufacturing management (authorization and outsourcing), technology innovation, Nash bargaining, contract design.Marketing-Operations Management Interface: trade-in, strategic consumers behaviour, fairness concerns, anticipated regret.Marine Policy: clean technology innovation, abatement decision. Methodologies: Game theory, optimization.

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Professor Rachael James

Professor of Geochemistry

Research interests

  • Enhanced rock weathering and other techniques for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
  • Novel isotopic signatures of biogeochemical cycling, including iron, chromium, lithium and magnesium, and the response of biogeochemcal cycles to global environmental change
  • Exploration for new sources of metals and elements critical for emerging green technologies, including lithium and the rare earth elements

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Rachel Bynoe

Lecturer B

Research interests

  • Human origins
  • Quaternary landscape and environmental change
  • Submerged landscapes
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Dr Ramsey Selim

Head of Business Development,CORNERSTONE
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Related research institutes, centres and groups

Related research institutes, centres and groups

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Enquiries

If you're interested in joining us or collaborating, get in touch with the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.