Who we are
About Us
Hub Coordinators
Adelaide, SA
Charlotte Uphues (She/her)
PhD Candidate
Charlotte Uphues is a Coastal Engineer focused on the dynamic morphological behaviour of the coast as a result of sediment transport by waves, currents and wind. She is interested in finding sustainable solutions to protect coastlines from future challenges such as climate change and associated sea level rise. Charlotte has a B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University Munich, Germany, and a M.Sc. degree in Hydraulic Engineering with a specialization in Coastal Engineering from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. In June 2022, Charlotte started a PhD in the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University supervised by Dr Graziela Miot da Silva, Professor Patrick Hesp, and Dr Arnold van Rooijen. Her PhD study is a joint Flinders University – Robe District Council collaboration. During the three years of her PhD, she will study the coastal processes of the Robe area with the goal to provide recommendations on how to improve the protection of Robe’s coastline into the future.
Deborah Fonseca
PHD candidate
Deborah is a PhD candidate at Flinders University, where she investigates how restoring site of seagrass impacts on local hydrodynamics and their broader implications for the coastline. These effects are explored by combining fieldwork data and modelling. Deborah is an oceanographer, and her academic interests are in coastal dynamics, extreme events and nature-based solutions (NbS). Outside of her research, Deborah enjoys exploring coastal ecosystems with her daughters, reading and appreciating sunsets.
Sydney, NSW
Danial Khojasteh
Senior Scientist
Coastal & Marine
Danial Khojasteh is a Senior Scientist (Coastal and Marine) at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). He completed his PhD and Post-doctoral programs at UNSW and Sydney Institute of Marine Science. His multidisciplinary research spans estuarine hydrodynamics, geomorphology, climate change, human pressures, and inundation risk assessment, providing evidence-based management strategies for coastal estuaries. His work is internationally recognised, with over 35 peer-reviewed publications, guest lecturing, guest editing, and collaborations with global institutions, including scientists from the IPCC. Danial is currently leading research related to global ICOLLs, Sydney Harbour, and modelling estuarine compound inundation within NSW.
Rai Ibaceta
Senior Scientist
Coastal and Marine
Rai is a Senior Scientist (Coastal and Marine) at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Rai completed his PhD and postdoc at the UNSW Water Research Laboratory. He specialises in providing evidence-based science to inform coastal risk and management studies. Rai enjoys integrating data from in-situ and remote sensing technologies with GIS and other computational methods (machine learning, data assimilation) to understand – and predict – the present and future behaviour of sandy coastlines. Rai is currently leading projects related to open-coast inundation risk, socio-demographics impacts of sea level rise, coastal erosion hazards and operational early warning systems to assist the Worimi people and NSW national parks. Rai (and Danial) will be hosting the Eora (Sydney) local hub.
Melbourne, VIC
Runjie Yuan (He/Him)
Associate Lecturer
Coastal Geomorphology
Runjie Yuan is a coastal geomorphologist specializing in rocky coasts. His primary research focuses on the shore platforms along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, which has the world’s longest continuous platform erosion records. Utilizing both field and laboratory experiments, he employs drone surveying and micro-scale erosion monitoring to study the dynamics of downwearing on shore platforms. Currently, his research investigates on the morphological changes of beaches and dune sequences in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland region along the Victorian coastline. He is working as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
Perth, WA
Chao Tang
phd candidate
Chao Tang is a PhD candidate at The University of Western Australia. His research aims to understand the hydrodynamics around porous artificial reef modules. Chao’s passion for numbers and ocean lead to his decision to make the switch from an electronic engineer to become a numerical modeller in physical oceanography, sliding into coastal engineering along the way. He is also an avid scuba diver, either looking for cool fish or “buried” oceanographic instruments under the surface.
Xiaoya Luo
phd candidate
Xiaoya Luo is a PhD student at the University of Western Australia, focusing on the long-term evolution of tidal creeks along the Western Australian coast and the ecomorphological interactions that occur throughout this process. Her research involves numerical modelling, and she has a strong interest in coastal engineering management. In her free time, Xiaoya enjoys swimming and running.
Townsville, QLD
Emily Lazarus (She/Her)
phd candidate
Emily is a PhD candidate at James Cook University in Townsville. She is studying the morphodynamics of the cays (low-lying islands) along the Great Barrier Reef and modelling their future projections under rising sea levels. Emily also works as a research assistant undertaking particle size analysis to trace sediment sources from the reef back to the catchment. Her research interests include tropical geomorphology, GIS, science communication, hydrodynamic modelling and long-term climate record reconstruction.
Auckland, NZ
Anne-Fleur van Leeuwen
phd candidate
My life is all about water. I studied alongside the second longest river in western Europe, the Rhine, at Wageningen University and Research. Here I did my bachelor’s degree (Soil, Water and Atmosphere) and Masters Degree (Earth and Environment). I focussed on transport of land effluents to and along the coastal zone of the Dutch Caribbean. This spiked my interest in the freshwater/marine processes, so what better place to do research than in an Estuary? So, as of mid-2023, I am doing a PhD on the interplay between turbidity, water chemistry, plankton and tidal hydrodynamics in the Kaipara Harbour through the University of Auckland. Outside of my work, I am often found on the water either wind/wave surfing or kayaking. But if I need a break from H2O, I’ll tune into my inner geologist and go rock climbing instead!
Mariane Couceiro Pullig
(She/Her)
phd candidate
Mariane is a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland in her first year. Her research focuses on coastal the large-scale effects of climatic impacts on coastal sediment budget. Mariane is currently working in a predictive model framework accounting for coastal adaptation along sandy and rocky sections of the New Zealand coast. She is also collaborating in a project addressing sediment bypassing along tidal inlets and headland-dominated coasts. Her professional interests include nature-based solutions using natural resources to address coastal protection and climate adaptation. In her free time, Mariane explores new destinations and captures the beauty of nature through photography.
