Professor Iris Moeller

Biography

Prof Möller is a coastal geomorphologist who researches how physical and biological processes interact at the coast, particularly in the intertidal zone (the area between tidal high and low water). She uses these insights to work with others within and beyond the discipline of Geography to develop integrative solutions for a coastal environment in which people are protected from flooding and erosion whilst also taking advantage of the many benefits healthy ecosystems and dynamic coastal landforms, particularly coastal wetlands, have for humans. The monitoring and understanding of long-term coastal morphodynamics (the link between coastal landforms and the processes shaping them) forms a key component of her work, as does how we use these insights to adapt to a changed environmental future through climate change, sea-level rise, and altered storm frequency/severity. The coast is home to a vast array of different land forms that can rapidly change in response to external drivers, such as sea level rise, altered sediment fluxes, altered atmospheric composition, and human land use. Given the complexity of the coastal system, field observations are crucial in allowing theories to be verified and tested. Similarly, the ability to control conditions in the laboratory context or in numerical models is important in allowing theory to be developed. In recent years, Prof Möller has worked closely with specialists in deploying remote sensing methods via remotely controlled airborne vehicles (UAVs) and satellite (e.g. the Copernicus suite of Sentinels). Such methods allow the capture of frequent images of a rapidly changing environment without the logistical difficulties of working in treacherous terrain. Using all of these methods, Prof. Möller and her team and collaborators have led and contributed to a range of projects funded by national and international governmental funding agencies, including the European Union FP7 and Horizon 2020 Programmes, as well as the private sector and non-government organisations.