Rate My Professor Daniel Conley

Professor Daniel Conley serves as Professor of Nearshore Processes in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth, where he is a core member of the Coastal Processes Research Group. Holding a PhD, his distinguished career spans over 30 years, beginning as a Research Assistant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography from 1986 to 1993, followed by roles as Assistant and Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Marine Sciences Research Center from 1993 to 2000, and a position at the NATO Undersea Research Centre, before joining the University of Plymouth. Conley's research focuses on coastal sediments, including beach morphodynamics, nearshore sediment transport, coastal erosion and storm impacts, video monitoring of coastal systems, coastal process modelling, estuarine processes and evolution, as well as marine renewable energy. He employs field observations, laboratory experiments, and numerical models to advance understanding of sediment transport under waves, drawing parallels to land and river systems.

Conley has significantly influenced the field through high-impact publications, with over 3,600 citations on Google Scholar. Key works include 'The extreme 2013/2014 winter storms: hydrodynamic forcing and coastal response along the southwest coast of England' (Masselink et al., 2016, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 303 citations), 'The extreme 2013/2014 winter storms: Beach recovery along the southwest coast of England' (Scott et al., 2016, Marine Geology, 186 citations), 'Assessing wave energy effects on biodiversity: the Wave Hub experience' (Witt et al., 2012, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 163 citations), 'Evaluation of turbulence closure models under spilling and plunging breakers in the surf zone' (Brown et al., 2016, Coastal Engineering, 153 citations), 'Ventilated oscillatory boundary layers' (Conley and Inman, 1994, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 134 citations), and 'Role of waves and tides on depth of closure and potential for headland bypassing' (Valiente et al., 2019, Marine Geology, 121 citations). His contributions extend to practical applications in wave energy and coastal management. In October 2021, he presented his Inaugural Professorial Lecture, 'From Einstein to seagrass, a lifetime immersed in coastal sediments,' celebrating his achievements in coastal research.