A two day course providing a solid foundation in the processes that lead to coastal erosion and flood risk and the policies and frameworks in place to manage this risk. Day one focusses on physical processes such as tides, storm surges, waves, sediment transport (longshore, cross shore, swash zone), coastal evolution, human impacts, climate change and uncertainty. Day two will then move into coastal policy, including management options (retreat/advance/hold the line) and types of defences (recharge/nourishment, revetments, breakwaters etc.) The course will provide an introduction to appraisal techniques such as economic appraisal, and multicriteria assessments that can be used to select the referred approach for coastal protection, and presents an overview of the design processes, criteria and methods.

Who should attend?

This is designed as an introductory course for a wide audience of managers, planners, engineers, scientists or modellers requiring an overview of coastal processes, either as a foundation knowledge or to support further courses. It will be delivered in a context of understanding the risks facing our coastline plus the selection and review of different management approaches available.

Course outcomes

Following the course, delegates should have an understanding of the different coastal processes, the drivers of coastal risk, future impacts due to climate change and the use of different management approaches to mitigate coastal risk. It will include an understanding of different management approaches and defence options, their benefits and potential impacts, how they can be assessed and how a preferred design is selected. This knowledge will also support further courses in coastal design, asset management, modelling and calculation of extremes.