The Beachlab is part of the School of the Environment at The University of Queensland. Dr Daniel Harris is the leader of the Beachlab. Dan focuses on the processes that change coastal and marine systems from the river catchments to the continental shelf (…or wherever there’s water).

The goal of the Beachlab is to develop tools, gather data, and provide analyses to help coastlines and coral reefs navigate a warmer world. Our projects are focused on fundamental research questions about how coasts and coral reefs change through time. We also have applied research objectives to support the future management of coastal and coral reef systems.

The research conducted in the Beachlab is multi-disciplinary and multi-scaled. The active research projects in the beachlab highlight this focus, they include: the transformation of waves in the surf zones of coral reefs and beaches, modelling wave climate in coral reef settings over days to decades, quanitfying the coastal protection service provided by coral reefs, investigating the influence of sea level and wave climate on coastal and coral reef evolution during the quaternary, using machine learning and satellite remote sensing to understand change in coral reefs and beaches at global scales, and investigating the role of coral rubble in the long-term dyanmics and recovery of coral reef ecosystems. We employ a suite of data collection methods and models to conduct this research and are always seeking motivated students and researchers to work and collaborate with if you are interested to know more.