Hi I’m Marie Schlenker and I am studying within the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton.
I am originally from Germany and graduated with a BSc in Geosciences and a MSc in Environmental Physics from the University of Bremen, Germany. Furthermore, I obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Disaster Management and gained practical experience in coastal hazards research as part of internships at the Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency, Norderney, Germany, and the Institute of Coastal Research, Geesthacht, Germany.
“Small island nations and their inhabitants have been identified as having tremendous physical, social and economic vulnerability to climate change. My PhD project aims at investigating the impacts of sea-level rise and other climate-driven coastal changes on Solomon Islands. I hope that my research will ultimately help local communities to cope with the impacts of future sea-level rise and coastal hazards.”
In my PhD project, I will investigate the impacts of sea-level rise and other climate-driven coastal changes on Solomon Islands. To achieve this goal, I will map and quantify shoreline changes around the islands, have a closer look at the drivers of major inundation and coastal erosion events which occurred in the past and investigate how communities are being impacted by the observed changes. Due to the interdisciplinary character of my project, I am jointly supervised by experts from three different faculties: Prof Robert Nicholls (Engineering), Prof David Sear (Geography) and Dr Ivan Haigh (Oceanography).