Heidi Burgess

Heidi Burgess is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Brighton's School of Applied Sciences within the Centre for Environment and Society, specializing in Nature Based Solutions for sustainable flood management across coastal, estuarine, and riverine environments through applied field research and industry collaboration.

Her research centers on Nature Based Solutions integrating sediment dynamics, hydrodynamics, water management, geochemistry, and blue-carbon systems. She designs long-term field monitoring programs to understand hydraulic regimes in managed realignment sites, focusing on habitat creation, pollution mitigation, and carbon sequestration. Collaborating with ecologists and industry partners, she assesses how land-use history and engineering design impact biodiversity and coastal defense longevity, while inland projects address river re-wilding and floodplain reconnection for sustainable water management.

Analysis of her publication trends reveals deepening integration of microbial corrosion studies with coastal engineering and increasing use of UAV technology for monitoring wetland restoration. Her work consistently bridges academic research with practical industry applications through quantification of intervention impacts on flood management and ecosystem services.

Scientific awards: None documented in source materials.

Burgess actively supervises MRes/PhD projects addressing real-world challenges in water/sediment interactions and climate impacts, including quantifying Nature Based Solutions for flood management, fish habitat development in realignment sites, and mycelium formation in intertidal wetlands. Her research grants include Environment Agency-funded MRUDNIP (2014-2024), Interreg VA 2 Seas SOCORRO project (2020-2022), and Natural Resources Wales consultancy (2019-2022), demonstrating strong industry-academic partnership development.

As an active knowledge exchange leader, she served on the Institution of Civil Engineers' Maritime Expert Panel (2015-2022) and organized the ICE Coastal Management Conferences (2015, 2019), advocating for industry-focused publications to translate research into practical coastal management solutions while collaborating across ecological, engineering, and policy domains.