Job title: Senior Lecturer
Phone: 64 9 373 7599 ext 88329
Office: Rm 432, Human Sciences Building,10 Symonds Street, Auckland
Postal: School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland
Email: m.dickson@auckland.ac.nz

BSc(Hons1) Massey, PhD Wollongong.

I studied undergraduate Geography at Massey University before completing a PhD at the University of Wollongong on the evolution of rocky coasts around Lord Howe Island. I worked briefly a postdoc in Australia before moving to the Dept of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, to focus on the problem of cliff-top villages tumbling into the sea on rapidly eroding soft-rock coasts around Britain. It turns out that numerical models are particularly useful for addressing such concerns and I spent several subsequent years working with colleagues developing models that help us understand the historical evolution of eroding coasts and give insight into possible future changes. My work in the UK was funded through the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the emphasis was on potential impacts of sea level rise and changing wave climates. I then returned to NZ on a FRST Postdoctoral Fellowship and worked at NIWA for three years focussing on gravel shorelines, which are chronically eroding in many areas. I joined the School of Environment in 2008. My research interests are centred on rocky coasts and sand/gravel coasts.

Journal articles (since 2006)

Ogawa, H., Dickson, M.E., Kench, P.S., In Press. Wave Transformation on a Sub-Horizontal Shore Platform. Continental Shelf Research Accepted 9 May 2011.

Pentney, R., Dickson, M.E., In Press. Digital grain size analysis of a mixed sand and gravel beach. Journal of Coastal Research Accepted, Sept. 2010.

 

Kennedy, D.M., Paulik, R., Dickson, M.E., 2011. Subaerial weathering versus wave processes in shore platform development: reappraising the Old Hat Island evidence. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 36, 686-694.

 

Ashton, A., Walkden, M.J.A., Dickson, M.E., 2011. Equilibrium responses of rocky coasts to changes in the rate of sea level rise. Marine Geology 284, 217-229.

 

Dickson, M.E., Bristow, C.S., Hicks, D.M., Jol, H., Stapleton, J., Todd, D., 2009. Beach Volume on an Eroding Sand–Gravel Coast Determined Using Ground Penetrating Radar. Journal of Coastal Research 25, 1149-1159.

 

Dawson, R.J., Dickson, M.E., Nicholls, R.J., Hall, J.W., Walkden, M.J.A., Stansby, P., Mokrech, M., Richards, J., Zhou, J., Milligan, J., Jordon, A., Pearson, S.G., Rees, J., Bates, P.D., Koukoulas, S., Watkinson, A., 2009. Integrated analysis of risks of coastal flooding and cliff erosion under scenarios of long term change. Climatic Change 95, 249-288.

 

Walkden, M.J.A., Dickson, M.E., 2008. Equilibrium erosion of soft rock shores with a shallow or absent beach under increased sea level rise. Marine Geology 251, 75-84.

 

Palamara, D., Dickson, M.E., Kennedy, D.M., 2007. Shore platform characterisation using airborne laser scan data: a preliminary investigation. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32, 945-953.

 

Kennedy, D.M., Dickson, M.E., 2007. Cliffed Coasts of New Zealand: Perspectives and Future Directions. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 37, 41-57.

 

Dickson, M.E., Walkden, M.J.A., Hall, J.W., 2007. Systemic Impacts of Climate Change on an Eroding Coastal Region over the 21st Century. Climatic Change 84, 141-166.

 

Dickson, M.E., Hicks, D.M., Coco, G., 2007. A Holocene-Scale Numerical Model of Shore Profile Evolution on an Eroding Alluvial Fan Coast. Journal of Coastal Research, ICS2007 (Proceedings) SI 50, 821-826.

 

Woodroffe, C.D., Brooke, B.P., Kennedy, D.M., Dickson, M.E., 2006. Geomorphological Evolution of Lord Howe Island and Carbonate Production at the Latitudinal Limit to Reef Growth. Journal of Coastal Research 22, 188-201.

 

Kennedy, D.M., Dickson, M.E., 2006. Lithological control on the elevation of shore platforms in a microtidal setting. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 31, 1575-1584.

 

Hall, J.W., Dawson, R., Manning, L., Walkden, M.J.A., Dickson, M.E., Sayers, P., 2006. Risk analysis for adaptive management of infrastructure systems subject to natural hazards. Civil Engineering 159 (Special Issue 2), 21-27.

 

Dickson, M.E., 2006. Shore platform development around Lord Howe Island, southwest Pacific. Geomorphology 76, 295-315.

 

Brown, I., Jude, S., Koukoulas, S., Nicholls, R., Dickson, M.E., Walkden, M.J.A., 2006. Dynamic simulation and visualisation of coastal erosion. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 30, 840-860.

 

Book chapters (since 2006)

 

Woodroffe, C.D., Cowell, P.J., Dickson, M.E., 2011. Coastal Environments, in: Gregory, K.J., Gomez, B., Goudie, A.S. (Eds.), Handbook of Geomorphology. SAGE, London.

 

Dickson, M.E., Woodroffe, C.D., Cowell, P.J., 2009. Geomorphological Models and Their Role in Coastal Management, in: Green, D. (Ed.), Coastal Zone Management. Thomas Telford, London, pp. 157-184.

 

Brown, I., Jude, S.R., Koukoulas, S., Nicholls, R., Dickson, M.E., Walkden, M.J.A., 2007. Using Virtual Reality to Simulate Future Coastal Erosion: A Participative Decision Tool?, in: Lovett, A., Appleton, K. (Eds.), Environmental Decision Making and GIS. Taylor and Francis, London.

 

Current

Hiroki Ogawa, PhD

Kathryn Davies, PhD

Vaughan Turner, MSc

Completed:

Amy Dougherty, PhD

Rachael Pentney, MSc

Farah Lodhawalla, MSc

Michael Kantor, MSc