CERIS Seminar explores the role of coastal hydrodynamics in climate resilience

On 14 September CERIS hosted a seminar at the DECivil Museum featuring Professor Tomohiro Suzuki, Associate Professor in Coastal and Offshore Engineering at KU Leuven.

With more than 25 years of experience in coastal and offshore hydrodynamics, Professor Suzuki is a physical and numerical modeller whose research focuses on understanding wave interactions with coastal environments and offshore structures. His work combines physical experiments and multiscale numerical modelling, with particular emphasis on climate resilience and sustainability.

The seminar addressed the challenges posed by climate change and its growing impact on coastal environments. Under the theme of coastal hydrodynamics, Professor Suzuki presented research developed over the past decade, focusing on wave overtopping, coastal safety assessment, and wave–vegetation interaction.

Drawing on research carried out along the Flemish coast and in other locations, the presentation demonstrated how field observations, physical experiments and numerical modelling can be combined to better understand wave transformation and its interaction with coastal defences and nature-based systems. The examples highlighted how advances in fundamental hydrodynamic knowledge can contribute to practical solutions for more resilient and sustainable coastal protection.

Professor Suzuki also presented his current research activities at KU Leuven, which include advanced coastal and offshore hydrodynamic modelling, nature-based coastal protection, and innovative coastal and offshore structures, including applications related to renewable energy. His work is part of a broader effort to develop multiscale modelling approaches, from large-scale wave models to detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD), while supporting the training of the next generation of coastal and offshore engineers.

The seminar concluded with a Q&A, providing an opportunity for members of the CERIS community to discuss the topics presented and exchange ideas with Professor Suzuki.

CERIS would like to thank all participants for their interest and active participation in the seminar, and Professor Tomohiro Suzuki for his presence and for sharing his research and expertise with the CERIS community, and initiative and support of Professor Diogo Mendes.