Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Phil Ashworth is a Professor of Physical Geography specialising in river morphodynamics and sedimentology. His research interests span a range of scales including the largest rivers and estuaries in the world. He focusses on the field quantification of alluvial morphodynamics, the diversity of large river pattern and the application of fluvial sedimentology in characterising reservoir heterogeneity. This work has been supported by 16 NERC grants and several contracts from the petroleum industry.
Recently completed projects include quantifying the relationship between fluvial processes and preserved sedimentology in the world’s largest rivers, quantifying the morphodynamics and sedimentology of large estuaries and assessing the impacts of drought in South Africa.
Ongoing projects that are still being written-up are quantifying bedform dynamics in unsteady flows and modelling how sediment suspension controls the morphology and evolution of sand-bed rivers. He currently holds two NERC grants: (1) Propagation of hydro-geomorphic disturbances through continental-scale river basins: Future evolution of the Amazon River and its floodplain (started 1 December 2020, 3 years, 8 months) with Andrew Nicholas and Rolf Aalto; and (2) The evolution of global flood hazard and risk (started 1 May 2021, 5 years) with a consortium of investigators in 8 other universities [Large Grant, NE/S015655/1, twitter; website]
Phil's research projects have been based in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and USA, and earlier work focussed on experimental modelling of braided rivers in a tilting, aggrading stream table.
Scholarly biography
Phil Ashworth is the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Exchange), the Interim Director of the Brighton Doctoral College and a Professor of Physical Geography.
As the Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor he is responsible for ensuring that the actions arising out of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange Strategic Plan are supported and implemented effectively to maximise the scale, quality, impact and international reach of the University’s research and KE. Phil leads development of the Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs), and leads on the financial management of the quality-related (QR) income (£8.6m). Since February 2023, he is the Interim Director of the Brighton Doctoral College and oversees its £1.7m budget. He also Chairs the University's Commercialisation Panel that invests HEIF income in new innovation projects and exploits IP and business opportunities. Phil was a member of the Executive-led 'Securing our Future' Group that planned the new size and shape of the university from 1 September 2018. As part of this work, he led the workstream making £2.2m of efficiency gains and savings across the Research and KE remit. Phil co-leads the University planning on investing and opimising QR investment and led the scoping and approval for a reorganisation of School R&KE adminstration that was completed in April 2023. He also serves on the IT Governance Board and TRAC group and is the lead on the 'Internationalising R&KE' workstream of the Brighton2025 R&KE Strategic Plan. Phil also serves on the Research Design Service South East (RDS SE) Advisory Board that is due to finish in 23/24. He was a lead member of the REF2021 executive team, including principal author of the Institutional-Level Environment Statement.
Phil is an international scholar in the earth, physical and environmental sciences with H-Index of 50 and over 7100 citations. He currently works on landscape evolution and sedimentation across a range of scales including the largest rivers and estuaries in the world. His research has been supported by over £5.5m of funding including 16 grants from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Phil has close links with the petroleum industry and recent projects include working on the Albertan Oil Sands in Canada.
Phil has a strong association with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) where he was one of only 14 UK scientists invited to chair all the Responsive Mode grant panels (2010-2014). He has also chaired panels for a number of Directed Programmes, Strategic Capital Equipment, International Opportunities and Global Partnerships. Phil is currently a NERC Core member of the Peer Review College and was a member of the NERC Scientific Support and Facilities Review Group in 2022. He is a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Panel Pool and was Deputy Chair in interviews for Rounds 1 and 4 and a Sift Member for Round 5. He also recently served on the EPSRC AI CDT panel and was a panel reviewer for outputs from the Royal Society Africa Capacity Building Initiative. Phil was a council member and trustee of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) (2014-2017) and is a co-author of the Benchmark Review of UK Physical Geography produced in association with the RGS. He was made a Fellow of the British Society for Geomorphology in 2014 and received the RGS Cuthbert Peek Award in May 2021 from the RGS for 'pioneering wide-reaching research methods through remote sensing and modelling of river dynamics'.
Phil was appointed to the REF2021 UoA14 Geography and Environmental Studies sub-panel and with a small group helped draft the C14 input to the Guidance on Submissions and Criteria and Working Methods. Phil completed a full assessment load grading outputs, impact case studies and environment statements. This work was completed in February 2022.
Phil is a keen advocate of research dissemination through different media and has outputs on ResearchGate, YouTube, and Twitter and has published articles in the Times Higher Education and Wonkhe
Supervisory Interests
I will be delighted to supervise PhD students in river dynamics, sediment transport and morphological change in the world's largest rivers, flooding and river-floodplain connectivity and UAVs/drone applications in river mapping. An example of a recently completed PhD is 'Floodplain geomorphology and topography in large rivers' Strick, R.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, University of Stirling
1 Oct 1983 → 1 Jun 1987
Award Date: 1 Jul 1986
Bachelor, Geography BSc, Aberystwyth University
1 Sept 1980 → 1 Jul 1983
Award Date: 1 Jul 1986
External positions
UKRI and Ministry of Earth Sciences (India): Understanding geohazard processes and their impacts across India. Co-Chair of Panel
6 Nov 2023 → 6 Dec 2023
British Society for Geomorphology: Fellowships Panel
26 Jul 2023 → …
Royal Society FCDO Africa Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI): The Congo River: user hydraulics and morphology. Output Evaluation Panel member
17 Jul 2023 → 14 Sept 2023
NERC Independent Research Fellowships: Sift and Interview Panel A Member
2 Feb 2023 → 15 Mar 2023
UKRI Talent Panel College
15 Dec 2022 → …
NERC Panel Chair: Economics of Biodiversity Panel
21 Jun 2022
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Sift Panel Round 5
2 Feb 2021 → 3 Feb 2021
NERC Strategic Need Advisory Working Group (SNAG)
31 Jan 2021 → 31 Jul 2021
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Interview Panel Round 4: Deputy Chair
29 Jul 2020
Member of Research Design Service South East (RDS SE) Advisory Board
Jul 2020 → …
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Interview Panel: Deputy Chair Round 1
21 Jan 2019 → 22 Jan 2019
UKRI Future Leaders Panel Pool
11 Jan 2019 → …
UKRI EPSRC AI CDT Panel
6 Nov 2018 → 8 Nov 2018
REF2021 UoA14 Sub-panel Member, UKRI
1 Mar 2018 → 1 Apr 2022
NERC Peer Review College Core member
9 Nov 2017 → …
Fellow BSG (10% of membership), British Society for Geomorphology
1 Sept 2014 → …
Fellow RGS, Royal Geographical Society
2013 → …
NERC Pool of Grant Panel Chairs
2010 → 2014
Keywords
- GB Physical geography
- Rivers
- Sediments
- Floods
- Channel pattern
- Erosion
- Deposition
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- 1 Similar Profiles
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EvoFlood: The evolution of global flood hazard and risk
Ashworth, P., Parsons, D., Darby, S., Bennett, G., Cloke, H., Hardy, R., Leyland, J., McLelland, S., Neal, J., Nicholas, A., Sambrook Smith, G. H., Slater, L. & Tatham, A.
1/05/21 → 30/04/26
Project: Research Councils / Government Depts.
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Quantification and modelling of bedform dynamics in unsteady flows
Ashworth, P., Parsons, D., Best, J., Hardy, R., Ockelford, A., Reesink, A. J. H. & Unsworth, C.
1/09/11 → 31/07/15
Project: Research Councils / Government Depts.
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TIFZ: Tidally-influenced fluvial zone
Ashworth, P., Best, J., Nicholas, A., Parsons, D., Prokocki, E. W., Sambrook Smith, G. H., Sandbach, S. & Simpson, C.
1/12/10 → 30/11/13
Project: Research
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Investigation of water and sedimentary deposits in the Paraná-Paraguay river
Ashworth, P., Amsler, M. L., Best, J., Hardy, R., Nicholas, A., Orfeo, O., Parsons, D., Reesink, A., Sandbach, S. & Szupiany, R. N.
1/09/08 → 31/08/10
Project: Research
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A high-resolution daily global dataset of statistically downscaled CMIP6 models for climate impact analyses
Gebrechorkos, S., Julian, L., Slater, L., Wortmann, M. & Ashworth, P., 11 Sept 2023, In: Scientific Data. 10, 1, p. 1-15 15 p., 611.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
The Jamuna-Brahmaputra River, Bangladesh
Best, J., Ashworth, P., Mosselman, E., Sarker, M. H. & Roden, J. E., 1 Apr 2022, Large Rivers: Geomophology and Management. Gupta, A. (ed.). Second Edition ed. Wiley-Blackwell, p. 579-640 61 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceeding with ISSN or ISBN › Chapter › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
The morphology of fluvial-tidal dunes: Lower Columbia River, Oregon/Washington, USA
Prokocki, E., Best, J. L., Perillo, M., Ashworth, P., Parsons, D. R., Sambrook Smith, G. H., Nicholas, A. & Simpson, C. J., 19 Apr 2022, In: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 47, 8, p. 2079-2106 28 p., ESP5364.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
The influence of three-dimensional topography on turbulent flow structures over dunes in unidirectional flows
Hardy, R. J., Best, J. L., Marjoribanks, T. I., Parsons, D. R. & Ashworth, P., 9 Nov 2021, In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 126, 12, p. 1-24 24 p., e2021JF006121.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Alluvial architecture of mid‐channel fluvial–tidal barforms: The mesotidal Lower Columbia River, Oregon/Washington, USA
Prokocki, E. W., Best, J. L., Ashworth, P., Sambrook-Smith, G. H., Nicholas, A. P., Parsons, D. R. & Simpson, C. J., 12 May 2020, In: Sedimentology. 67, 7, p. 3533-3566 34 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile