In +ATLANTIC I am integrated in a non-academic, but highly qualified holistic research team in the fields of Earth Sciences, Numerical Modelling, Remote Sensing, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence. +ATLANTIC also excels in boosting the transferance of technology from science to society, and therefore my PhD work programme fits perfectly since the main goal is to build a toolbox available both to coastal scientists and stakeholders and also to the general public.My PhD work programme is entitled FUTURE SHORE: from shoreline satellite-derived mapping to its evolutionary modelling and aims to couple satellite-derived surveying and numerical modelling into one single, on-demand tool, translating evolution indicators that can be universally applied and, beyond that, make this process autonomous and self-validating. This tool can be applied to different coastal settings, in short-to-long timeframes, and incorporate climate change assessments and management solutions. Within this work programme, which is under Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) support (PhD fellowship in a non-academic environment 2022.13776.BDANA), leading-edge techniques in coastal monitoring such as remote sensing analysis, artificial intelligence and reduced-complexity numerical modelling are going to be employed, while using the available in situ monitoring techniques for validation, and efforts will be made to demonstrate these solutions to coastal stakeholders.The PhD comprises three main tasks — enhanced satellite-derived shorelines, modelling future shorelines, and future shore toolbox — with their respective scientific challenges, deliverables, and deadlines, covering both the scientific and training aspects of the whole PhD work programme.

In Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), I am integrated in the very experienced “Earth Surface Processes Group”, which research scope encompasses coastal systems dynamics, and provides broad access to the necessary scientific know-how to carry out my PhD work programme.My PhD work programme is entitled FUTURE SHORE: from shoreline satellite-derived mapping to its evolutionary modelling and aims to couple satellite-derived surveying and numerical modelling into one single, on-demand tool, translating evolution indicators that can be universally applied and, beyond that, make this process autonomous and self-validating. This tool can be applied to different coastal settings, in short-to-long timeframes, and incorporate climate change assessments and management solutions. Within this work programme, which is under Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) support (PhD fellowship in a non-academic environment 2022.13776.BDANA), leading-edge techniques in coastal monitoring such as remote sensing analysis, artificial intelligence and reduced-complexity numerical modelling are going to be employed, while using the available in situ monitoring techniques for validation, and efforts will be made to demonstrate these solutions to coastal stakeholders.The PhD comprises three main tasks — enhanced satellite-derived shorelines, modelling future shorelines, and future shore toolbox — with their respective scientific challenges, deliverables, and deadlines, covering both the scientific and training aspects of the whole PhD work programme.

The participation in this project was granted for 12 months (grant reference ECOEXA - Aquisição de Serviço de Modelação de Transporte Sedimentar), as part of the broader ECOEXA project - Characterising the impact of sand extraction and assessing the rate of ecosystem recovery (MAR-01.04.02-FEAMP-0016), and aimed to study the impact of artificial nourishments and dredging activities on marine and coastal ecosystems.The project was promoted by the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, I. P. (IPMA, IP) in association with Ciências ULisboa, Instituto Dom Luiz, Algarve Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR), the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA, IP), (ARH-Algarve) and Centro Ciência Viva de Tavira.My role in this project was to monitor the dispersion of tracers (i.e., painted sand) across the seabed over one year, and to develop a sedimentary transport model to understrand the local sedimentary dynamics and the recovery of the benthic ecosystem after sediment extraction. I applied everything from labboratory techniques to sedimentology, programming and oceanography. I also participated in the activities related to a tracer recovery experience on the internal platform.Under the project, significant progress has been made in understanding the impact of dredging operations and sand deposition on marine and coastal systems, as well as assessing the resilience and recovery time of affected marine ecosystems. Partial results of this work were orally presented on the 16th International Conference Littoral22 on September 2022 at Costa da Caparica.