Professor Michael Lim

My research is focused on the interactions between materials, environmental processes, landforms and infrastructure within challenging environments, with particular emphasis on slope behaviour.

My main area of expertise is on investigating the mechanisms that operate in coastal environments and how they interact to shape landscapes, habitats and coastal communities. I have developed and applied approaches to try and better understand slope systems and mitigate their impacts within a wide range of settings, from automatic detection of debris-flows on mountains slopes to the globally significant controls on the rocky coasts of Svalbard and permafrost thaw complexes in Canada. This research informs my teaching on surveying skills, change detection and analysis, engineering geology, geotechnics and slope hazards and management and enables me to work with an exciting and inpiring community spanning academia, government agencies and industry.

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Peatland Recovery in the UK: A Systems-based Management Framework for Integrating Carbon Balance, Hydrological Function, and Landscape Stability, Agarwal, V., Lim, M. 1 Aug 2026, In: Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health
• Submergence influences higher shoreline retreat rates in complex low-lying tundra coasts (Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula, NWT, Canada), Costa, B., Vieira, G., Whalen, D., Lim, M. 18 Aug 2026, In: Arctic Science
• UK Arctic Terrestrial Research: Towards International Polar Year 2032/33 and Beyond: Research Strengths, Priorities and Implementation, Phoenix, G., Harding, M., Hartley, I., Lancastle, L., Murton, J., Parker, T., Rutter, N., Street, L., Abbott, G., Barr, I., de la Barreda-Bautista, B., Belcher, A., Burke, E., Cameron, K., Chaturvedi, V., Clarkson, A., Convey, P., Crouch, J., Dalrymple, S., Dasari, S., Dutch, V., Hilton, B., Hirst, C., Hole, G., Kerby, J., Keskitalo, K., Lim, M., Macias-Fauria, M., Mayfield, R., Palmer, P., Pearce, D., Peck, L., Robinson, C., Sjögersten, S., van Soest, M., Streeter, R., Sulikova, S., Swainston, O., Wookey, P. 24 Mar 2026
• A Combined Geophysical Approach to Imaging Permafrost Across Varying Ground Types in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Coote, G., Warren, C., Lim, M., Martin, J., Lee, R., Whalen, D. 2 Jul 2025, Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar (IWAGPR2025), Piscataway, US, IEEE
• Degradation of Organic Matter in Nearshore Waters of the Canadian Arctic Coast, Keskitalo, K., Lim, M., Martin, J., Lee, R., Whalen, D., Mann, P. 7 Jul 2025, Goldschmidt 2025 Abstracts, European Association of Geochemistry
• Empowering Indigenous-Led Contaminant Monitoring through Collaborative Partnerships and Two-Way Capacity Sharing, Mercer, L., Pokiak, D., Whalen, D., Lim, M., Mann, P. Jan 2025, In: Arctic Science
• Influence of GGBS and SRA on Early-Age Shrinkage Cracking Potential of Self-compacting Concrete: Insights from Capillary Pressure, Jamali, A., Mendes, J., Nagaratnam, B., Lim, M. 30 Aug 2025, Early-Age and Long-Term Cracking in RC Structures, New York, Springer
• Quantifying Permafrost Degradation Processes: Real-Time Analysis Using Environment-Based Particle Image Velocimetry and Weather Data, Khan, M., Lim, M., Martin, J., Lee, R., Pokiak, D., Whalen, D. 16 Apr 2025, In: Permafrost and Periglacial Processes
• Instrumentation of Low-Cost IoT Agnostic Data Capturing Platform with Enhanced Sampling and Bandwidth Capabilities for Subsurface Characterization, Khan, M., Martin, J., Lim, M. 21 Oct 2024, In: IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
• Novel multi-scale experimental approach and deep learning model to optimize capillary pressure evolution in early age concrete, Jamali, A., Marani, A., Railton, J., Nehdi, M., Nagaratnam, B., Lim, M., Mendes, J. 1 Jun 2024, In: Cement and Concrete Research

• Harley McCourt The state and fate of global permafrost. Start Date: 08/04/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025
• Catherine Sillem Citizen participation in Urban Green Infrastructure: opportunities and challenges for strategic development whilst centring equity and urban resilience Start Date: 16/12/2025
• Harley McCourt ??The State and Fate of Global Permafrost: High-resolution probabilistic estimates and projections (1960–2100)? Start Date: 08/04/2024
• Eleanor Wratten Widescale rates of coastal change in ice-rich permafrost coastlines under specific landfast ice exposure settings across the Northwest Canadian Arctic Start Date: 01/10/2020 End Date: 23/05/2025

• Geography PhD September 01 2006
• Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2011
• Chartered Geographer CGeog (Geomorph)