Rate My Professor Thomas Oliver

Dr Thomas Oliver is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Science at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. He earned a Bachelor of Marine Science Advanced Honours (Class 1) and a PhD from the University of Wollongong under the supervision of Professor Colin Woodroffe. His PhD research reconstructed the depositional history of three prograded coastal barrier systems in southern New South Wales using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, ground-penetrating radar, and airborne LiDAR. Following his doctorate, he served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Wollongong, expanding this work. He joined UNSW Canberra in early 2018 as a Lecturer in a teaching and research position and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in July 2022.

Dr Oliver's research covers coastal science from late Quaternary to contemporary processes, including barrier and estuary evolution, beach morphodynamics influenced by storms, and estuary entrance behaviour. He has worked on coastal sites across Australia, from north Queensland to South Australia. Internationally recognized as an expert in OSL dating applied to coastal sediments, his publications include over 350 OSL ages that advance knowledge of coastal landform evolution. Notable contributions involve leading the Bengello Beach 50-year monitoring program, one of the longest records of beach erosion and recovery globally. Key publications are '50 years of beach–foredune change on the southeastern coast of Australia: Bengello Beach, Moruya, NSW, 1972–2022' (Geomorphology, 2023), 'Foredune erosion, overtopping and destruction in 2022 at Bengello Beach, southeastern Australia' (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2024), 'Extreme storm impact and recovery on a natural beach-foredune system: The June 2016 storm at Bengello Beach, southeastern Australia' (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2025), 'The turnaround from transgression to regression of Holocene barrier systems in south-eastern Australia: Geomorphology, geological framework and geochronology' (Sedimentology, 2021), and 'Morphodynamics of Modern and Ancient Barrier Systems: An Updated and Expanded Synthesis' (Treatise on Geomorphology, 2022). His research informs coastal management under future pressures and has appeared in The Conversation, ABC News, and major conferences.