Michael O'Leary

I am a marine geoscientist with research expertise in the fields of tropical coastal geomorphology, coral reef and reef-island evolution, and climate change science.

My research focuses on sea level reconstructions during periods of known climate instability, a metric that speaks directly to the future stability of the Polar ice sheets, and tropical coastal response, in particular, low reef-island response to future sea level rise.

I have recently broadened my research interests to include the field of geoarchaeology with a particular aim of using submerged landscape archaeology as a tool for addressing knowledge gaps in world prehistory such as early human migrations, the archaeology of land bridges and coastal-hinterland cultural exchange.

These broad research areas cross discipline boundaries but centre on a central theme of climate change, coastal response, and human behaviour spanning deep time, the present day and projections into the future.