Name: Dr. Gerard Summers

Position: Post-doctoral researcher

Office: Research Office, Ground Floor, Department of Geography

Email Address: gerard.summers@ucc.ie

Biography

Gerard graduated with a BSc in Geology from University College Cork in 2015. He has since completed an MSc in Applied Coastal and Marine Management from UCC in 2017. Thereafter, he completed a PhD in Seabed Habitat Mapping in UCC in 2023.

A common theme throughout Gerard’s academic career is the use of GIS technology to determine the ecosystem drivers that sculpt ecologically important environments. During his bachelor’s degree he completed a dissertation, using GIS to map the geology of the Slieve Mish Mountains, a landscape defined by complex processes that span immense timescales. Continuing in this vein, Gerard turned his gaze to mapping more contemporary events in the marine realm, and as part of his master’s degree Gerard created a habitat suitability map for cold-water corals. Finally, during his PhD, he uncovered the capacity of object-based image analysis to create scale resilient seabed habitat maps and exploit the information within these maps to provide estimations on the hydrodynamics of the seabed. Furthermore, he was able to provide recommendations for optimising seabed mapping workflows for large scale projects.

Research Project/s: Currently, Gerard is a post-doctoral researcher as part of the SEAMANS_Carbon project, whose goals are to accurately determine the carbon sequestration capacity of offshore habitats using drone photogrammetry, sidescan sonar, and sediment cores. His background in automated image processing, offshore marine science and geology will allow him to effectively tackle the mysteries that lie at the heart of these ecosystems.

Publications

Summers, G., Lim, A., Wheeler, A.J., 2023. Multi resolution appraisal of Cork Harbour estuary: An object based image analysis approach. Geomorphology 439, 108851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108851

McGeady, R., Runya, R.M., Dooley, J.S.G., Howe, J.A., Fox, C.J., Wheeler, A.J., Summers, G., Callaway, A., Beck, S., Brown, L.S., Dooly, G., McGonigle, C., 2023. A review of new and existing non-extractive techniques for monitoring marine protected areas. Frontiers in Marine Science 10

Summers, G., 2023. The Application of Object-Based Image Analysis to Geomorphological Seabed Mapping. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18470.70720

Summers, G., Lim, A., Wheeler, A.J., 2022. A Characterisation of Benthic Currents from Seabed Bathymetry. Remote Sensing 14, 4731. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14194731

Summers, G., Lim, A., Wheeler, A.J., 2021. A Scalable, Supervised Classification of Seabed Sediment Waves Using an Object-Based Image Analysis Approach. Remote Sensing 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs1312231 

Awards and Grants

• Irish Earth Observation Symposium (IEOS) 2022 Best Presentation: €200.
• GeoHab 2022 Ron McDowell Student Award: €860.
• Marine Institute 2022 Travel Grant: €750.
• IGRM 2020 Poster Presentation (Honourable Mention).

Research Cruise Experience

• CE22013 — SPeeD (Geophysicist).
• CE21011 — SyMonS_MoM II (Day Shift Leader).
• CE20011 — SyMonS_MoM I (Day Shift Leader).
• CE20001 — INFOMAR hydrographic survey (Night Shift Leader).
• CV19023 — DOWindy I (Night Shift Leader).
• CE19014 — MoChaSCan II (Night shift leader).
• CE19008 — MoChaSCan I (Day shift leader).
• CE18011 — CoCoHaCa II (Geophysicist).
• RH17002 — CoCoHaCa I (Scientist).