About WCMC
The WCMC delivers a standard, repeatable and cost-effective coastal monitoring programme on behalf of Welsh Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) to provide the evidence necessary for Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) decisions.
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With time, our data will provide evidence to inform coastal evolution, sea level rise and climate change mitigation. The data is freely available for all.
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We engage in novel research and development projects aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of coastal monitoring, as well as improving coastal and climate change education in Wales and internationally.
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The Wales Coastal Monitoring Centre (WCMC) was established in the Vale of Glamorgan Council in 2019.
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The WCMC reports to a consortium of 3 RMAs and the Welsh Local Government Association.
We are supported by Natural Resources Wales, The National Trust and The Wales Coastal Groups Forum who together form the Advisory Panel.
View our summarised Strategic Direction on a page
PILLAR 1
Consistently optimising access to interpreted coastal data
PILLAR 2
Committed to ongoing engagement with all levels of stakeholders
PILLAR 3
Continually ensuring highest priority locations
Our Values
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Highest achievable standards
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Consistent delivery builds trust with our stakeholders through dependability
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Resourcefulness
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We recognise for a small team, to achieve more than our expectations, we must seek opportunities in collaborations and technological developments
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Data, not opinions
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An evidence based approach requires empirical methods. We measure to ensure our decisions are informed and not guesswork
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People are our greatest asset
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Committed, forward thinking, supported and motivated people create inconceivable efficiencies and solve problems we didn’t know existed
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Global responsibility
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Wales, as a nation, aims high for sustainability and we endeavour to benefit the people and planet through contributions of shared progress, learning and experiences
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Reports
Meet Our Team
Gwyn Nelson
(Programme Manager)
Arriving in 2019 with 15 years experience in commercial coastal surveys, Gwyn and the team have developed the WCMC from the business case, to what we see today.
Izzy Adcock
(Assistant Coastal Scientist)
Izzy has joined our team in September as our fourth undergraduate placement. She is looking forward to getting stuck into surveying the Welsh coastline and applying her coding knowledge to real life.
William Russell
(Coastal Process Scientist)
Arriving in 2019 with a Masters in Ocean Science, Will has been key in developing the processes and systems for strategic surveying of the Welsh Coastline.
Hannah Richards
(SCBCEG Coastal Officer)
In August 2023 Hannah returned to the team as the Swansea and Carmarthen Bay Coastal Engineering Group Officer after working with us as a Graduate Kickstarter in 2021 (see below). She is excited to be assisting the coastal group in achieving it's goals under the Shoreline Management Plan.
Ben Ranson
(Coastal Process Scientist)
Arriving in 2022 with a Masters in Remote Sensing and GIS, Ben brings experience in GIS and Python programming to the team.
We believe all workplaces are 'education centres' teaching our team, not just the skills required but how to build an improvement mindset.
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We don't currently have any new opportunities
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If you would like us to keep your details on record for opportunities please use the contact form below. All details are deleted on the 1st of January in our GDPR compliant process.
None at this time
Opportunities to work with us
External Opportunities
Contact Us
Want to know more? Contact us!
Hosted by the Vale of Glamorgan Council, based:
Alps Depot,
Wenvoe
CF5 6AA
Thank You to our Past Placements
Caitlyn Nye
​Caitlyn studies Physical Geography in Cardiff and joined the WCMC in June 2022 for a summer placement through Careers Wales. Caitlyn worked on Coastsnap and enjoyed gaining further knowledge on the Welsh Coastlines, applying the skills she learnt through her course and developing new ones at WCMC.​​
Paulius Jakaitis
Paulius joined in Feb 2022. He is currently studying an MSc in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling, and Reconstruction. Paulius is looking forward to applying his GIS/Remote Sensing skills and is excited to learn more about different survey techniques.
Lucy Attwood
Lucy joined in Sept 2021 as our second undergraduate. During her time Lucy helped develop the primary schools programme transition into Secondary education and helped develop our first CoastSNAP citizen science installation.
Warren Kwok
Warren joined in November 2021 as a graduate Kickstarter. He helped set up our low-cost autonomous survey rover and helped out on surveys.
Bethan Hurman
Bethan joined in November 2021 as a graudate Kickstarter. She helped develop an MCDA for the survey programme and helped out with organising historic datasets.
Sivert Hellvik Havso
Sivert started his KESS2 MPhil at Aberystwyth University Robotics department in November 2020, to develop a low-cost autonomous survey rover.
Hannah Richards
Hannah joined in 2021 for 6 months as a graduate Kickstarter. She helped develop the method for Point Cloud Processing and helped with the development of the school's programme.
Ben Davies
Ben joined in spring 2021 as a graduate Kickstarter. Ben conducted research into profile analysis, which underpins our future work.
Myah Horsford
Myah was our first undergraduate placement student, starting in September 2020. She helped organise our control network and historic data records. Myah enjoyed working on development of the education programme.
Patrick Fletcher
Patrick studied Computer Science at Aberystwyth University and started his KESS2 MPhil in October 2022. The aim of his project was to develop a cost-effective method of beach monitoring, capable of being deployed for extended periods of time. Patrick completed in his Masters in 2024.
Alex Hamel
Alex started her undergraduate placement scheme with the WCMC in September 2022 becoming our third undergraduate placement and was instrumental in rolling out our CoastSNAP project across Wales.
Nick Richards
Nick volunteered at the WCMC and paved the way for the undergraduate scheme. Nick assessed our coastline and mapped all nature designations used for survey assents access until 2025. Nick also catalogued our 'inherited' historic data.