Coastal and physical oceanographer Ivan D. Haigh was born in Zambia and moved to the United Kingdom at age 19. He earned his bachelor's degree in oceanography and mathematics followed by a doctoral degree from the University of Southampton. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Western Australia, he returned to Southampton as a lecturer and rose to associate professor in 2016 before becoming a professor of sea level and coastal impacts in 2021. In 2022, he became the director of the United Kingdom's Center for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures. Prior to academia, he also worked as a numerical modelling consultant with Associated British Ports Marine Environment Research. Haigh joined the University of Central Florida in 2025 as the director of the National Center for Integrated Coastal Research

Haigh's research focuses on three key themes. First, he studies how mean and extreme sea levels are changing over time and space, from seconds to centuries and from local to global scales. Second, he investigates the coastal impacts of sea-level change, particularly in cities, deltas, small islands, and cultural heritage sites. Third, he works on translating scientific insights into practical, local solutions for coastal adaptation. Ivan has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, secured $30 million in research funding, and regularly advises governments, nonprofit government organizations and industry worldwide.

• Green, J., Haigh, I.D., et al. (2025) A Comprehensive Review of Coastal Compound Flooding Literature, Natural Hazards and Earth Systems, 25(2), 747-816. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-747-2025


• Wing, O. E. J., Bates, P. D.,  Quinn, N. D.,  Savage, J. T. S.,  Uhe, P. F.,  Cooper, A., et al., Haigh, I.D. (2024).  A 30 m global flood inundation model for any climate scenario. Water Resources Research, 60, e2023WR036460. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR036460.


• McInnes, K.L., Nicholls, R.J., van de Wal, R., Behar, D., Haigh, I.D., et al., (2025). Perspective on regional sea-level change and coastal impacts, Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures 2, e16. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-prisms-coastal-futures/article/perspective-on-regional-sealevel-change-and-coastal-impacts/087964AB2E8301C0346CAD43EFDFD717


• Haigh, I.D.,Marcos, M., Talke, S.A., Woodworth, P.L., Hunter, J.R. and Hague, B.S. et al. (2023). GESLA Version 3: A major update to the global higher-frequency sea-level dataset. Geoscience Data Journal, 10,  293–314. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/gdj3.174.


• Nasr, A.A., Wahl, T., Rashid, Md M., Jane, R.A., Camus, P. Haigh,D., (2023). Temporal changes in dependence between compound coastal and inland flooding drivers around the contiguous United States coastline, Weather and Climate Extremes, 41, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2023.100594.


• Trace-Kleeberg, S., Haigh, I.D., Walraven, M., Gourvenec, S., (2023). How should storm surge barrier maintenance strategies be changed in light of sea-level rise? A case study, Coastal Engineering, 184, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2023.104336.


• van de Wal, R. S. W., Nicholls, R. J., Behar, D., McInnes, K., Stammer, D., Lowe, J. A., et al., Haigh, I.D. (2022). A high-end estimate of sea level rise for practitioners. Earth's Future, 10, e2022EF002751. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF002751.


• Haigh, I.D. et al. (2020). The tides they are a’ changing: A comprehensive review of past and future non-astronomical changes in tides, their driving mechanisms and future implications. Reviews of Geophysics, 58 (1), e2018RG000636. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018RG000636.