John Bacon
John spent 20 very happy years working as a Civil Engineer in many parts of the UK, but also with 10 years in Tanzania, Dubai and Oman before returning to study Geophysical Sciences at UEA as a mature student. He discovered the science of oceanography and in particular coastal processes and carried on to complete a PhD at UEA, working with an inspiring research group at UEA, guided by Chris Vincent in 2004.
After a UEA post doc job, a lecturer's post and a further three years working as a marine specialist with Meteorologists Weatherquest Ltd, he moved to Cefas eight years ago and is a Principal Scientist in Coastal numerical modelling and also leads High Performance and Scientific Computing at Cefas. Much of his work involves numerical modelling of coastal processes, geomorphology and water quality, particularly in respect of shellfish health. Cefas is a hugely diverse organisation and although a government department (executive agency of Defra) is one of the foremost organisations to work in marine science research.
He has been a member of the Challenger Society since 2002 and was elected as Honorary Secretary, despite attrocious spelling! He now runs the web development for the society and Mattias Green is the Honorary Secretary.
Latest News
Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2025
Please see a message from the Royal Society below:
We are delighted to announce that the 2025 Competition is now open for entries until 15 August for a chance to win £1000! The competition celebrates the power of photography in conveying the wonder of science happening all around us and photographs can be submitted in the categories of: Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth Science and Climatology, Ecology and Environmental Science, and Microimaging.
The competition is free to enter and open to anyone studying or working in science at graduate level or above. Category winners will receive a one-year membership to the Royal Photographic Society and the overall winner will receive a grand prize of £1,000. Find out more: https://bit.ly/RSPphotocomp
October 2025 MEDIN Workshop: Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset
The Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the next occurrence of our popular free online training workshop: ‘Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset’ on the 13th – 17th October 2025 on OceanTeacher Global Academy.
Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset
The Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) and OceanWise are delighted to invite you to attend our popular free online training workshop: ‘Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset’ on the 19th – 23rd of May 2025.