Staff profile

Research interests

My primary research is focused upon the recognition of the role of material deformation characteristics in controlling the spatial and temporal nature of rockfalls and landslides. Using data collected both in the laboratory and in the field, I am interested in exploring theoretical models which underpin recent developments in the understanding the mechanics of slope failure. My research is most often end-user focussed, with an emphasis on risk management which broadly considers when, why, where and how landslides occur. My recent research has focussed in two areas: earthquake-triggered landsliding; and, the development and use of 3D time-series terrestrial imaging techniques to monitor slope failure at unprecedented levels of spatial and temporal detail.

I am currently PI on series of projects that enable my research group to pursue these interests. For example, I lead the long term Coastal Behaviour and Rates of Activity (COBRA) research collaboration that runs in partnership with ICL Fertilizers (UK) Ltd, conducting fundamental research on rock slope failure, coastal evolution and deep mining in North Yorkshire, UK. I also lead a project focussed around providing a rolling assessment of the evolution of landslide risk in the area impacted by the 2015 Nepal earthquakes, working with DFID-Nepal and the National Society for Earthquake Technology (Kathmandu). 

Research video

A short video (2014) summarising some of my research is available on Youtube.

• Landslide hazard and risk
• Rock slope failure
• 3D terrestrial monitoring
• Rock coast evolution

• Hazards and Surface Change
• Institute of Hazard, Risk & Resilience (IHRR)

• Coastal Behaviour and Rates of Activity (COBRA)
• Monitoring Programme for the Whitby TV Mast Site

• Institute for Hazard and Risk Research

• 2020: GCRF Cluster Program: Risk At The Margins(£13559.01 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
• 2020: Regional-scale identification and assessment of potentially hazardous groundcracking in the aftermath of a major earthquake.(£26200.87 from )
• 2020: Risk-Informed Landslide Management in Nepal's Hill Areas(£145351.08 from Interreg (ERDF) Europe)
• 2019: Cleveland Potash Ltd. COastal Behaviour and Rates of Activity (COBRA). 2019-2022. PI.
• 2019: Earthquake-triggered land sliding in Nepal during and post monsoon(£437222.53 from AFCAP)
• 2019: IAA - LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS FOR LANDSLIDE RISK REDUCTION(£12824.99 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
• 2018: Durable Solutions(£34282.00 from )
• 2018: KTP NM Group(£9442.00 from )
• 2017: Earthquake triggered landsliding in Nepal: NERC / DFID SHEAR
• 2015: Cleveland Potash Ltd., COastal Behaviour and Rates of Activity (COBRA). 2012-2014. Co-I.
• 2014: Cleveland Potash Ltd., COastal Behaviour and Rates of Activity (COBRA). 2014 - 2019. Co-I.

Journal Article

• Ruusa, MD, Rosser, NJ & Donoghue, DNM (2022). Improving above ground biomass estimates of Southern Africa dryland forests by combining Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment 282: 113232.
• Pearson, C. J., Reaney, S. M., Perks, M. T., Hortobagyi, B., Rosser, N. J. & Large, A. R. G. (2022). Identification of floodwater source areas in Nepal using SCIMAP‐Flood. Journal of Flood Risk Management 15(4): e12840.
• Pradhan, S., Toll, D.G., Rosser, N.J. & Brain, M.J. (2022). An investigation of the combined effect of rainfall and road cut on landsliding. Engineering Geology 307: 106787.
• David, Ruusa, Rosser, Nick J. & Donoghue, Daniel N.M. (2022). Remote sensing for monitoring tropical dryland forests: A review of current research, knowledge gaps and future directions for Southern Africa. Environmental Research Communications 4(4): 042001.
• Few, R, Armijos Burneo, T, Barclay, J, Oven, K, Phillips, J & Rosser, N (2022). Working with communities on disaster risk research: reflections from cross-disciplinary practice. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 70.
• Rosser, NJ, Kincey, ME, Oven, KJ, Densmore, AL, Robinson, TR, Pujara, DS, Shrestha, R, Smutny, J, Gurung, K, Lama, S & Dhital, MR (2021). Changing Significance of Landslide Hazard and Risk After The 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake. Progress in Disaster Science 10: 100159.
• Kincey, Mark E., Rosser, Nick J., Robinson, Tom R., Densmore, Alexander L., Shrestha, Ram, Pujara, Dammar Singh, Oven, Katie J., Williams, Jack G. & Swirad, Zuzanna M. (2021). Evolution of coseismic and post‐seismic landsliding after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 126(3): e2020JF005803.
• Prémaillon, M, Dewez, T, Regard, V, Rosser, N, Carretier, S & Guillen, L (2021). Conceptual model of fracture-limited sea cliff erosion: erosion of the seaward tilted flyschs of Socoa, Basque Country, France. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Swirad, Z.M., Rosser, N.J., Brain, M.J., Rood, D.H., Hurst, M.D., Wilcken, K.M. & Barlow, J. (2020). Cosmogenic exposure dating reveals limited long-term variability in erosion of a rocky coastline. Nature Communications 11: 3804.
• Williams, J.G., Rosser, N.J., Hardy, R.J. & Brain, M.J. (2020). The Importance of Monitoring Interval for Rockfall Magnitude-Frequency Estimation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 124(12): 2841-2853.
• Robinson, TR, Rosser, NJ & Walters, RJ (2019). The spatial and temporal influence of cloud cover on satellite-based emergency mapping of earthquake disasters. Scientific Reports 9: 12455
• Milledge, D.G., Densmore, A.L., Bellugi, D., Rosser, N.J., Watt, J., Li, G. & Oven, K.J. (2019). Simple rules to minimise exposure to coseismic landslide hazard. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 19(4): 837-856.
• Swirad, Z.M., Rosser, N.J. & Brain, M.J. (2019). Identifying mechanisms of shore platform erosion using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 44(8): 1542-1558.
• de Vilder, S.J., Brain, M.J. & Rosser, N.J. (2019). Controls on the geotechnical response of sedimentary rocks to weathering. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 44(10): 1910-1929.
• Robinson, T.R., Rosser, N.J., Densmore, A.L., Oven, K.J., Shrestha, S.N. & Guragain, R. (2018). Use of scenario ensembles for deriving seismic risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(41): E9532–E9541.
• Williams, J. G., Rosser, N. J., Hardy, R. J., Brain, M. J. & Afana, A. A. (2018). Optimising 4-D surface change detection: an approach for capturing rockfall magnitude–frequency. Earth Surface Dynamics 6(1): 101-119.