PhD defence
PhD defence by Nurul Huda
Nurul Huda will defend his PhD thesis, “Scale Modelling of Trawl Seabed Interaction”.
On Wednesday, 26 August 2026, at 11.00, Nurul Huda from DTU Aqua will defend his PhD thesis, “Scale Modelling of Trawl Seabed Interaction”.
You can follow the defence online on Teams or in person at DTU Aqua, Atriumsalen, Willemoesvej 2, 9850 Hirtshals.
Nurul Huda’s PhD research focuses on improving the testing of trawl designs before they are fully developed for commercial use. The aim of his research is to improve ability to predict how trawls interact with the seabed, thereby helping to limit seabed disturbance, reduce fuel consumption, and lower the risk of gear loss.
During the early stages of the design process, it is common practice to conduct small-scale tests using trawl models in flume tanks. However, current testing methods do not realistically capture how fishing gear interacts with the seabed under actual fishing conditions.To address this challenge, Nurul Huda’s research has developed a more realistic flume tank testing framework. His research explores which gear components are most vulnerable to snagging on seabed obstacles, how seabed type and ground gear weight influence towing resistance and trawl geometry, and which modelling approaches best reproduce real seafloor conditions.
Nurul Hudas's PhD project is part of the research project "Reducing Environmental Impact and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Commercial Fisheries (RightFish)" funded by the H2020 Blue Bioeconomy ERA-NET COFUND (BlueBio).
Examiners
- Dr. Camille Saurel, DTU Aqua (chair)
- Dr. Hans Polet, ILVO, Belgium
- Professor Ana Ivanovic, Aberdeen University, UK
Chair of defence
- Dr. Valentina Melli, DTU Aqua
Supervisors
- Principal Supervisor: Professor Barry O’Neill, DTU Aqua
- Co-supervisor: Dr. Emilio Notti, Italian National Research Council, Italy
- Co-supervisor: Dr. Jens Peter Kofoed, SINTEF, Denmark
Learn more
A copy of the thesis is available for reading at DTU Aqua. Please contact PhD Coordinator Susan Zumbach Johannesen, szjo@aqua.dtu.dk