University appoints senior academic to drive marine autonomy innovation and collaboration

Professor Matthew Palmer will join the University in mid-June

Professor Matthew Palmer has been working in the marine autonomy sector for more than two decades and will officially join the sa��ʴ�ý as its new Professor of Marine Autonomy and Environmental Intelligence in June

University appoints senior academic to drive marine autonomy innovation and collaboration

Professor Matthew Palmer will join the University in mid-June

Mr Alan Williams

Media and Communications Manager

Corporate Communications (Marketing and Communications)

27 May 2026

The sa��ʴ�ý has appointed one the UK and Europe’s leading experts in autonomous systems as its new Professor of Marine Autonomy and Environmental Intelligence. Professor Matthew Palmer has been working in the sector for more than two decades and will officially join the University in June.

He will be based within the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, but will collaborate with staff across disciplines that span defence, cyber security, environmental science, maritime technology, systems engineering and much more. His role will also see him continuing to work closely with local, national and global industry leaders, SMEs and policy makers, maintaining the strong stakeholder engagement role he has managed across science and engineering throughout his entire career.

Professor Palmer, who grew up in North Devon, returns to the University a quarter of a century after he graduated from its BSc (Hons) Ocean Science degree programme.

He will start work on Monday 15 June, during the week when the University hosts one of the South West marine autonomy industry’s primary events – the 2026 Ocean Tech Expo. His appointment also comes at a critical time for the UK’s marine autonomy sector, and especially for Plymouth following its designation as the National Centre for Marine Autonomy (NCMA).

I am incredibly excited to be returning to the sa��ʴ�ý.

It is a time of enormous opportunity to successfully embed next generation capability within marine and maritime systems for everyone connected to marine autonomy, whether it’s here in Plymouth – home of the National Centre for Marine Autonomy – or at national and international levels.

The University has a critical role to play in helping establish the NCMA and enabling it to meet its potential, by focusing our expertise and facilities in ways that benefit our partners in industry, R&D and defence, while also inspiring and training future generations of the marine autonomy workforce. I intend to use my experience and networks to elevate the influence and impact of that work, and am looking forward to working with existing and new colleagues to make that a reality.

Professor Matthew Palmer

Much of Professor Palmer’s research is centred around measuring and understanding the impacts of mixing and non-linear dynamics on our seas, including how they influence sound propagation, air-sea exchange, ocean health and the seabed. He has a broad leadership portfolio including ambitious projects focused on establishing persistent presence with autonomy, developing AI-enabled Digital Twins of the Ocean, offshore wind impacts, and defence sector applications.

He has spent the past four years at Plymouth Marine Laboratory as part of the organisation’s senior leadership team, where he established the Environmental Intelligence group. Before this, Matthew served three years as Chief Scientist of the UK Marine Autonomous & Robotic Systems (MARS) facility, advising on the development and community adoption of over 50 autonomous robotic systems. It was the last chapter of 15 years at the National Oceanography Centre.

Throughout his career, Matthew has regularly provided advice and evidence on the potential for autonomous and digital systems to transform marine monitoring to regional and national government bodies and agencies.

He has sat on numerous steering and advisory committees to UK government departments and international bodies as an expert on the potential of autonomous technologies, and the role they can play in improving the sustainability and success of marine and broader environmental monitoring.

Those roles have included chairing the UK Integrated Marine Observing Network (IMON), and he is a current steering committee member for the UN Decade programme on Digital Twins of the Ocean (DITTO).

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Mr Alan Williams

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