Professor Patrick Hesp was born in Hawera, in the Taranaki region, New Zealand. He completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees at Massey University in New Zealand, and his Ph.D. in coastal geomorphology at the University of Sydney in 1982. He was awarded a DSc from Massey University in 2013. He has held academic positions in NSW, Western Australia, Singapore, USA, and NZ, non-academic positions in the WA State Dept. of Agriculture, Geomarine P/L, and the Rottnest Island Authority, held visiting professorships and fellowships in South Africa, Namibia, Israel, Holland, China, Brazil, Italy, Malaysia, Thailand, and France, and has worked on beaches and coastal and desert dunes all over the world. He is an expert on coastal dune geomorphology, and has published over 270 articles in his career to date.

• Aeolian geomorphology
• Coastal dune initiation, dynamics, geomorphology, ecology and management
• Desert dune geomorphology and dynamics
• Surfzone-beach-dune interactions
• Coastal dune archaeology