Rob Brander, whose nickname is Dr Rip , is a coastal geomorphologist, surf safety educator and Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He has been studying beaches and surf zones for 20 years and received his BSc and MSc at the University of Toronto. His PhD on the morphodynamics of rip currents was completed at the University of Sydney in 1997.