People

Centre Director

Dr. David Robbins, Director

Dr. David Robbins

Dave is an assistant professor in the School of Communications at DCU.

His research examines media coverage of climate change, and the intersection of the press, politics and policy.

Centre Co-Directors

DCU Centre for Climate - Diarmuid Torney

Dr. Diarmuid Torney, Co-Director

Dr. Diarmuid Torney

Diarmuid is an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at DCU.

His research focuses on comparative and global politics of climate change, environment, and energy.

Prof. Pat Brereton, Co-Director

Prof. Pat Brereton

Pat is an eminent scholar of eco-cinema and other cultural responses to the environment.

He is the author of Environmental Literacy and New Digital Audiences (Routledge, 2019), and Environmental Ethics and Film (Routledge, 2015), as well as many other journal articles and book chapters.

Centre Staff

Ms Stephanie McDonald

Stephanie McDonald

Stephanie is our centre co-ordinator, and manages the day-to-day operations of the centre, including finance, events, and communications. Stephanie has diverse experience working on climate change, food security and public health policy in the non-profit sector in Canada, Tanzania and Ireland.

Dr Brenda McNally

Dr. Brenda McNally

Brenda is a postdoctoral researcher with the Centre and a Fulbright Ireland Scholar. She has completed research projects on community engagement with coastal climate adaptation, citizen perceptions of climate actions and news media representations of low carbon transition.

Roberta Ragucci

Roberta obtained a BA in Cultural Mediation from Udine University in Italy. Following this, she completed a joint master degree in European Studies in Uppsala University in Sweden and Udine University in Italy. She is now enrolled in the master in International Relations in Dublin City University, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and MENA politics and development. She is an intern with the Centre for Climate and Society.

DCU Members

Dr. Declan Fahy

Declan is Chair of the BA in Journalism in the School of Communications at DCU.

He is an associate professor who researches the public communication of science, health, environment and technology.

Dr. Susan Hegarty

Susan is a geographer and Associate Professor in the School of History and Geography. Her research and teaching looks at the relationship between humans and the physical landscape, and focuses on how human activities can influence water quality.

Dr. Trish Morgan

Trish is an assistant professor in the school of Communications at Dublin City University.

Her research is concerned with the systemic aspects of the environmental crisis, and the communication of these multiple environmental issues.

Dr. Dawn Wheatley

Dawn is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications focusing on journalism, political communication, and social media. She received her PhD in 2018 for her research into news coverage of Irish healthcare policy, with a particular emphasis on sources and voices, and how newsroom practices are established and reproduced.

Dr. Danny Marks

Danny is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Politics and Policy in the School of Law and Government of Dublin City University. Prior to this position, he was an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the Department of Asian and International Studies of City University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Aideen O'Dochartaigh

Dr O’Dochartaigh joined the DCU Business School in September 2020 as Assistant Professor in Accounting. Prior to this she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the UCD College of Business and the BiOrbic Bioeconomy Centre, specialising in sustainability accounting and responsible business.

Dr. Markus Pauli

Markus is a Lecturer in Political Science in the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University. He teaches modules on Public Policy Analysis and the Politics of Climate Change.

Dr. Darren Clarke

Darren is an environmental geographer with research interests in the social and governance aspects of climate change/environmental change and in environmental psychology.

Dr. Marina Efthymiou

Marina works for the DCU Business School as an Associate Professor in Aviation Management and specialises in sustainable aviation. Prior to joining academic, she worked for EUROCONTROL – the International Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation based in Brussels.

Dr. Ben Mallon

Ben is Assistant Professor in Geography and Citizenship Education in the School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University.

Dr. Goran Dominioni

Goran Dominioni is an Assistant Professor in Law and works primarily on climate change law & policy. He is particularly interested in the design of climate change policies – especially carbon pricing – to increase their mitigation effects, their compatibility with international law, and their public acceptability.

Dr. Fiachra Ó Brolcháin

Dr. Fiachra O'Brolchain

Fiachra obtained a BA in Philosophy and English from University College Dublin. Following this, he completed a Masters in Film Studies in UCD. After working in an academic publishing company, he obtained his doctorate from the school of Politics, International Studies, and Philosophy Queens University Belfast in 2009.

Dr. Sandeep Rao

Sandeep is an Assistant Professor of Finance in the DCU Business School. He researches in the area of Sustainable corporate finance, and the impact of climate change on corporations. Read more.

Dr. Orlagh Reynolds

Orlagh is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship with DCU Business School. She has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher on Science Foundation Ireland and Interreg Europe funded projects in University College Dublin and NUI Galway.

Dr. Pádraig Murphy

Dr. Pádraig Murphy is Associate Professor in Communication at Dublin City University and Chair of the MSc in Science and Health Communication programme.

Dr. Jimmy O'Keeffe

Jimmy is a Geographer and Hydrologist who uses social science and systems modelling to better understand our place in the built and natural world.

Dr. Tadhg O'Mahony

Dr. Tadhg O’Mahony is a Research Fellow with the Centre, working on the EPA-funded Five Year Assessment Report on Climate Change, specifically Volume 4: Realising the benefits of transition and transformation. He is a systems scientist, futurist and ecological economist, working on transformations to sustainable futures. He has been a researcher and consultant, with over 20 years of experience across academic, governmental and private roles.

Dr. Johannes Karl

Johannes is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at DCU focusing on the bi-directional relationship between human behaviour, emotions, and the natural environment on individual and cultural levels.

Dr. Fabiola Schneider

Fabiola is an Assistant Professor in Finance at the DCU Business School. Her current research revolves around the climate emergency and sustainable transitions. This is complemented with engagement on the European Commission's Platform on Sustainable Finance and co-leading projects on digitization in the field of environmental data.

Dr. Niamh Cullen

Niamh is an Assistant Professor in the School of History and Geography at Dublin City University. Niamh lectures on the new DCU Future's BA in Climate and Environmental Sustainability delivering modules in Marine and Coastal Environments, Environmental Data Analysis, Environmental GIS, Global Climates and a Residential Field Module in Geography. Her research interests include short- and long-term responses of coastal systems and slopes to climate change and extreme events.

Dr. Ellen Howley

Ellen is an Assistant Professor in the School of English. She received her PhD in 2020, for a thesis that examined engagements with the sea in Irish and Caribbean poetry. In 2019, she co-organised the IRC-funded, interdisciplinary workshop 'Planet Ocean', which addressed issues facing on the world's seas and oceans from perspectives across the AHSS-STEM axis. She has research interests in ecocriticism, postcolonialism and poetry studies.

Samantha Fahy

In 2012, Samantha was appointed to ‘Sustainability DCU’ and has led DCU in a series of initiatives including the establishment of the DCU Sustainability Council and the publishing of DCU’s first Climate Action Plan delivering numerous novel and innovative programmes across the institution. Samantha started her career in plasma physics and gained over twenty years of experience in the management and administration of high technology complex multi-stakeholder research projects.

External Members

Dr. Sean Shanagher

Sean Shanagher lectures in Cultural Studies on the Media Production Management degree at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, a linked college to DCU. His research interests focus on alternative food networks, community food systems and climate-friendly agriculture.

Sadhbh O'Neill

Sadhbh O'Neill is a PhD candidate at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin researching climate ethics and carbon trading.

Dr. Victoria Gomez

Victoria holds a Master Degree in Social Policy and Community Mediation from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a PhD in Environmental Communication, awarded by DCU´s School of Communication.

Dr. Roisín Lyons

Roisín is a lecturer of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. She has lectured for over 10 years, in DCU, Dublin and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Prof. Janet Walker

Janet Walker is Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and participating faculty in the campus’s Interdepartmental PhD Emphasis in Environment and Society.

Dr. Jean Léon Boucher

Jean is a senior researcher working on land use and society metabolism at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. Formerly, he worked at DCU on Ireland’s Five-Year Climate Assessment report. As an environmental sociologist, he has focused on people’s attitudes and behavior regarding climate change, the demographics of energy use, and policies to reduce carbon emissions. An interdisciplinarian, Jean holds a PhD in Sociology from George Mason University; a MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso; and a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the University of New Hampshire.

Prof. Peadar Kirby

Prof. Peadar Kirby is Professor Emeritus of International Politics and Public Policy, University of Limerick and a visiting professor at the Universidad de Valencia, Spain. He has lived in Cloughjordan Ecovillage since 2009 where he served on the board of directors from 2015-19 and is currently coordinator of the education programme. His latest books are Karl Polanyi and the Contemporary Global Crisis: Transforming Market Society in the Era of Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2021) and, co-authored with Tadhg O’Mahony, The Political Economy of the Low-Carbon Transition: Pathways Beyond Techno-optimism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). He is currently writing a book entitled Athrú Treo: An Ghaeilge sa Trasnú go Sochaí Iar-Charbóin.

Amalia Gómez-Casillas

Dr. Amalia Gómez-Casillas

Amalia is a demographer working at the Center of Demographics Studies (CED-CERCA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), who firstly specialized in inequalities with a focus on gender issues providing support to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). More recently, she has focused on environmental issues and particularly climate change awareness, taking part in a project funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII) and the Ministry of Environment (MA) in Uruguay.

PhD Students

Rabia Qusien

Rabia Qusien is a PhD candidate at the School of Communications, Dublin City University (DCU). She holds a Master's degree in media and communication studies from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan.

Isha Smiti Thakur

Isha is a PhD candidate at the School of History and Geography, Dublin City University, researching the socio-environmental impact of hydroelectric power projects in the transboundary Brahmaputra river basin. She holds a Master’s degree in geography from King’s College London.

Maeve Howe

Maeve Howe is a PhD candidate at the School of Law and Government, DCU. Her research is on the implementation of Climate Change Action Plans in Irish local government. She holds a Master's degree in Ecological Economics from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

Erica Fox

Erica Fox is a PhD candidate at the School of History and Geography and the School of Communications, Dublin City University. She is researching the impacts of COVID-19 on transport behaviours and Ireland’s climate goals. She holds a Master’s degree in Climate Change from Maynooth University and a Bachelor’s degree in English and Geography from Dublin City University.

Sukanya Shukla

Sukanya Shukla is a PhD candidate at the School of Philosophy, Theology, and Music and the School of Communication and Media Studies at Dublin City University. Her research focuses on the ethics of green nudges as a response to Climate Change. She holds a Master's degree in Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics.

David Chikwaza

David Chikwaza is a PhD candidate at the School of History and Geography, Dublin City University, researching indigenous knowledge systems in Zimbabwe. He is primarily interested in decolonising climate change adaptation by promoting the epistemologies of the Global South, paying particular attention to natural resource management systems and agriculture.

Jack Campbell

Jack is a PhD candidate in Accounting at the School of Business, Dublin City University. His research seeks to explore the emergence of greenwashing on social media, with particular focus on stakeholders’ online interactions with the oil and gas industry. He holds an MA in Management from the University of St Andrews.

Lughan Deane

Lughan Deane is currently undertaking Irish Research Council funded doctoral research in climate communications at Dublin City University's School of Communications. His research focuses on the signs and placards of the climate strike movement. Lughan has a professional background in public relations and was awarded the Silver Lion in the Cannes Young Lions PR category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2021.

Muhammad Sayyam Afzal

Muhammad Sayyam is a PhD Candidate at the School of Communications, Dublin City University. He is a freelance journalist and research scientist, with a focus on climate change and political communication in Pakistan and globally. In 2021, he was selected among 100 emerging journalists through the British Council's Future News Worldwide programme.

Asma Yaqoob

Asma is a PhD candidate at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Her research primarily comprises of historical analysis of tradeoffs between political economy and ecology in the Indus Basin. Her specialized research area is water management in South Asia with a focus on cross-border water conflicts and human security.

Jeanne Magnetti

Jeanne is a PhD candidate at the School of Philosophy, Theology and Music and the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. Her research focuses on the ethics of carbon pricing. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from University College Dublin and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from SUNY Geneseo.

Anand Kumar

Anand is a PhD candidate in Finance at the School of Business, Dublin City University. His PhD thesis focuses on climate regulation, women's leadership, and corporate financing decisions. More broadly, his research interests revolve around climate risk, corporate governance, and sustainability.