Academic biography

I am an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University and Director of the DCU Institute for Climate and Society. I hold an MPhil and DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from the University of Oxford. My research focuses on climate change politics, policy, and governance.

I am coordinator of the Horizon Europe project RETOOL: Strengthening democratic governance for climate transitions, and I lead DCU's participation in the Research Ireland funded Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water. I was a coordinator author of Ireland's first Climate Change Assessment Report, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency. I co-led the development of Volume 4, which focused on Realising the benefits of transition and transformation.

My research has been published in leading international peer reviewed academic journals, including Energy Policy, Global Environmental Politics, Climate Policy, Environmental Politics, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, Journal of Common Market Studies, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, and Politics and Governance, among others.

I welcome applications from prospective research students interested in climate change politics and governance at national, European, and global levels. 

I am an independent expert member of Ireland's Just Transition Commission, and also an independent expert member of the National Economic and Social Council. I am also a member of the Executive Group of the All Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network,the Expert Working Group on Sustainability of Chartered Accountants Ireland, the Net Zero Working Group of the Royal Irish Academy, and the Climate Change and Biodiversity Advisory Group of Community Foundation Ireland. I am also a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project.