I am Assistant Professor in Environmental Systems in Dublin City University’s School of History and Geography where I lecture on the newly formed Climate and Environmental Sustainability course. I teach a variety of modules including Spatial Analysis, Environmental Systems and Hydrology. I also teach Advanced Environmental Geography as part of the BA - Joint Honors final year program.
I currently lead the EPA funded FARM-NC project, collaborating with Trinity College Dublin, and the Research Ireland funded Valuing Natural Capital in Communities for Health (VNiC-Health) project, collaborating with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to understand and quantify the many benefits we get from blue and green spaces in our towns and cities.
In 2016 I received a PhD from Imperial College London where I worked as a Research Associate until 2021. My main research interests surround understanding the many complex links and feedbacks between the human and natural environments. This involves spending time with a wide variety of stakeholders including farmers, property developers, NGO’s, City Councils and regulatory bodies.
Previous research projects focus on understanding the intersections between development (urban and rural) and natural capital. I explore how natural capital and nature-based solutions can improve the lives of stakeholders while enhancing resilience to environmental and societal change.
My work also focuses on understanding the challenges faced and opportunities available to water users, particularly in developing regions of the world. I have extensive field experience and use real world insights to develop modelling tools for improving understanding and testing potential solutions. I have previously worked on NERC and Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences funded projects collaborating with researchers in the UK and India, examining water management in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. I have also helped develop the WISA (Water Initiative South Asia) network in collaboration with the British Council, connecting a wide variety of researchers, policy makers and industry specialists from the UK, South Asia and the Middle East.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Maya Clinton; Felix Sinnott; Brasislav Kaletta; Stephen Campbell; Angel Harper; Jolanta Burke; Jimmy O'Keeffe (2026) 'Valuing urban natural capital for health and resilience: a stakeholder-informed system dynamics model for Dublin'. Environmental Science: Advances, 23 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2026.100683 | |
| 2026 | Shaan Al Ghanim; Branislav Kaleta; Stephen Campbell; Jimmy O’Keeffe; Jolanta Burke (2026) 'Nature’s heart: a scoping review of the impact of nature-based interventions for cardiovascular and metabolic disease'. American Journal of Public Health, 47 (3):499-510. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdaf074 | |
| 2025 | Branislav Kaleta; Stephen Campbell; Jimmy O'Keeffe; Jolanta Burke (2025) 'Nature-based interventions: a systematic review of reviews'. Frontiers in Psychology, 16 (2025). [Link] https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1625294 | |
| 2025 | William A. Veness, Nancy Balfour, Jimmy O'Keeffe, Wouter Buytaert (2025) 'Humanitarian management of drought needs better water security data'. Disasters, 49 (3). [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Mijic, A.; Liu, L.; O’Keeffe, J.; Dobson, B.; Chun, K. P. (2024) 'A meta-model of socio-hydrological phenomena for sustainable water management'. Nature Sustainability, . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2023 | Jolanta Burke, Darren Clarke, Jimmy O'Keeffe, Trudy Meehan (2023) 'The Impact of Blue and Green Spaces on Wellbeing: A Review of Reviews through a Positive Psychology Lens. Journal of Happiness and Health'. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3 (2). https://doi.org/10.47602/johah.v3i2.48 | |
| 2022 | Hinson, C.; O’Keeffe, J.; Mijic, A.; Bryden, J.; Van Grootveld, J. (2022) 'Using natural capital and ecosystem services to facilitate participatory environmental decision making: Results from a systematic map'. Humans and Nature, . https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10317 | |
| 2022 | O'Keeffe, J.; Pluchinotta, I.; De Stercke, S.; Hinson, C.; Puchol-Salort, P.; Mijic, A.; Zimmermann, N.; Collins, A.M. (2022) 'Evaluating natural capital performance of urban development through system dynamics: A case study from London'. Science of the Total Environment, 824 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Lapworth, D.J.; Ó Dochartaigh, B.; Nair, T.; O'Keeffe, J.; Krishan, G.; MacDonald, A.M.; Khan, M.; Kelkar, N.; Choudhary, S.; Krishnaswamy, J.; Jackson, C.R. (2021) 'Characterising groundwater-surface water connectivity in the lower Gandak catchment, a barrage regulated biodiversity hotspot in the mid-Gangetic basin'. Journal of Hydrology, 594 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 | Puchol-Salort, P.; O'Keeffe, J.; van Reeuwijk, M.; Mijic, A. (2021) 'An urban planning sustainability framework: Systems approach to blue green urban design'. Sustainable Cities and Society, 66 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2020 | O'Keeffe, J.; Moulds, S.; Scheidegger, J.M.; Jackson, C.R.; Nair, T.; Mijic, A. (2020) 'Isolating the impacts of anthropogenic water use within the hydrological regime of north India'. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2018 | O'Keeffe, J.; Moulds, S.; Bergin, E.; Brozović, N.; Mijic, A.; Buytaert, W. (2018) 'Including Farmer Irrigation Behavior in a Sociohydrological Modeling Framework With Application in North India'. Water Resources Research, 54 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2016 | O'Keeffe, J.; Buytaert, W.; Mijic, A.; Brozovic, N.; Sinha, R. (2016) 'The use of semi-structured interviews for the characterisation of farmer irrigation practices'. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 20 . [Link] [DOI] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jimmy O'Keeffe; Darren Clarke; Jolanta Burke; Trudy Meehan (2022) Evaluating intangible assets, services, and their associated benefits in the Group Water Scheme sector. National Federation of Group Water Schemes, . [Link] |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Giuliano Di Baldassarre; Yongping Wei; Sina Khatami; Marlies Barendrecht; James S. Famiglietti; Li Xu; Pieter van Oel; Jimmy O'Keeffe; Elisa Savelli; Nura Jafar Shanono (2026) 'Systems thinking: phenomena and archetypes' In: Coevolution and Prediction of Coupled Human-Water Systems A Sociohydrologic Synthesis of Change. London : Elsevier. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-41736-8.00011-7 | |
| 2026 | Pedro Medeiros; Xi Chen; Christophe Cudennec; Mohammad Ghoreishi; Thushara Gunda; Suxia Liu; Landon Marston; Jimmy O'Keeffe; Julio Iván González Piedra; Mahendran Roobavannan; Murugesu Sivapalan; Pieter van Oel; Y.C. Ethan Yang; Sam Zipper (2026) 'Agricultural human-water systems' In: Coevolution and Prediction of Coupled Human-Water Systems A Sociohydrologic Synthesis of Change. London : Elsevier. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-41736-8.00009-9 | |
| 2024 | Jolanta Burke, Darren Clarke, Jimmy O’Keeffe (2024) 'Greening the Mind: The Power of Integrating Positive and Environmental Education for Improving Well-Being' In: Handbook of Positive School Psychology. Advances in Mental Health and Addiction. Berlin : Springer. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54295-4_10 |
Conference Contribution
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Felix Sinnott, Jimmy O'Keeffe, Maya Clinton, Jolanta Burke, Stephen Campbell, Branislav Kaleta, and Angel Harper (2025) European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 (EGU24) Integrating Natural Capital into Urban Policy: A Systems Approach to Addressing Global Climate and Biodiversity Challenges Vienna, Austria, . https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9354 | |
| 2025 | Jimmy O'Keeffe Felix Sinnott Maya Clinton Stephen Campbell Branislav Kaleta Angel Harper Jolanta Burke (2025) European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2025 Valuing Natural Capital in Communities for Health Vienna, Austria, . https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9346 | |
| 2025 | Maya Clinton; Felix Sinnott; Angel Harper; Branislav Kaleta; Stephen Campbell; Jolanta Burke; Jimmy O'Keeffe (2025) European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2025 The Impact of Urban Greenspace Changes Using a Systems Thinking Approach and Interactive Tools Vienna, Austria, . | |
| 2024 | O'Keeffe, Jimmy; Burke, Jolanta; Kaleta, Branislav; Campbell, Stephen; O'Connell, Cathal (2024) European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 (EGU24) Valuing Natural Capital in Communities for Health Vienna, Austria, . [DOI] | |
| 2024 | Isha Smiti Thakur; Susan Hegarty; Jimmy O'Keeffe (2024) European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 (EGU24) Utilising a system dynamics framework to investigate socio-environmental impacts of hydropower in the upper Brahmaputra basin Vienna, Austria, . https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-674, 2024 | |
| 2024 | Smiti Thakur, Isha; Hegarty, Susan; O'Keeffe, Jimmy (2024) European Geophysical Union Utilising a system dynamics framework to investigate socio-environmental impacts of hydropower in the upper Brahmaputra basin Vienna, Austria, . [DOI] |
Research Interests
Natural Capital
Ecosystem Services
Nature Based Solutions
Systems Thinking and Systems Modelling
Water Resources
Human-Natural Environment Interactions