We are a Transdisciplinary Research Consortium

The Imagining2050 project is hosted by the Environmental Research Institute and CPPU in UCC and the team is composed of highly experienced researchers from diverse backgrounds with a combination of researchers from University College Cork and Queens University Belfast. We hope to make use of this expertise to develop a more unified vision,which links different strands of science with various community and local perspectives. Please see more detail below about our team members.

Dr Gerard Mullally: Gerard is the lead coordinator of the Imagining2050 Project. He is a Sociology lecturer in UCC. He is involved in a numbers of projects, which include role as co-PI with 'Climate Change, Behaviour and Community Response' (EPA); and ENTRUST (H2020). Gerard is a member of Earth System Governance Working Group on Conceptual Foundations: Environmental Policy Integration (EPI). He is involved in International advisory boards: Innovation: European Journal Social Science Research; Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. Former editor Irish Journal of Sociology; advisory committee Cross Border Research on Local Agenda 21 (Centre for Cross-Border Studies, 2002-3), Director, Cork Environmental Forum (2000-3), coordinator University Wide Module: Sustainability (Education for Sustainability based on the SDG’s).

Prof John Barry:  John is a Professor Green Political Economy, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics in Queen's University Belfast.  His research includes: green politics, political economy of low carbon energy transition and resilient societies, post-growth economics and democratic and ethical dimensions of sustainability and climate change.  Funded projects: UK's ESRC; Irish EPA; NI Environment and Heritage Service - renewable energy and social acceptance, mapping low carbon transition and devising decision-making tools for policy-makers on sustainability in Ireland.

Prof Edmond Byrne: Edmond is a Professor Process & Chemical Engineering in UCC. He is the co-editor of Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability; co-PI, ‘Sustainability in Society’. Edmond is Member, Scientific Committee: Engineering Education for Sustainable Development; he is also co-recipient Richard Trevithick Prize (2015), Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability; global recognition Institution of Chemical Engineers ‘Sustainability Teaching Award’, 2017.

Prof Geraint Ellis: Gerain is Professor/ Chair of Environmental Planning, Director of Research (Sustainable Built Environment), School of Built and Natural Environment - Queen's University, Belfast. He researches energy, health, environmental governance & marine issues. Grant funding includes: national/international bodies on energy issues: Brazil (ESRC), Denmark (Danish Council for Strategic Research), Canada (Social Science and Humanities Research Council) and Ireland (EPA).  Co-editor; Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning and Irish expert on the International Energy Agency’s Task 28 working group on social acceptance of wind energy.

Prof Brian Ó Gallachóir: Professor, Energy Policy and Modelling, ERI/School of Engineering- UCC; lead Principal Investigator Climate Lab; Science Foundation Ireland (SFI’s) MaREI energy and marine-based research, development and innovation hub. Elected chair of the Executive Committee for IEA’s Technology Collaboration Programme on Energy Systems Modelling (IEA-ETSAP). Research on building/ using integrated energy systems models to inform energy and climate change mitigation policy. Member, Ireland’s Gas Innovation Group and the Steering Group of Energy Cork, an industry-driven cluster pursuing coordinated actions to strengthen enterprise and employment within the energy sector in the Cork region.

Dr Niall Dunphy: Niall is the director of Cleaner Production Promotion Unit (CPPU). Scientific lead: Energy System Transition through Stakeholder Activation, Education and Skills development (ENTRUST), a €3.48m H2020 project exploring the “Human factor in the energy system”; partner and PI on NewTREND, a €5.73m H2020 project developing Innovative participatory design tools for refurbishing buildings. Research interests: sustainability of socio-technical systems; participatory processes; human factors of sustainability; sustainable business configurations.

Dr Clodagh Harris: Clodagh is Head of the Government & Politics Department in UCC; she us co-PI, -ENTRUST; member International Scientific Advisory board ‘We the Citizens’, Ireland’s 1^st Citizens’ Assembly (June 2011), International observer Belgium’s G1000 Citizens’ Summit (November 2011). Member Irish Constitutional Convention’s Academic and Legal Advisory Group (2012-2014). Interests: deliberative democratic theory, practice incl. mini-publics & democratic innovations.

Dr Barry O’ Dwyer: Barry is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, MaREI, PI: Climate Information Platform for Ireland and Urb-ADAPT (Large Urban Area Adaptation); Work Package Leader - ERANET 4CS/ Clim2POWER.  He has supported the development of adaptation plans for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Dr Paul Bolger: Paul is the manager of Environmental Research Institute (ERI); coordinator; Climate Lab-UCC, holds a PhD in Chemistry from Queen’s University Belfast and an M.B.A. Paul was a US Environmental Protection Agency Research Fellow on novel electrochemical technologies for recycling metals in industrial wastewater and worked as R&D manager in Bord na Mόna, Environmental Ltd.  Paul was co-PI on an EPA Climate Technology project (2013-2015) and is currently co-PI on EPA-funded NEWTRIENTS project valorising dairy industry wastewater in a circular economy approach.

Dr James Glynn: James is a research fellow in energy systems modelling and policy at the MaREI centre, with a PhD in energy systems, an M.Sc in renewable energy systems, M.A. in environmental economic modelling and a B.Eng. in mechanical engineering. He is an expert TIMES user and developer of both Irish-TIMES and the global IEA ETSAP TIMES Integrated Assessment model (ETSAP-TIAM). He is part of the global ETSAP-TIAM developers group exploring novel developments in TIMES integrated energy system modelling, including high performance computing, climate interactions with the energy system, methods for model uncertainty using monte-carlo analysis and hybrid methods linking energy systems models with macroeconomic models to understanding the macroeconomic impacts of decarbonising the energy system. He is an EU-commission invited expert in TIMES. His most recent publications explore zero carbon energy system pathways for Ireland consistent with the Paris Agreement and the impact of local air pollution on equitable global decarbonisation. He is leading an international research project exploring the role of carbon capture and storage in global Integrated Assessment models. He is recently embarking on a project to build a new global TIMES Integrated Assessment model in conjunction with Tsinghua University Beijing and Peking University Beijing. He on the steering group for the development of ESRI’s I3E-COSMO environmental macroeconomic model, and collaborates on multiple international energy-climate networks including the International Energy Agency energy technology systems analysis programme (IEA-ETSAP), the Integrated Assessment Modelling Consortium (IAMC) and JPI-Climate.

Dr Fionn Rogan: Fionn is a lecturer and researcher in energy systems modelling, School of Engineering and MaREI Centre, UCC. He has developed and used energy systems models and worked with a range of stakeholders (government departments, large industry, SMEs, and NGOs) to explore future low carbon pathways for Ireland. He is also interested in energy technology innovation, and how technology and society co-evolve over time

Dr Stephen Flood: Senior Postdoctoral Researcher, MaREI. Stephen's research is focused on resilience, climate services and indicator development, climate change adaptation governance, vulnerability assessment and hazard management. He is currently working on EU Intereg funded Collaborative Learning Initiative Managing and Adapting to The Environment (CLIMATE). This multi-agency multi-disciplinary project is working towards developing climate change adaptation plans at a local and regional government level. Previous to his appointment at UCC Stephen worked as an environmental social scientist at Landcare Research in Wellington and as a postdoctoral fellow at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, at Victoria University of Wellington. His research in New Zealand was focused on climate change adaptation governance, coastal management and serious games. 

Ms Amy Dozier: Amy is a Research Assistant at the MaREI Centre focused on science communication and visual research. Amy provides support for a number of EU-funded projects, including Ecostructure, Clim2Power, JONAS, and OceanWise. She brings visual design and communications experience to the dissemination of research for various audiences, aiming to improve the accessibility of information for citizens and policymakers. Amy’s primary interest is in creating visual engagement materials to improve environmental literacy.

Dr Alexandra Revez: Alexandra is a Senior Post Doctoral Researcher with Imagining2050 (2018-2021).  Her work has concentrated on key public participation issues linked to environmental, disaster management and social care policy. This has involved collaborative engagements among communities to re-imagine local services, give voice to different community groups and address the diverse range of needs and expectations from specific socio-demographic and economic backgrounds.  Previous research has included: ENTRUST (2015-2018) focused on exploring the social dimensions of the energy system across different European communities, the  3-Cities (2013-2015) focused on collaborative evaluation and development of community services in urban neighbourhoods, for people with disabilities, older people and children, ANDROID (2012-2015) concerned with promoting interdisciplinarity in disaster research in a European context and Community Participation in Flood management in Ireland (2009-2014) focused on assessing community capacities and vulnerabilities to address flooding in urban and rural areas in Ireland.

Mr Connor McGookin: Connor is pursuing a PhD in the MaREI Centre funded project “Facilitating Ireland’s low carbon transition through the development of new societal and energy system frameworks”. Connors’ primary research goal is to explore means of encouraging more active stakeholder engagement with the low carbon transition. In particular, investigating how new approaches to energy system modelling may give greater consideration to the values and perceptions of stakeholders from outside the energy industry such as businesses, NGOs and members of the public. He is also a member of the ‘Dingle 2030’ transdisciplinary research team in collaboration with a number of stakeholders, to explore, support and enable the broader societal changes required for transition of the Dingle peninsula to a vibrant and sustainable future.

Mr Evan Boyle: Evan is a PhD researcher in the Energy Policy and Modelling Group, ERI and the Sociology Department, UCC. Using action research methods for social network analysis, his research is investigating  a multi-stakeholder approach to the socio-technical transition to a low-carbon society in a regional context. Evan is also involved in tutorial work through the Sociology Department, UCC, with a current focus on social theory.

Ms Alida Volkmer: Alida is a PhD candidate at University College Cork where she is researching financial aspects of the low-carbon energy transition. She is also part of an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Initial Training Network for early stage researchers called MISTRAL, which investigates dimensions of social acceptance for on-shore wind energy. Alida’s background lies in psychology. She holds a MSC from Leiden University and a BSc from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Ms Senni Määttä: Senni is a Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher in EU-funded MISTRAL Innovative Training Network and a PhD Student at Queen's University Belfast. Her research looks into the power dynamics and social acceptance in the field of renewable energy. Her educational background is in Social and Public Policy, in which she has a master's degree from the University of Eastern Finland.

Mr Robert Wade: Robert is a PhD candidate and Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher at Queen’s University Belfast as part of the MISTRAL European Training Network on Renewable Energy and Social Acceptance. His research looks at the influence of the political economy of renewable energy on low-carbon transition dynamics. He is also an Early Stage Researcher within the 'Renewables' working group of EU Horizon 2020 Energy-SHIFTS Project (Energy Social sciences & Humanities Innovation Forum Targeting the SET-Plan.

Mr Alex Miller: Alex is an interdisciplinary research and policy professional with experience in water, energy, and environmental policy. He is currently a Maria Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow and PhD Student at Queen's University Belfast. where he conducts research on the politics of the low carbon trabsition. Alex is an Early Stage Researcher under the EU-funded MISTRAL project, which examines the social acceptance of renewable energy systems. He holds an MSc from the University of Oxford and a BA Hons. from St. Francis Xavier University.