JustCities Hub - Our Team

Principal Investigator

Dr Niall Dunphy is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Engineering and the Sustainability Institute at University College Cork. He is a transdisciplinary researcher and educator, and he leads the Cleaner Production Promotion Unit, a multi-disciplinary research group working at the intersection of science and engineering with the social sciences and humanities.

Co-Investigators

Dr Alexandra Revez is a Research Fellow at MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine at University College Cork. She is an experienced academic with expertise in Human Geography, Political Science and Community Development. Her research has focused on democratic innovations, social policy, public participation and engaged community science.

Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir is the Director of the Sustainability Institute at and Associate Vice-President of Sustainability delivering on UCC’s ambitious plans as a leading university of sustainability. Over the past 20 years, Brian established energy systems modelling capacity in Ireland and his research has underpinned Irish and EU energy and climate mitigation policies.

Dr Gerard Mullally is a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Department, UCC. He specialises in the areas of environment, community, sustainable development and climate change. Gerard was PI on Imagining 2050, an EPA-funded project working with citizens enabling them to explore and co-develop future visions of, and pathways to, a low carbon and resilient future society.

Researchers

Dr Elizabeth Creed is a Postdoctoral Researcher on the JustCities Hub Project and the CLIMATUDE project. Liz was awarded her doctorate from the Department of Sociology and Criminology (UCC) in 2025. Her research interests include collaborative climate action, energy systems transition, deliberative democracy, climate justice, care ethics and transformational change.

Sadhbh Gaston is a Research Assistant on the JustCities Hub Project. She has experience in art participation practices, population analysis and sustainable urban planning. Gaston holds an MPlan in Planning and Sustainable Development from University College Cork, where she examined the contribution of long term socially engaged artistic projects in public consultation to council development plans and development outcomes.