Brendan O'Sullivan

Brendan O’Sullivan, a chartered planner with a civil engineering and urban design background, was educated at UCC and the University of Edinburgh. A native of Cork city, he has more than thirty years’ experience of urban and rural planning both in Ireland and abroad. He has also worked as a civil engineer with a UK consulting firm and spent two periods of overseas development work (in Sri Lanka and in The Gambia) as a planner and lecturer.  In recent years he has headed up the Planning Policy Unit of Cork County Council which prepared the 2003 County Development Plan (the first major plan in Ireland under the new Planning and Development Act 2000).

Brendan was part of the working / steering groups on a range of major planning initiatives and has led multidisciplinary planning projects covering subjects such as coastal zone management, stakeholder dialogue, planning for wind energy, and technical training. He also has experience of managing EU funded planning projects (LIFE, OUVERTURE, ALTENER) including the Bantry Bay Coastal Zone Charter in 2000.  Both the Charter and the 2003 Cork CDP were overall winners of the Irish National Planning Achievement Award.

His teaching and research interests include topics such as planning theory, dialogues in sustainability, evolution of settlement planning, mediation and consensus building in planning, landscape and planning, forward planning practice, the use of spatial planning data, planning in rural areas and planning in developing countries.  Currently, he is a member of the technical and Education Committe of the Irish Planning Institute, and visiting academic at the Department of Géoarchitecture at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest.

Brendan is also Senior Lecturer in the UCC Department of Geography.

For further information about Brendan O'Sullivan's work. 

Dr Karen Ray

BA MPlan PhD MIPI MILI

Karen Ray is a qualified planner and specialist in landscape management, planning and assessment. Following on from a B.A. in English and Geography from UCC, she became a graduate of the foundation MPlan programme in 2008 and has since worked in both academic and professional practice.

After completing the first doctoral degree in Planning and Sustainable Development at UCC, she worked as a planning and landscape/environmental consultant in the multi-disciplinary built environment firm Brady Shipman Martin, coordinating large-scale projects for public and private sectors.

Throughout the years, Karen has been involved in a wide range of projects throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, from strategic contexts to detailed design, including: renewable/bio energy; major flood defence; forestry; mineral extraction wildlife/nature appraisal; cultural/built heritage appraisal; and tourism and recreation. Before leaving the private sector at the end of 2017 she was project coordinator for national guidance documents on landscape and visual assessment for linear transport infrastructure commissioned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Since 2011 Karen has contributed to lecturing for the MPlan programme, mainly as course coordinator for module PD6210: Landscape Character, Context and Change, and in the development of a new MA in Landscape, Built Heritage and Design. She has contributed to lecturing/field weeks within the Department of Geography, UCC.

Her teaching and research interests broadly relate to decision-making for landscape and environment; landscape and place values; discourses around renewable energy; planning in coastal environments; day-to-day procedural processes; conflict and power relations in the planning arena; communication and observation skills.  

Karen holds corporate membership of both the Irish Planning Institute and the Irish Landscape Institute.

For further information about Dr Karen Ray's work.

Jeanette Fitzsimons

BA MRUP MSc(Urban Design)

Jeanette has a BA (Geography and English) from UCC, a Masters in Regional and Urban Planning from UCD and a Masters of Science (Urban Design) from UCD. She is a corporate member of the Irish Planning Institute.

Jeanette has over ten years’ professional experience working as a senior urban designer and senior urban planner in multi-disciplinary consultancies in both Ireland and New Zealand and she joined the Centre for Planning Education and Research as a Lecturer in November 2017. 

Jeanette's professional work included researching medium density housing for both the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment and for the Queenstown and Lakes District Council. She has worked on the redevelopment designs of Christchurch City and surrounding towns following the devasting earthquakes in 2011. She has presented expert evidence at New Zealand Environment Court, Council Hearings and Mediation meetings. Jeanette has experience in facilitating public consultation workshop and events in New Zealand and in Ireland.

In Ireland, Jeanette's experience includes preparation planning applications and Environmental Impact Statements for Docklands, mixed use and retail projects. She was in a team who prepared recreational needs studies for Limerick and Galway.

Jeanette's teaching and research interests include: Participatory Planning and public consultation, Urban Design, Placemaking, Development Management Skills, Studies of International Planning Practices, Sports facility and park provision and the temporary use of spaces for placemaking. 

Jeanette represents the planning school on the Community Engagement committee within the College of Arts Celtic Studies and Social Sciences in UCC and on the Technical and Educational Committee within the Irish Planning Institute.

Jeanette is also on the staff of the UCC Department of Applied Social Studies. 

For further information about Jeanette Fitzsimons' work.

Dr Dan McCarthy

• McCarthy, D.D.P.; Daly, C.A.; Davies Post, A.; Donald, G.; L’Hommecourt, J.; Arrobo, B.; Hill, G. 2025. Shifting the Burden: Corporate Indigenous Relations and How They Can Go Wrong. Systems, 13, 452.
• Cooper K.J., McIntyre D.G., McCarthy, D.D.P., 2024. “Cultivating Pearls of Wisdom: Creating Protected Niche Spaces for Inner Transformations amidst the Metacrisis”. Challenges 2024, 15, 10.
• Daly C.A., Grandjambe R., L’Hommecourt J., Donald G., Arrobo B., Gerlach SC., McCarthy D.D.P., McIntyre D.G., 2025. “Reclaiming homeland - An evaluation of traditional land use planning in oils sands mine closure and reclamation plans”. Resources Policy, Volume 103.
• Lazurko A., Moore M-L, Haider L.J., West S., McCarthy D.D.P., 2025. “Reflexivity as a transformative capacity for sustainability science: introducing a critical systems approach”. Global Sustainability 8, e1, 1–15.

For further information about Dr Dan McCarthy's work.

Dr Jacopo Turini