Biography

Professor Marguerite Nyhan is Full Professor of Engineering for Sustainability in the School of Engineering & Architecture at University College Cork. She is also a Research Affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Professor Nyhan’s research aims to advance the science of sustainable cities by harnessing large-scale urban data and AI-based technologies. Her expertise spans urban environmental engineering, urban studies, urban analytics, emissions modelling, air quality modelling, population exposure modelling, environmental epidemiological modelling methods and environmental justice. Prof Nyhan’s is a prolific scholar, and her research has been published in leading academic journals including Nature and Nature Cities. 

Professor Nyhan’s international experience includes working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University in Boston and at the United Nations in New York City. Marguerite has a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and was a Fulbright Scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Nyhan was selected to join the Young Academy Ireland which sits within the Royal Irish Academy in 2026.

As lead Principal Investigator, Professor Nyhan has been awarded over €7 million in funding for both pioneering research projects and innovative educational programmes. Marguerite is lead PI on the Environmental Intelligence project funded by Research Ireland and is lead PI the nationally coordinated Sustainable Futures project funded by the Higher Education Authority. Professor Nyhan established the Sustainable Futures Lab and founded and chairs the Sustainable Futures Forum at University College Cork.

Research Interests

• Professor Nyhan directs the Nyhan Sustainable Futures Lab (research group) which focuses on the following:

  • Advancing the science of sustainable, net-zero, healthy, liveable and equitable cities of the future.
  • Urban environmental engineering and computational urban planning.
  • Analysing largescale digital data and AI-driven models for urban environmental engineering and sustainability applications.
  • Emissions modelling and air pollution modelling.
  • Urban greenspace quantification.
  • Urban analytics and complex spatial data analyses methodologies.
  • Computer vision methods for understanding the urban environment.
  • Data-driven human exposures modelling and environmental epidemiology.
  • Environmental and climate policy.
  • Environmental justice.

Publications

Professor Nyhan has published extensively in leading academic journals including Nature, Nature Cities, Environmental Science & Technology, Environment International and Sustainable Cities & Society. For an up-to-date list of peer-reviewed publications, please see the following: 

• Professor Nyhan’s UCC research profile: https://research.ucc.ie/en/persons/marguerite-nyhan/
• Professor Nyhan’s Google Scholar: Google Scholar Profile
• Professor Nyhan’s research group: nyhanlab.org 
• Professor Nyhan’s Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4292-8232 

Teaching Activity

Professor Nyhan supervises a large interdisciplinary research group comprised of post-doctoral researchers, research assistants and PhD students.

Professor Nyhan delivers the following modules: 
•    CE3009     Environmental Engineering (lecturer and coordinator)
•    NE6015    Data Analytics for Engineering (co-lecturer) 
•    CE6047    Systems Thinking for Sustainability & Climate Action (lecturer and coordinator)
•    CE6053     Climate Change: Science, Policy & Global Impact (lecturer and coordinator)