I am an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University and Director of the DCU Institute for Climate and Society. I hold an MPhil and DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from the University of Oxford, and BA and MA degrees from University College Dublin. My research focuses on climate change politics, policy, and governance.

I am coordinator of the Horizon Europe project RETOOL: Strengthening democratic governance for climate transitions, and I lead DCU’s participation in the Research Ireland funded Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water. I was a coordinator author of Ireland’s first Climate Change Assessment Report, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency. I co-led the development of Volume 4, which focused on Realising the benefits of transition and transformation.

I am author of European Climate Leadership in Question: Policies toward China and India (MIT Press, 2015) and co-editor of Ireland and the Climate Crisis (Palgrave, 2020) and European Union External Environmental Policy: Rules, Regulation and Governance Beyond Borders (Palgrave, 2018). My research has been published in leading international peer reviewed academic journals, including Energy Policy, Global Environmental Politics, Climate Policy, Environmental Politics, Journal of Common Market Studies, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, and Politics and Governance.

I was closely involved in the development of DCU’s MSc in Climate Change: Policy, Media and Society. I welcome applications from prospective research students interested in climate change politics and governance at national, European, and global levels.

I am an independent expert member of Ireland’s Just Transition Commission, and also an independent expert member of Ireland’s National Economic and Social Council. I also serve on a range of other executive and advisory boards, including the Executive Group of the All Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network, the Expert Working Group on Sustainability of Chartered Accountants Ireland, the Net Zero Working Group of the Royal Irish Academy, and the Climate Change and Biodiversity Advisory Group of the Community Foundation for Ireland. I am also a Research Fellow of the Earth System Governance Project.

My previous positions include include postdoctoral fellowships at Chatham House, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and the Freie Universität Berlin, and stagiaire at third secretary level in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. I have also held visiting fellowships at the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (Geneva), the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy (Beijing), and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (Delhi).