I am an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. I hold an MPhil and DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from the University of Oxford, as well as BA and MA degrees from University College Dublin.

My research focuses on climate change politics, policy, and governance. I am co-director of the DCU Centre for Climate and Society and a lead author on Ireland’s first Five Year Assessment Report on climate change, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency and due for publication in 2023.

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 am programme chair 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 the chair of Future Earth Ireland, the national committee convened by the Royal Irish Academy of Future Earth, a 10-year global research initiative to develop knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environment change. I am an independent expert member of the National Economic and Social Council and a member of the Executive Group of the All Island Climate and Biodiversity Research Network. I am also a member of the Expert Working Group on Sustainability of Chartered Accountants Ireland, a member of the Net Zero Working Group of the Royal Irish Academy, and a member of 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).