Volume 4 highlights the benefits, opportunities and synergies that can be achieved through transformation, and how they can be realised. This volume is a state of the knowledge assessment that draws on global synthesis literature, including the IPCC and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), international peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify key characteristics of transformative change. It explores the emergence of these characteristics in the national context. Knowledge gaps are highlighted to inform and enhance research related to transformations in Ireland. This volume aims to aid national policy discussions towards enabling, catalysing and achieving transformative change and associated benefits.
Dr Róisín Moriarty is a Research Fellow at UCC and works on climate and policy. While her research has focused on the carbon cycle and climate change, it is the synthesis and communication of scientific data for policy and other decision-makers that has shaped her career. Her research interests are focused on mitigation and adaptation solutions that move us from imagining a climate-neutral and resilient future to realising that transition and its benefits.
She has co-authored numerous academic papers, including a paper in Nature, a book chapter on carbon budgets and was a lead author on Climate Change Advisory Council Periodic and Annual Review Reports and works as an expert reviewer on greenhouse gas inventory technical reports for the UNFCCC.
Dr Tadhg O’Mahony is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Policy at UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. He was Research Fellow at DCU School of Law and Government while working on Volume 4 of the ICCA with Dr. Torney. A systems scientist, futurist and ecological economist, he specialises in transitions and transformations to sustainable futures. Having completed his doctorate at TU Dublin in 2010, he has over 20 years of experience across academic, governmental and private roles, as researcher, consultant and lecturer. Tadhg is a double Marie Sklodowska Curie fellow at the Finland Futures Research Centre/ Turku School of Economics (University of Turku, Finland, 2015 – 2017), and at IMDEA Energy Research Institute (Madrid, Spain, 2013 – 2015).
Key research interests include climate action; sustainable development; wellbeing; consumption, economic development and post-growth; energy; transport; indicators; systems thinking and future scenarios. His research covers analysis, policy and strategy-making, and uses inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to deepen understanding of sustainability challenges. With dozens of publications, he has worked on projects from Europe to Asia and is a reviewer or editor for more than 20 peer review international journals.
Dr Agnieszka Stefaniec is a Research Fellow at the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin. She is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the Södertörn University in Stockholm, Sweden. She holds a PhD in Management Science and Engineering, MA in Architecture, and BA in Architecture and Urban Planning. Since 2022, she has served as an Associate Editor of the Environmental Development journal (Elsevier, impact factor: 5.4) and a co-leader of the New Professionals Group by the International Sustainable Development Research Society. Her articles were published in Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Energy, Journal of Transport Geography, and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews among others. Her research interests lie in the area of transition toward a low-carbon society with a focus on equitable transportation systems and inclusive urban development.
Dr Diarmuid Torney is an associate professor in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. His research focuses on climate change politics, policy, and governance. He is co-director of the DCU Centre for Climate and Society programme chair of DCU’s MSc in Climate Change: Policy, Media and Society. He is 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. He is coordinator of the Horizon Europe project RETOOL: Strengthening democratic governance for climate transitions, and a Co-Investigator in the Climate+ Biodiversity and Water Co-Centre, co-funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland, and UK Research and Innovation.
Professor Hannah Daly leads energy and climate policy modelling research at University College Cork’s Environmental Research Institute and SFI MaREI Centre. Her work at the “science-policy interface” informs sustainable and least-cost climate mitigation pathways. Advisor on climate and energy policy to policymakers, industry, and the media, and writes a monthly column “At a Time of Climate Crisis” for the Irish Times.
Professor Brian Caulfield is a Professor in Transportation and Head of Discipline in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Trinity College Dublin. Since joining the Department he has embarked on an intensive research program addressing global issues such as the environmental impacts of transport and methods to reduce the carbon impacts of transport and in 2017 he addressed the Irish Citizens Assembly on this topic. He recently provided advice to the Climate Change Advisory Council on pathways to decreasing transport emissions by 2030. Prof Caulfield is currently a member of the Steering Group for the review and update of the GDA Transport Strategy with the National Transport Authority.
Prof Caulfield has published over 200 papers in these areas in high impact international journals and international conferences and to date has been awarded aprox. €7.1 million in research funding (from EPA, SFI, FP7, CEDR, TII, DoT, RSA, SEAI and HORIZON Europe). He currently has 9 PhD students and 6 postdoctoral researchers in his research group.
Prof Caulfield is also a member of a number of National and International research groups and is the former Chair of the Irish Transportation Research Network and was a member of the executive committee of the Universities Transport Studies Group as well as several committees at the Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C.
He is a Senior Editor of Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews (impact factor: 16.799) and an Editor of Transport Policy (impact factor: 6.173). He is a member of the International Editorial Board of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment (impact factor: 7.041), Case Studies on Transport Policy (impact factor: 2.669), Journal of Transport Geography (impact factor: 5.899) and the Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research.
