Satellite view of storm over the British Isles

UCD Earth Institute

UCD's institute for environmental, climate and sustainability research

About the UCD Earth Institute

Our multidisciplinary community of researchers work on topics relating to climate, water, biodiversity, plants for the future, sustainable communities, people, work and society, and the built environment.

We foster interdisciplinary research through an active programme of projects, initiatives and events designed to bring researchers and stakeholders together, to start new conversations, spark new ideas and support new collaborations.

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Research

Learn about the Marine & Energy Social Sciences & Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Group (MESSAGE)

News

19Dec

New beer mats to give public a taste of Ireland’s peatland heritage

UCD Climate Fellow Dr Shane Mc Guinness is one of the researchers behind a specially commissioned series of beer mats about Ireland’s peatlands being distributed to pubs across Dublin and Cork ahead of the festive season. The development of the mats, which feature detailed artwork and facts focusing on the biodiversity and cultural history preserved in the country’s bogs, was led by researchers at UCD and UCC in collaboration with artist Eleanor Brayden.

09Dec

Earth Institute proud to support first Coastal Ecology Workshop held in Ireland

The Earth Institute was delighted to sponsor the recent Coastal Ecology Workshop (CEW) which was held in Dublin for the very first time. This year’s event, which was held at the Shoreline Hotel in Donabate late last month, was organised by Ragna Hoogenboom and Eliza Fairchild from UCD’s Blue Carbon Group and Trinity’s Coastal Research Group members Dr Erica Terese Krueger, Kevin O’Leary and Jenny Clarke.

$Muddying the waters - how \'sludge\' can complicate and delay urgent climate action plans$ 26Nov

Muddying the waters - how 'sludge' can complicate and delay urgent climate action plans

The second of the Earth Institute’s Adapt for the Future lunchtime sessions, entitled Bureaucratic Burdens in a Warming World and which took place yesterday, focused on how paperwork and frustrating administrative hurdles can delay climate action. Defined as ‘sludge’, these excessive behavioural frictions can muddy the waters by making it harder for people to do what they intend to do – or in the case of climate action, stall vital projects such as afforestation or local energy initiatives.

24Nov

Inaugural UCD SATELLITE Artist in Residence at Mayo Dark Sky Park, Wild Nephin National Park

UCD College of Science and Parity Studios in partnership with Mayo Dark Sky Park at Wild Nephin National Park have selected artist Louise Beer as the inaugural SATELLITE Artist in Residence, beginning a year-long collaboration between art, science, and the night sky. The residency is also supported by National Parks and Wildlife Service, UCD Centre for Space Research and UCD Earth Institute.

10Nov

Science Week events - Earth Institute researchers working with artists to explore river catchments

Earth Institute members feature in water-related Science Week events organised by Eco Showboat artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly as part of their project Catchments 2025.

06Nov

UCD Climate Fellows announced as part of event on how to talk about climate change so that people actually listen

People don’t talk about climate change enough, it can seem unreal and distant, and can be an uncomfortable and divisive topic for people to discuss - so how do we talk about climate change so that people actually listen? asked George Marshall yesterday at an event in UCD where seven new UCD Climate Fellows were announced.

31Oct

The 2026 Earth Institute Journalist in Residence call is now open

We are now taking applications to our journalist-in-residence call. The residency programme is an innovative initiative to provide early career and established journalists with the opportunity to work directly with climate, environment and sustainability researchers in UCD, aiming to enable high-quality journalism around these topics. Deadline 8 December

22Oct

Retrofitting derelict properties key to cutting carbon emissions, says Oliver Kinnane

Retrofitting 100,000 of Ireland's vacant homes by the end of this decade could cut embodied carbon-related emissions by over one million tonnes, Oliver Kinnane - Earth Institute Climate Fellow and Head of School at UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy - has told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy.

22Oct

Presidential candidates' statements on climate and the environment

In recent days, we contacted the campaign offices of both Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys to get their insights on climate and the environment - and to find out how Ireland's environment might shape their vision for the Presidency. From supporting those delivering practical climate solutions, to creating community allotments at the Áras, each candidate provided us with a unique vision for their tenure should they be successful in this week's election.

The urban heat island, heatwaves and climate change

Cities are a nexus for many of the issues associated with anthropogenic climate changes, write Professor Gerald Mills and Dr Ankur Sati from UCD School of Geography. Although cities occupy less than 3% of the ice-free land, they are home to more than 50% of the world’s population and are responsible for more than 70% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Moreover, as most cities are located at low elevations and close to coasts, they are exposed to projected climate changes such as sea-level rise and storms.

Events

$Immerse yourself in underwater ecosystems and narratives at upcoming MESSAGE event\n$ 03Dec

Immerse yourself in underwater ecosystems and narratives at upcoming MESSAGE event

MESSAGE, the Marine & Energy Social Sciences & Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Group based at UCD, invites you to a free event entitled "Underwater Worlds: Art, Science and the Submerged" featuring London-based artist Sonia Levy. Join Sonia for a lecture and a viewing of her mesmerising aquatic video-art followed by a discussion by an interdisciplinary panel of artists and researchers who have all, in their own way, worked on visualising submerged ecosystems and narratives.

02Dec

Want to turn your research into headline news? Find out how at this special media event

How can researchers make their work stand out in today’s media landscape? Discover how at this special panel event on Tuesday 2 December when three of the Institute’s journalists in residence will share their insights on how academics can engage effectively with the media and the public.

$Explore offshore renewable energy data gaps and new opportunties at next month\'s MarSea workshop$ 02Dec

Explore offshore renewable energy data gaps and new opportunties at next month's MarSea workshop

Analysing data gaps in ORE impact assessments, the centralisation and optimisation of ORE-related data and discussing opportunities to build connections between academia, eNGOs and State bodies will be the focus of this workshop. Open to those with expertise in the environmental, socio-economic or technical impacts of ORE, the event will include a presentation on MSP data networks and harmonisation by Michael Arrigan from the Marine Institute.

27Nov

Coffee morning talk: How resilient landscapes that connect communities with the natural environment are designed

Join us every Thursday morning, either in-person from 10.45am or online from 11am, to hear about new environmental, climate and sustainability research and initiatives from UCD and beyond. This week's presenter is Robert Bourke, practice director of Robert Bourke Architects, who has been a Design Fellow at UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy since 2013.

25Nov

Discover the barriers to climate action at our next 'Adapt for the Future' event

Join a panel of experts at this event next week where they will discuss how bureaucratic hurdles are slowing down our efforts to combat climate change. Administrative and institutional barriers are often overlooked, yet they play a critical role in slowing or blocking the implementation of climate policy. This seminar explores how factors like regulatory complexity, fragmented governance, and procedural burdens are perceived by stakeholders and how they affect progress on the ground.

20Nov

Multiple stressors in freshwater ecosystems the subject of this week's coffee morning

This week, Dr Marcin Penk from UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science will be talking about multiple stressors in freshwater ecosystems, featuring a selection of past work on their impacts - and pitfalls in detecting them, as well as ongoing research in his group on resilience and mitigation, and an introduction to a new experimental pond mesocosm system.

13Nov

Find out about functional data analysis at our next coffee morning

Come along to this this Thursday's coffee morning and learn about Functional Data Analysis (FDA) - a cutting-edge approach to understanding data that changes over time or space. Instead of focusing on individual data points, FDA provides the full picture - whether that's tracking how a patient’s health evolves over time, analyzing financial trends, or exploring patterns in environmental data.

Photo credit: COP26, Glasgow 2024, William Gibson on Unsplash

05Nov

How to talk about climate change so that people actually listen

Climate communications expert George Marshall on how to encourage conversations on climate change to build a shared mandate for climate action.

30Oct

Learn about the links between social capital, conflict and climate at this week's coffee morning

This week's coffee morning presentation introduces a three-year research study examining the links between social capital, conflict and climate shocks in Somalia and Somaliland, led by Dr Caitriona Dowd of UCD School of Politics and International Relations. Focusing on the experiences of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the study sets out to understand how various subgroups of IDPs build resilience toward shocks and stresses through differential access to social capital.

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