ICARUS has a thriving PhD student community with students engaged in a broad range of climate-related research topics. Current and former PhD students have published multiple peer-reviewed articles. For more details on their backgrounds and thesis projects please view the drop-down entries below.
ICARUS Climate Research Centre
ToggleSudipto Bhowmik
Biography
Sudipto completed his M.Sc. (2014) in Environment Management from the Forest Research Institute, India and B.Sc. in 2012 from the University of Calcutta, India. Following his M.Sc., Sudipto worked in a range of positions, including as Junior Data Manager at the Forest Research Institute, Editorial Assistant at Chhaya Prakashani and as subject matter expert (Biology) at Chegg-India.
He has completed several training courses on including – REDD+; SDG Indicators [2.4.1, 6.4.2, 15.1.1, 15.2.1]; Forest Biometry; Integrating Climate Risk Information into NAPs; National Socioeconomic Surveys in Forestry; Assessing Risk in Agriculture from international organizations including FAO, UNITAR, NPTEL. Sudipto joined Maynooth University and ICARUS in 2020 as a PhD student and is funded under the Teagasc Walsh Scholarship programme. His research focusses on understanding the dependence of soil nutrient availability on climate, vegetation, geomorphology, soil and landscape management practices. His research will lead to improve understanding on the interrelations between both natural and anthropogenic drivers of soil nutrient availability and lead to improved agricultural management strategies, improved nutrient management and soil conservation and improved water use efficiency and support reduced GHG emission through sustainable and climate-sensitive agriculture.
Research interests
- Soil Biogeochemistry
- Soil and Water Conservation
- Sustainable and Climate-Sensitive Agriculture
- Spatial Data Analysis
- Statistical Modelling
Thesis
Thesis Title: Soil fertility underpinning nutrient use efficiency for sustainability
Supervisors: Dr Rowan Fealy, Lilian O’Sullivan, Dr David Wall and Reamonn Fealy
Description of Project: The project intends to find the interrelation and develop models of soil nutrient availability (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) in agricultural landscape with intrinsic physicochemical properties of soil, topographical conditions, climate, agricultural soil management practices and crops. At the same time, the study will be identifying key regulators of soil nutrient availability. The outcomes of the study will be integrated to spatial platform at various levels from national to field scale and will be used to develop modified nutrient management strategies that will be performance tested with existing nutrient management tools.
Funding
2020-2024: Teagasc PhD Walsh Fellowship
Publications
Papers
Bhowmik S. and Kotiyal P. B. 2016. Bacterial Diversity and soil physicochemical properties in Tons River Basin of Dehradun; eJournal of Applied Forest Ecology (eJAFE). 4(2) 21-28.
Kotiyal P. B. and Bhowmik S. 2017. Enumeration of Soil Bacteria in the Soil of the Tons River Bank from Different Elevation; Octa Journal of Environmental Research. 5(2).149-155
Chapters
Bhowmik S, (2020) Ecological and Economic Importance of Wetlands and Their Vulnerability-A Review; Zero Waste: Management Practices for Environmental Sustainability: Current State and Future Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity. IGI Global. 95-112
Poster
Bhowmik S. and Raina A. K., Physicochemical properties of soil and identification of rocks from bank of river Tons, Dehradun; Asia Pacific Workshop on Water and Forests-Beyond Traditional Forest Hydrology (September, 2013)
Contact Details
Mobile: 035-852314156
Email: sudipto.bhowmik.2021@mumail.ie
Sandra Cristina Deodoro
Biography:
Sandra graduated from the Federal University of Minas Gerais-UFMG (Brazil) in 2006 with a B.Sc. in Geography. After that, she held Postgraduate Diplomas in Water Resources Management (2010) and in Geoprocess (2013), both at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Afterwards, Sandra completed a M.Sc. in Environmental Systems Analysis and Modelling in 2020, from UFMG. In her master's thesis, she focused on the prediction of soil surface texture (topsoil 0-15cm) in the Volta Grande do Rio Uruguai (Uruguay River Plateau), Brazil southern, by using Sentinel-2 imagery and multivariate statistics. Sandra tested the use of the Discriminant Analysis as a statistical method to classify soil texture patterns from spectral reflectance data and soil particle size analysis. Her master´s project was also carried out in collaboration with the Federal University of Chapecó (Santa Catarina State-Brazil).
Sandra was also a volunteer researcher in the projects named "Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the upper Uruguay River Valley - west of Santa Catarina State (Brazil)" and "Landscape morphodynamics of the Southern Basaltic Plateau (Brazil)", both funded by Edital MCTI/CNPQ 01/2016-Brazil. These projects are part of a major archaeological research project that aimed to investigate the first settlements in the upper Uruguay River.
Sandra joined ICARUS at Department of Geography, Maynooth University in 2021 and her research project focusses on topsoil texture retrieval in Ireland from different Earth Observation platforms, by testing two types of radar microwave (SAR and GPR) and machine learning to predict soil particle size.
Research interest:
- Soil Science
- Remote Sensing of Environment
- Geostatistic and Spatial Analysis in SIG
- Geology
- Geomorphology
- Fluvial geomorphology
Thesis
Thesis Title: Retrieving topsoil texture from remote sensing and proximal sensing (GPR) for predicting soil properties in Ireland
Supervisor: Dr Rowan Fealy
Co-Supervisors: Dr Tim McCarthy and Reamonn Fealy (Teagasc)
Awards and Scholarships
2021-2025: John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship Award
2019-2020: DS-CAPES Scholarship (Brazil)
Contact Details:
Email: Sandra.deodoro.2022@mumail.ie
Samuel Tiéfolo Diabaté
Biography
Sam completed a BSc in engineering sciences between 2013 and 2017 in Université du Maine (former name, now Le Mans Université, Le Mans, France). He graduated from the Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France) in 2019 with a Postgraduate Master degree in Ocean, Atmosphere and Climate Sciences, majoring in Physical Oceanography. The second year of this 2-years program was organised in partnership with University d'Abomey-Calavi in Benin. During both Master 1 and Master 2, Sam was given the opportunity to visit ICARUS for a summer internship on oceanic research. During this time, he worked on tide gauges measurements and their relationship to ocean dynamics (Gulf Stream, Global Overturning Circulation) and atmospheric forcing (winds and loading). Following his Master, Sam joined ICARUS PhD community of students in Oct 2019 and he was awarded a 4-year studentship funded by the A4 project (Aigéin, Aeráid, agus athrú Atlantaigh). His work will focus on the European Shelf-Edge Current, its implication for coastal sea-level in Ireland and UK and its relationship with the climate of those countries.
Research Interests
- Shelf-Edge Current
- Ocean gliders
- Sea-level
- Tide gauges
Thesis
Working title: The Shelf-Edge Current and connection to the coast.
Supervisor: Dr Gerard McCarthy
Co-Supervisor: Dr Martin White (NUI Galway)
Contact details
samuel.diabate.2020@mumail.ie
Maynooth University
North Campus
Laraghbryan House-ICARUS
Room 1.9
Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Seán Edward Donegan
Biography
Seán graduated from Maynooth University in 2017 with a B.A. (Joint Honours) in History and Geography. He was awarded a €2,000 Taught Master’s Scholarship and subsequently went on to complete an M.Sc. in Climate Change in 2018. His Ph.D. research focuses on the development of Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) approaches to seasonal hydrological forecasting for Irish river catchments. ESP methods typically employ hydrological models to estimate initial conditions and use boundary forcings resampled from historical observations to produce an ensemble forecast of streamflow. Seán’s work will establish and benchmark ESP methods and will explore both when and where predictability of Irish river flows is possible for different initialisation and lead times, as well as the extent to which predictability is influenced by model complexity. It comprises part of the HydroCast project, which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
Research Interests
- Climate change.
- Hydrology/hydroclimatology.
- Rainfall-runoff modelling.
- Seasonal hydrological forecasting.
- Statistical analysis.
Thesis
Working Title: Ensemble Streamflow Prediction for Irish Catchments.
Supervisor: Dr. Conor Murphy.
Funding
2018–22: Science Foundation Ireland.
Awards
2018: Department of Geography Prize for the Best Overall Performance in the M.Sc. Climate Change (Joint Winner).
2017: Maynooth University Taught Master’s Scholarship.
2017: Department of Geography Prize for the Best Physical Geographer in the Third Year Examinations.
2016: Department of Geography Prize for the Best Overall Performance in the Second Year Examinations.
2015: Department of Geography Prize for the Best Overall Performance in the First Year Examinations.
Professional Experience
2017–19: Demonstrator for second year Geography modules GY201/GY202: Methods of Geographical Analysis.
2017: Tutor for first year Geography module GY151: Living Landscapes.
2017: Completed the Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning (Maynooth University Centre for Teaching and Learning).
Memberships
British Hydrological Society (BHS).
European Geosciences Union (EGU).
Geographical Society of Ireland (GSI).
International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS).
Contact Details
Room 1.9
Laraghbryan House
North Campus
Maynooth University
Email: Sean.Donegan.2015@mumail.ie
Twitter: @SEDonegan
Shirley Howe
Biography
Shirley graduated from Maynooth University in 2018 with a BA Double Honours in Geography and Anthropology, selecting modules relevant to her research interests across both disciplines throughout. Utilising a trans-disciplinary approach drawing on geography and anthropology, her PhD research considers how culture-nature relationships influence climate change perspectives and responses. Shirley’s prior professional experience is as a communications strategist for environment and social justice issues in the NGO sector, and as an arts publicist for government and cultural organisations.
Research Interests
- Climate change
- Climate change communication
- Cultural mediation of climate and environmental change
- Culture-nature relationships and interactions
- Climate justice
- Biodiversity
- Ethnography
- Irish islands and their communities
Thesis
Title: Of land and ocean: Culture and climate on Ireland’s islands
Supervisor: Dr Conor Murphy, Geography Department, Maynooth University
Co-supervisor: Dr Chandana Mathur, Anthropology Department, Maynooth University
Awards
2019: Eda Sagarra Medal of Excellence for being the top-ranking Postgraduate Scholar in the domain of arts, humanities and social sciences under the Irish Research Council’s 2019 Government of Ireland funding programmes.
2019: Global Undergraduate Awards - Regional Winner for the Island of Ireland in the ‘Social Sciences: Anthropology and Cultural Studies’ category.
2019: Irish Research Council - Environmental Protection Agency and Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship.
2018: John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship Award.
2016: Undergraduate Academic Award - Department of Geography Best Performance in First Year Examinations.
Teaching and Professional Experience
2019: Assessor on the National Youth Assembly on Climate Change.
2019: Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning.
2019: Guest lecturer for final year anthropology studentsL AN338 Anthropology & the Environment.
2019: Tutor for first year geography module: GY162 Global Environments.
2018: Invited lecturer for MSc in Climate Change module: GY655 Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation.
2018: Undergraduate tutor for first year module: GY151 Living Landscapes.
Memberships
Irish Climate Analysis & Research Units (ICARUS)
Contact Details
Room 1.9 Laraghbryan House Maynooth University Maynooth Co Kildare
T: +353 (0)1 708 6836 / +353 (0)87 414 8511 E: Shirley.howe.2016@mumail.ie Twitter: @ShirleyCHowe (link to - https://twitter.com/ShirleyCHowe)
Kazeem Abiodun Ishola
Biography
Kazeem received his B.Tech honor in Meteorology at Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) - Nigeria in 2011 and completed a research Master’s degree at FUTA between 2014 and 2016 in the area of applied meteorology. The research study investigated the dynamics of surface urban biophysical compositions and their impacts of the thermal field of the environment in some selected cities of southwest, Nigeria during the period 1984 to 2014. Between 2011 and 2014, Kazeem worked as an observer in the synoptic station of Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Lokoja under the national youth service scheme, and then at Precious Seeds’ Model College, Ota –Nigeria as a tutor in the areas of Basic Technology, Physics, and Mathematics. He was appointed a Teaching Assistant (in Basic Meteorology for Agricultural Sciences, Atmospheric Radiation, Satellite Meteorology, and Instrumentation and Environmental Measurement) in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science immediately after his M.Tech in FUTA. Since then, Kazeem has worked with the Department until 2017 when he joined the ICARUS to work on a Teagasc Walsh funded research leading to a Ph.D studentship in the Department of Geography, Maynooth University. This research will focus on characterising agro-environmental zones in Ireland using an integrated approach of surface energy balance for planning and decision-making.
Research Interests
- Land surface dynamics
- Remote sensing of environment
- Urban meteorology and climatology
- Surface energy budget
Thesis
Title: Using surface energy balance approach to characterise agro-environmental zones in Ireland in support of on-farm decision making.
Supervisor(s): Dr Rowan Fealy, Mr Reammon Fealy (Teagasc), Dr. Gerald Mills (UCD)
Funding
2017 – 2021: Teagasc Walsh PhD Fellowship programme
Publications
Ishola,K.A., Fealy,R., Mills,G., Fealy,R., Green,S., Jimenez-Casteneda, A.,Adeyeri, O.E.,(2018) ‘Developing regional calibration coefficients for estimation of hourly global solar radiation in Ireland’, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, DOI: 10.1080/14786451.2018.1499645
Adeyeri, O.E., Akinsanola, A. A. and Ishola K.A., (2017). Investigating Surface Urban Heat Island Characteristics over Abuja, Nigeria: Relationship between Land Surface Temperature and Multiple Vegetation Indices. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 7(2017): 57 – 68.
Balogun, I. A. and Ishola K. A. (2017). Projection of Future Changes in Landuse/Landcover using Cellular Automata/Markov Model over Akure City, Nigeria. Journal of Remote Sensing Technology, 5(1), 22 – 31.
Udo, N. A., Oluleye, A., Ishola K. A. (2017). Investigating Wind Power Potential over Some Selected Coastal Cities in Nigeria. Innovative Energy and Research, 6(1), 1 – 12.
Adeyeri, O.E., Okogbue, E.C., Akinluyi, F. O. and Ishola K.A. (2017). Spatio-temporal trend of vegetation cover over Abuja using Landsat datasets. International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research, 3(3), 3084 – 3100.
Adeyeri, O.E., Ishola, K.A., Okogbue E.C. (2017). Climate Change and Coastal Floods: The Susceptibility of Coastal Areas of Nigeria. J. Coast. Zone Manag. 20 (2), 1 – 6.
Ishola, K. A., Okogbue, E. C., and Adeyeri O. E. (2016). The Dynamics of Surface Urban Biophysical Compositions and its Impact on Land Surface Thermal Field. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2:208, 1 - 20.
Ishola, K. A., Okogbue, E. C., and Adeyeri O. E. (2016) A Quantitative Assessment of Surface Urban Heat Islands Using Satellite Multi-Temporal Data over Abeokuta, Nigeria. International Journal of Atmospheric Sciences,Volume 2016, 6 pages, doi:10.1155/2016/3170789.
Adeyeri, O. E., Okogbue, E. C., Ige, S. O., and Ishola, K. A. (2015) Estimating the Land Surface Temperature over Abuja using Different Landsat Sensors. In proceedings of the International Conference of the Nigerian Meteorological Society; Climate Change, Environmental Challenges, and Sustainable Development. pp 305 – 310.
Teaching/Professional Experience
2016/2017: FUTA Teaching Assistant for Undergraduate; First Semester - Second (MET203) and fourth (MET 401 and MET 409) year modules; Second Semester – Second (MET202 and MET204) and Fifth (MET510) year modules
2011: Departmental prize, Department of Meteorology, FUTA. Best graduating student
Contact
Laraghbryan House (Room 1.9)
North Campus
Tel: +353 1 708 6836
Kazeem.ishola.2018@mumail.ie
Azucena Jimenez Castañeda
Biography
Azucena is a Ph.D student at National University of Ireland Maynooth. She graduated B.Sc. in Geography and Postgraduate master in GIS and Remote Sensing from the University of Zaragoza, Spain (2014). After graduating, she had an internship in the Spanish Researcher National Council (CSIC) in Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD) Zaragoza. During the las 2 years, she was working in the group Clime, Water, Global Change and Natural Systems in the Geography Department in Zaragoza’s University. She joined ICARUS in 2017 leading to a Ph.D Walsh Fellowship from Teagasc, focused on real time nutrient management from terrestrial and satellite radar data. She is currently on her first year.
Research Interests
- Climate change
- Remote sensing
- Geography
- Crops
- Programming
Thesis
Thesis title: Deriving high resolution, on-farm, rainfall estimates from terrestrial and satellite radar data: An application for use in real time nutrient management
Supervisor: Professor Rowan Fealy, Stuart Green (Teagasc) and Professor Gerald Mills (University College Dublin).
Description of Project: The proposed research will establish a methodology for utilising rainfall radar, in combination with MetÉireann’s precipitation gauge network, to develop high spatio-temporal resolution, near real-time rainfall estimates for Ireland. An analysis of the rainfall radar will also be undertaken with available satellite data.The results will provide a robust basis for developing real time, local rainfall estimates that coupled with the Teagasc Nutrient Management Planning decision support system (NMP Online) can inform timing of fertiliser applications.
Funding
2017-2021: Teagasc PhD Walsh Fellowship
Publications and Abstracts
Ishola,K.A., Fealy,R., Mills,G., Fealy,R., Green,S., Jimenez-Castañeda, A.,Adeyeri, O.E.,(2018) ‘Developing regional calibration coefficients for estimation of hourly global solar radiation in Ireland’, International Journal of Sustainable Energy, DOI: 10.1080/14786451.2018.1499645
Jiménez-Castañeda, A. 9th Seminar on homogenization and quality control in climate databases. Hungarian Meteorological Service. 03-07 April 2017. (Oral and writtig)
Jiménez-Castañeda, A. III Cycle of doctoral Conferences. Doctoral Program in Spatial Planning and Environment. Zaragoza´s Geography Department. 17-24 March 2017.
Jiménez-Castañeda, A. Data quality control and homogenization. Global Change Research Institute CAS. Brno, Czech Republic. 29 November 2016 to 01 December 2016. (Assientece)
Burguera, M.T.; González-Hidalgo, J.C.; Jiménez-Castañeda, A.; Luna Rico, M.Y.; Morata, A.B.; Vicente Serrano, S.; Beguería S. Quality control seven variables national database AEMET. Weather, society, risk and land management. 10th International Congress of the Spanish Association of Climatology. Spanish Association of Climatology; University of Alicante05-08 October 2016(Oral communication)
González-Hidalgo, J.C.; Peña-Angulo, D.; Salinas, C.; Jiménez-Castañeda, A.; Brunetti M.Recent variations of the temperature in Spain: The effect of the selected period on the trends of the seasonal series of the averages of minimum and maximum. Weather, society, risk and land management. 10th International Congress of the Spanish Association of Climatology. Spanish Association of Climatology; University of Alicante. 05-08 October 2016(Oral communication)
Luna, M.Y.; González-Hidalgo, J.C.; Morata, A.; Beguería, S.; Burguera M.T.; Jiménez-Castañeda, A.; Vicente-Serrano, S.. Development of drought indices for sectoral applications in Spain: presentation of the DESEMON project. 9th Assembly Hispano Portuguesa of Geodesy and Geophysics. Complutense University of Madrid; Ministry of Development. 28-30 June 2016.
A. Jiménez-Castañeda; E. Luna Jordán; C. Castañeda del Álamo. Territorial integration of data from the Nature Reserve of Gallocanta´s lagoon as a basis for management. Spatial analysis and geographic representation: innovation and application. XXIV Congress of the Association of Spanish Geographers. 28-30 October 2015. (Oral communication)
Castañeda del Álamo, C., Jiménez-Castañeda, A.; Latorre Garcés, B.; Luna Jordán E. Automatic processing of Landsat imagery in GIS environment management protected areas: Gallocata Spain. Remote sensing, wetlands and protected areas. XVI Congress of the Spanish Association of Remote Sensing. 21-23 October 2015.
Teaching
2016: Visiting teacher to participate in online seminars in the course “Land Management Plans” in the degree of Enviromental Engineering of Universidad Libre de Bogota. 15 March 2016 and 23 September 2016.
Patent
Castañeda del Álamo C.; Jiménez-Castañeda A.; Latorre Garcés B. Semi-automatic generation of environment indices using satellite imaginary (GINASAT v1.0). Legal representative: Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). No 799_2015. 2015.
Contact details
Laraghbryan House (Room 1.9)
North Campus
Tel: +353 1 708 6836
Email: AZUCENA.JIMENEZCASTENADA.2018@nuim.ie
Ashly Kalayil Uthaman
Biography
Ashly completed her Masters on Oceanography from Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala, India in 2018 and Bachelors in Physics from BCM College, M G University, Kerala, India in 2016. Her Master’s thesis focused on shoreline change analysis and the assessment was done by analysing the change in zero-meter contours for six profiles in the study area (Tamil Nadu coast, India (E)) and a hydrodynamic model using DELFT 3D was set up and validated, which can simulate shoreline change for a given wave condition for the area.
After her graduation she worked in a project funded by Space Application Centre, India ,(2019-2020 to develop an automated RIP current prediction system using numerical modelling. She was also a part of collaborated project with The University of Edinburgh (Australia), Indian Institute of Technology (India) and The Jadavpur University (India) to set up validated FLOW model (Delft 3D FLOW) for the Sundarbans estuary, West Bengal, India, that focused on better prediction of the tidal current velocities at potential sites, which meant that a more accurate prediction of the power production from tidal arrays could be made.
Ashly joined ICARUS, Department of Geography, Maynooth University in 2021 and her research focusses on investigating wave impacts on Irish coasts on the decadal and climatological scale with the aim of creating a model framework for Irish coast and develop a new coastal impact model for the Irish coastal zone.
Research interest
- Beach erosion and accretion.
- Coastal hydrodynamics.
- Coastal Management.
- Impact of extreme events on coast.
- Numerical Modelling.
- Sediment and littoral transport.
- Shoreline changes.
Thesis
Title: Decadal Wave Prediction of Irish Coast (DeWaPIC)
Supervisor
Name: Dr André Düsterhus
Co-Supervisor
Name: Dr. Tomasz Dabrowski
Institution: Marine Institute
Secondary MU Supervisor
Name: Dr. Gerard McCarthy
Funding
2021- 2025: CULLEN Scholarship, Marine Institute
Publications
Neeraj Prakash, Ashly K U, Jaya Kumar Seelam, Harsha Bhaskaran, Yadhunath E. M, Rajive Krishnan, Lavanya H, Arun Kumar Surisetty, “Measurement and modelling of waves and currents in shallow waters of North Go”, Journal of Earth System Science (Accepted for publication)
Conference Paper
Ashly K U, A S Kiran, Lokesh T, Sankar S, R Vijaya, R Sajeev, “Analysis of shoreline change behavior of coastal fishing villages of Kadalur, Tamil Nadu”, INCHOE 2018 – Conference Paper.
Conference presentations
“Analysis of shoreline change behaviour of coastal fishing villages of Kadalur, Tamil Nadu” in 6th Indian National Conference on Coastal Harbour and Ocean Engineering 2018.
“Estimation of Tidal Stream Energy – GPLOT, Sundarbans, West Bengal” on International Symposium on Advances in Coastal Research with special reference to Indo Pacific- 2019
Contact Details
Room 1.9
Laraghbryan House
North Campus
email: ashly.uthaman.2022@mumail.ie
Brendan McGoldrick
Biography:
Brendan graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2020 with a BS in General Science, specialising in Environmental Science. This general science pathway allowed him to be introduced to various methods within the vast discipline, covering modules in biology, chemistry, and geology. Gaining valuable insight and synergy of the different aspects of the multiple fields of science. Brendan's research focuses on sustainable development, incorporating problem-solving skills to current key issues, scientific communication, and evidence-based solutions. Brendan was awarded Teagasc Walsh PhD Scholarship for a joint research project between Teagasc and Maynooth University.
Research Interest:
- Climate change
- Agroecosystem
- Biogeochemical modelling
- Soil carbon sequestration
Thesis:
Project title: Soil carbon sequestration in a grassland production system.
Project Description: Investigating soil carbon sequestration in grassland production system. This research involves the use of biogeochemical models for simulating soil carbon sequestration over temperate grasslands. This is important as it will allow the agricultural sector to evaluate the impact of agricultural management on soil carbon stocks and sequestration rates.
Supervisor(s): Dr. Rowan Fealy (MU) and Dr Donal O’Brien (Teagasc).
Funding:
Teagasc Walsh Scholarship Programme
Catherine O'Beirne
Biography:
I graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2016 with a B.A. in Environmental Science and subsequently went on to complete an M.Sc. in Climate Change in 2018. Both of the research projects I under took dealt with various aspects of hydrology, my undergraduate project focusing on well water quality and the geological features that impact them. My master's thesis focused on TBRG accuracy and how they were affected by wind speed and direction, the amount and form of precipitation. Following graduating in 2018 I briefly worked in as an Environmental and Administrative Technician, the role included the preparation of environmental impact assessments, costing and quotes for domestic/industrial oil spill cleanup and restoration work. I joined ICARUS PhD community of students in Dec 2019 and I was awarded a 4-year studentship funded by the A4 project (Aigéin, Aeráid, agus athrú Atlantaigh). My work will focus on understanding Atlantic variability and its connection to the Irish shelf advancing knowledge of Irish sea-level change in an Atlantic context; and development of predictive capacity on decadal timescales.
Research interest:
- Climate Change
- Hydrology
- Oceanography
- Statistical Analysis
Thesis
Working Title: Tailored decadal predictions for Ireland and its surrounding seas.
Supervisor: Dr André Düsterhus
Contact Details:
Email: catherine.obeirne.2018@mumail.ie
Paul O'Connor
Biography
In 2004, Paul graduated from Maynooth University with a B.Sc. Honours degree in experimental physics. He subsequently completed an M.Sc. Research Masters in fluid dynamics, specifically studying the heat flow characteristics of water. In 2012, he commenced a taught M.Sc. Programme in Maynooth University in climate change. His thesis work involved the generation of a decision centric approach to climate change adaptation, with modelling river catchment rainfall-runoff being central to the study. In September 2017, Paul commenced his PhD in ICARUS, his research has focused on historical hydrological extremes. As part of his PhD he has reconstructed 250 years of river flows values for 51 river catchments in Ireland using multiple hydrological modelling techniques. He has carried out a detailed analysis of the flows, employing drought indicators to examine spatial and temporal changes in drought characteristics of the historic reconstructions. He is currently focused on linking meteorological and hydrological drought indicators to historical written records of drought impacts in Ireland.
Research Interest
- Hydrological Modelling
- Flow Reconstruction
- Drought Indicators
- Drought Impacts
- Climate Change
Thesis
Provisional title: "Ensembles reconstructions of Daily River Flows (1871 - present).
Primary supervisor: Dr. Conor Murphy (Maynooth University)
Secondary supervisor: Dr. Tom Matthews (Loughborough University)
Professional Development
2018 – 2020: Tutor / Demonstrator: National University of Ireland, Maynooth
2008 – 2017: Data and Information Analyst, Financial Services Ombudsman's Office, Dublin
2006 – 2007: Laboratory Technician /Junior Lecturer: National University of Ireland, Maynooth
2004 – 2006: Tutor / Invigilator / Demonstrator: National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Awards and Scholarships
2017 – 2021 Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (Government of Ireland).
National University of Ireland; Best Overall performance in M.Sc. in Climate Change 2013
Papers & Presentations
- O’Connor, P., Murphy, C., Matthews, T. and Wilby, R.L., (2021). Historical droughts in Irish catchments 1767-2016. International Journal of Climatology (Under Review).
- O’Connor, P., Murphy, C., Matthews, T. and Wilby, R.L., (2021). Reconstructed monthly river flows for Irish catchments 1766–2016. Geoscience Data Journal, 8(1), pp.34-54.
- Wilby, R.L., Dawson, C.W., Murphy, C., O’Connor, P., Hawkins, E (2014) The Statistical DownScaling Model – Decision Centric (SDSM-DC): conceptual basis and applications. Climate Research, 61, 259-276.
- Cawley, M.F., Mooney, P.A., O’Connor, P. (2008) Asymmetrical heat transfer through composites of water and aqueous solutions in the presence of the density maximum. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 51 (1-2), 224-236
- O'Connor, P. (2006) The Influence of the Density Maximum in Water on the Rate of Heat Transfer. The Institute of Physics Irish A.G.M. 2006 - Poster and presentation
Contact Details
Room 1.9
Laraghbryan House
North Campus
Tel: +353 (0)1+353 1 708 6836
Twitter: @Pk_oconnor
Email: pkoconnor@gmail.com
Christopher Phillips
Biography
Christopher graduated from Maynooth University in 2016 with a BA Single Honors Geography. He was awarded the Alumni scholarship to study an MSc in Climate Change. On completion of the MSc Climate change he was also awarded the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship which allowed him to pursue PhD research. His research interests span disciplines such as climate change adaptation, vulnerability to climate change, hydrology, coastal management and environmental psychology. His research focuses on the disruption of place attachment through loss of significant landscapes and the resultant responses initiated by affected communities. The aim of this research is to work with communities on the front line of environmental issues and climate change to better understand the psychological processes that lead to environmental action or adoption of adaptation strategies.
Research Interests
- Climate change.
- Vulnerability to Climate change
- Adaptation at local scales
- Coastal communities
- Place attachment
- Coastal erosion/ loss of beaches
Thesis
Working title: Transforming coastal landscapes and the effects on community place attachment.
Supervisor: Dr. Conor Murphy
Funding
2017: John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship, 48 months.
Publications
Phillips, C., Walshe, D., O’ Regan, K., Strong, K., Hennon, C. C., Knapp, K., Murphy, C., Thorne, P.W. (2017) Assessing citizen science participation skill for altruism or university course credit: A case study analysis using Cyclone Center, Citizen science: Theory and practice (Submitted).
Awards
2017: John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship.
2016: Alumni scholarship Maynooth University.
2016: Department of Geography Award for the Best performance in Single honours Geography.
Teaching and professional experience
2017: Undergraduate demonstrator for second year module: GY201.
2016: Undergraduate tutor for first year module: GY151.
Membership
Irish Climate Analysis & Research Units (ICARUS)
Contact details
Room 1.9
Laraghbryan House
North Campus
Maynooth University
Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Phone: +353 83 4490123
Email: Christopher.phillips.2013@mumail.ie
Twitter: @ChrisPhllips
Daire Quinn
Biography
Daire graduated from Maynooth University in 2017 with a B.A. in Geography and subsequently went on to complete an M.Sc. in Climate Change in 2018. He completed both his undergraduate and Master’s theses on establishing the Seasonal Hydrological Forecasting (SHF) skill of streamflow persistence techniques in Ireland, exploring exactly when and where this approach offered a benchmark against which the skill of more complex forecasting methods could be assessed. Daire is currently undertaking his PhD research in ICARUS as part of a Science Foundation Ireland funded project (HydroCast) investigating the potential of SHF methods for Irish catchments. His research focuses on statistical approaches to SHF, exploring the climate drivers that give predictability for hydrological conditions and how best to exploit them in the development of empirical forecast models.
Research Interests
- Hydrology and hydroclimatology
- Seasonal hydrological forecasting
- Statistical analysis
- Climate change
Thesis
Provisional title: Statistical approaches to seasonal hydrological forecasting in Ireland.
Supervisor: Dr. Conor Murphy
Funding
2018- 2022: Science Foundation Ireland
Awards
2017: Professor T. Jones Hughes Prize for Best Overall Performance in Final Year Geography Examinations
Professional Experience
2018: Tutor to first year undergraduate students (Department of Geography, Maynooth University)
2017/ 18: Research assistant working for Prof. Jan Rigby (National Centre for Geocomputation, Maynooth University)
Memberships
Irish Climate Analysis & Research Units (ICARUS)
European Geosciences Union (EGU)
International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)
Contact Details
Room 1.9
Laraghbryan House
North Campus
Maynooth University
Email: daire.quinn.2013@mumail
Amin Shoari Nejad
Biography
I received my MSc in Geotechnical engineering in 2017 from Bogazici University in Turkey. During my master's degree, I became interested in machine learning and applied statistics and started to use cutting-edge methods developed in these fields to solve various real-world problems. Specifically, I dedicated my master's thesis to applying different machine learning methods to predict soil liquefaction caused by earthquakes. In 2019 I started my Ph.D. in statistics at the National University of Ireland Maynooth mostly focused on developing and applying Bayesian Spatio-temporal models to address environmental and climate change related problems.
Research Interests
- Bayesian statistics
- Probabilistic Machine Learning
- Climate change
Thesis
Working title: Modelling the behaviour of various environmental variables in Dublin bay through Spatio-temporal statistics.
Supervisors: Prof Andrew Parnell, Dr Gerard McCarthy
Publications
Shoari Nejad, A., Parnell, A.C., Greene, A., Thorne, P., Kelleher, B.P., Devoy, R.J. and McCarthy, G., 2021. A newly reconciled data set for identifying sea level rise and variability in Dublin Bay. Ocean Science Discussions, pp.1-16.
Nejad, A.S., Güler, E. and Özturan, M., 2018, October. Evaluation of liquefaction potential using random forest method and shear wave velocity results. In 2018 International Conference on Applied Mathematics & Computational Science (ICAMCS. NET) (pp. 23-233). IEEE.
Contact details
amin.shoarinejad.2020@mumail.ie
Maynooth University Hamilton Institute,
North Campus
Eolas Building 3rd floor
Room 310
Maynooth
Co. Kildare
Maeve Carmel Upton
Biography
Maeve graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2018 with a BSc in Physics and Astrophysics. During this time, her research project focussed on developing Python software to calculate mass loss rates of exoplanets which contributed to observations made by the C.U.T.E. satellite. Maeve started her PhD in Maynooth University in 2019 under the supervision of Prof Andrew Parnell and Dr Niamh Cahill. Her project aims to develop a series of statistical models to analyse historical sea level records using proxy data from salt marshes and Bayesian Hierarchical Spatio-Temporal techniques. This research contributes to larger group called the A4 Project (Aigéin, Aeráid, agus athrú Atlantaigh). Her research will examine sea level changes along the East coast of North America and Ireland. In the future, Maeve will collaborate with Earth Scientists in Trinity College Dublin, to produce Ireland’s first historic sea level record from Irish salt marshes and statistical models.
Research Interests
- Bayesian statistics
- Spatio-Temporal modelling
- Sea Level
- Climate change
- Proxy data
Thesis
Working title: Irish Sea level Change in the Atlantic Context
Supervisors: Prof Andrew Parnell, Dr Niamh Cahill
Contact details
maeve.upton.2020@mumail.ie
Maynooth University Hamilton Institute,
North Campus
Eolas Building 3rd floor
Room 309
Maynooth
Co. Kildare