Research
In 2020 I was one of the first cohort of students to participate in University College Dublin’s Masters in Architecture, Urbanism and Climate Action. Upon completion of the course, I started working in UCD as an assistant researcher and research manager. This page contains a selection of projects I have worked on.
UCD Building in a Climate Emergency Research Group
With my colleagues Dr Oliver Kinnane and Dr Richard O’Hegarty of the Building in a Climate Emergency research lab in UCD, I was co-author of the Whole Life Carbon in Construction and the Built Environment Report, which quantifies operational and embodied carbon associated with construction in Ireland, and presents future emissions outcomes based on a range of policy scenarios. The report can be downloaded from the Irish Green Building Council, who commissioned the research, here.
Master’s Thesis: Optimising the social, urban, and environmental co-benefits of coworking spaces in Irish towns
As part of my master’s thesis, I conducted research into the phenomenon of coworking spaces or hubs. I found these spaces have enormous potential to transform towns and village communities, with a range of cobenefits including social, urban, and environmental benefits. This diagram illustrate some of these potential cobenefits with a hypothetical coworking space located in a historic building in an Irish town. You can download a copy of my thesis here and a copy of a summary brochure for a general readership here.
Centre for Irish Towns
University College Dublin’s Centre for Irish Towns (CfIT) invited me to present the findings of my thesis as part of their Talking Towns seminar series. This seminar focusses on Transformations of life and work in towns, and can be viewed here.
Master’s Project Work
As an excercise during the M.Sc. I was tasked to produce an illustration depicting the key thesis of a major work of urbanism literature. I chose Jane Jacobs’ classic 1961 text The Death and Life of Great American Cities, a book which contains lessons on vibrant city planning very much relevant today.