URBANark

US-Ireland R&D Programme collaboration to accurately predict local flooding in urban areas. UCD, NYU and QUB are working together to explore the use of high-resolution airborne and mobile ground-based LiDAR scanning (remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth) to identify and survey high-risk underground spaces. The data is then used to refine flood prediction models and to develop immersive Virtual Reality applications as a tool to support communities and emergency planners.

PERITIA

EU-funded, UCD-led project investigating public trust in expertise. The multi-disciplinary team seeks to help citizens and policymakers understand trust in science and identify trustworthy expertise. Using climate change and climate science as a test case, the project aims to enhance trust in a better democratic governance for the future of Europe.

CAPABLE

SFI Digital for Resilience Challenge funded project proposing a digital solution to offer evidence-informed advice in response to extreme events that threaten Ireland's critical infrastructure systems. It aims to give stakeholders access to an accessible, single platform based on enhanced data, analytics and insights that will combine multiple data sources / prediction models to create a practical tool in case of disruption. 

NEXT/ACT

As part of the Horizon Europe project VECTOR, UCD experts are working with partners to investigate the power of local adaptations to climate challenges and how education systems can be central to the community response through NEXT/ACT.

CAMEO

UCD are collaborating with industry partners for this DTIF funded project that will develop a new platform to unlock the potential of Earth Observation data for non-specialist users and make Ireland a world leader in using EO data for economic and societal benefit.

CitiObs

Horizon Europe consortium working with key stakeholder groups to enhance existing and new citizen observatories, by engaging marginalised communities and increasing citizen observations of the urban environment. This will be part of the existing in situ Earth observation systems, and will advance efforts needed to assist cities in speeding up the process of emissions reduction from pollutants and greenhouse gases.

WECOAdapt

SFI and Irish Aid funded project bringing a new approach to adaptation planning to improve management of drought and floods and the understanding of sub-Saharan city ecosystems. WECOAdapt is exploring the relationship between urban development, water and the ecosystem in Tanzania and aims to enhance the resilience of communities vulnerable to climatic and anthropogenic stress.

THEIA: THE visIon and Analytics lab

The THEIA lab at UCD focuses on a number of image processing, machine learning, and remote sensing projects to solve problems in atmospheric science. These include analysis of the impact of clouds in satellite communication links using ground-based, high-resolution digital cameras, and advancing coastal management and climate change monitoring through improved coastline extraction from satellite imagery. The lab is funded by UCD, SFI, Google and EU Horizon 2020.

AI2Peat

CeADAR-led project exploring how AI can monitor and protect our peatlands. Peat is a critical store of carbon and biodiverse ecosystems, central to Ireland’s Climate Action goals. Collating data from complementary sources including satellite imagery, combined with in-situ environmental measurements, it will deliver an all-Ireland, AI-enhanced peatland conditioning map which will facilitate networking activities by key stakeholders. The project consortium includes iCRAG, the SFI centre for applied geosciences, Ireland’s National Parks and Wildlife Services. 

HIGHWAVE

An interdisciplinary ERC project at the frontiers of coastal / ocean engineering, earth system science, statistics and fluid mechanics, HIGHWAVE is exploring fundamental open questions in wave breaking. With researchers based at UCD and ENS Paris-Saclay, the experiments are being conducted in the vicinity of the Aran Islands, Ireland. Using technologies including satellite, radar and SeaFi, the project is establishing a wireless telecommunication network that allows the transmission of scientific data, including wave measurements in real-time.

NBSINFRA

This pioneering EU initiative focuses on advancing Nature-Based solutions (NBS) to safeguard critical urban infrastructure against both natural and human-induced hazards, and creating resilient urban environments capable of withstanding the challenges posed by climate change. NBSINFRA City labs (including the Fingal Lab in Dublin) will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of NBS in the protection of local infrastructure, prioritising solutions that are owned and co-created by citizens, end-users, managers, and civil society.

NexSys

An all-island, multidisciplinary energy research programme hosted by the UCD Energy Institute in partnership with eight other leading research institutions and industry to tackle the challenges of energy decarbonisation, developing evidence-based pathways for a net zero energy system.

Smart Control of the Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities

Horizon 2020-funded project aiming to increase climate resilience in European coastal cities. This collaboration tackles specific challenges related to sea levels, coastal erosion and extreme weather events using an integrated solution of smart technologies and nature-based solutions.

CONSUS

A collaborative SFI research partnership between UCD and Origin Enterprises exploring the potential of digital and precision agriculture to create a sustainable food system. By adding Iteris ClearAg Environmental Intelligence to its crop research and development platform, they can now use hyper-local weather and soil data to support research into sustainable crop performance.

Co-Centre for Climate+Biodiversity+Water

€41.3 million research centre focusing on research, innovation, and policy development across the interlinked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and water degradation on the islands of Ireland and Britain. Funded by SFI, Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs, and UK Research & Innovation with 29 industry partners.

MESSAGE

The Marine & Energy Social Science Empirical Research Group (MESSAGE) at iCRAG carries out fundamental research at the intersection of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) and STEM, with a particular focus on coastal, marine and renewable energy challenges, to engage communities and other stakeholders in decision-making processes and positive action.

HEAT-ADAPT

UCD researchers are collaborating with Dar es Salaam partners and communities to co-design and produce Nature-based Solutions combatting heat-stress caused by climate change. Funded by SFI and Irish Aid’s SDG Challenge grants, the project will develop socially inclusive, low-cost greening and cooling centres to enhance community resilience.

EnvEcon

A campus spin-off from UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy formed by Dr Andrew Kelly and Prof Peter Clinch, EnvEcon is a leading provider of government and business policy advisory services and decision-support systems focused on matters of economic and environmental policy and regulation. 

MARBEFES

Horizon Europe funded project of 23 partners advancing understanding of the causes and consequences of the maintenance, loss and gain of biodiversity and ecological and economic value and the repercussions of this for the management and governance of European seas. 

Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics

One of the largest data analytics centres in Europe, providing innovative technology solutions for industry and society by enabling better decision-making. Researchers are based across UCD, DCU, UCC and University of Galway.

iCRAG, SFI Research Centre for Applied Geosciences

iCRAG's Observatory Ireland Earth System Change research improves our understanding of Earth system processes, allowing for improved predictions on how Irish environments, ecosystems and landscapes will respond to anthropogenic climate change, and how this can best be mitigated. It brings together multi-disciplinary and multi-institution research teams to conduct and combine local (in situ) to regional (satellite-based) monitoring of marine environments and study sedimentary archives. 

CeADAR Ireland's Centre for Applied AI

CeADAR is Ireland’s national centre for AI. The Enterprise Ireland and IDA funded technology centre was established to support businesses and organsiations in Ireland understand, adopt and leverage the benefits and value of AI and machine learning in a constantly advancing and evolving environment.

UCD Earth Institute

Fostering multidiscipline research to improve fundamental understanding of our rapidly changing environment and find solutions for a sustainable future across varied themes including: climate, crops for the future, sustainable communities, ecosystems and evolution, and water.  

Assessing Flood Risk Awareness Toward Environmental Policy Formation

Computational Fluid Dynamics for a Climate Resilient Built Environment

Planning for sustainability through Environmental Sensitivity Mapping

Ecostructure: Informing Policy for Coastal Defence

Building resilience to climate shocks in Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia

Dr Liana Ricci: Improving adaptation to climate change in sub-Saharan cities

A living lab approach for more sustainable cities: Using open data sets and supporting citizen science 

Centring local perspectives in decisions about the Irish coast

Climate Change Advisory Working Paper: Individual, household and community level climate change adaptation

Expanding Ireland's Marine Protected Area Network

Cities, Governance and Sustainability

Dr Soumyabrata Dev

Assistant Prof at UCD School of Computer Science, using statistical machine learning and deep learning to solve problems in areas such as atmospheric science.

Prof Michela Bertolotto

Expert in data modelling and mining, mobile and web-based GIS, map personalisation, open and crowd-sourced spatial data; Lead on CAMEO and member of the UrbanARK team.

Prof Frank McDermott

Full Prof at UCD School of Earth Sciences, specialising in aqueous geochemistry, including late Pleistocene Climate Change and data-model comparisons. 

Dr Cara Augustenborg

Assistant Prof in Landscape Studies and Environmental Policy, Member of Ireland's Climate Change Advisory Council and of President Michael D. Higgins Council of State.

Dr Shane Bergin

Assistant Professor in Science Education, member of NEXT/ACT and PERITIA project teams, regular contributor on RTE and Newstalk.

Dr Geertje Schuitema

Associate Professor UCD School of Business, environmental psychologist researching how the public accepts technologies and environmental policies.

Dr Nhien-An Le-Khac

Associate Prof at UCD School of Computer Science, specialising in Cybersecurity, AI Security, Machine Learning for Security and Privacy and High Performance computing. 

Energy

Paving the way to transition as leaders in renewable energy generation and distribution.

Soil

Advancing knowledge in biodiversity, sustainable agricultural practices and carbon sequestration.

Earth Observation

Enhancing intelligent systems capability and access to address urgent global challenges.

Sustainable Societies

Engaging with communities and legislators to create a more equal and fair society. 

Bioeconomy

Valorising waste, reducing environmental impact and creating new opportunities for traditional sectors.

Sustainable Food Systems

Leading the way in agrifood innovation and research to inform the food sector from farm-to-fork.