About

I am the Galway University Foundation Lecturer in the Economics of Climate Change and Development at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the University of Galway, a founding member of the Centre for Economic Research on Inclusivity and Sustainability (CERIS) at the University of Galway, and a former Government of Ireland Research Fellow.

My research is at the intersection of environmental and development economics. In particular, I study the economic and social impacts of extreme weather events such as floods, as well as how societies and economies adapt and respond to changing environmental risk.  I have published widely, including in leading economics journals, as well as more generalist science and social science journals. My Google Scholar profile is here. I am also co-editor with Sam Fankhauser of The Economics of Climate Resilient Development (Edward Elgar, 2016).

I have previously consulted for the World Bank (Investing in Disaster Risk Management in an Uncertain Climate), the Asian Development Bank (Lead Consultant for Strengthening Disaster Resilience, ADO 2019), and the Irish Government (EPA/Dept of Climate Action) — including contributing a background paper for Ireland’s first statutory National Climate Change Adaptation Framework (published in January 2018).

I previously worked as a researcher at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.  I hold a PhD from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), where I was supervised by Frank Barry and Richard Tol. During the Summer of 2012 I was a PhD research intern at the United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki. I hold a B.Comm (International – with Italian) and an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Galway and previously taught economics at Dublin City University and at UCC.