Dr Giuseppina Amato

Structural strengthening with fibre reinforced composites (FRP and FRCM), natural composites, shape memory alloys (SMA). Structures under seismic and dynamic loading.

Dr Maarten Blaauw

The use of statistics to answer palaeo-ecological questions, radiocarbon calibration, age-depth modelling, and statistical/ecological interpretations of fossil proxy archives.

Dr Siobhan Cox

Risk assessment of contaminated sites (including human health risk assessment, the use of bioaccessibility testing and differentiating between geogenic and anthropogenic sources of contamination). Environmental assessment, including life cycle assessment, for assessing impacts of novel concrete products.

Dr Rory Doherty

The Circular Economy, reuse and recovery of hazardous and valuable materials, restoration of peatlands, sustainable remediation of pollution, identification and apportionment of potentially toxic elements. 

Dr Trevor Elliot

Environmental and applied tracers for natural and engineered systems;  Hydrogeochemistry and water quality; Groundwater dating and palaeoclimatology; Regional-scale aquifer systems; Aquifer Sustainability issues; Water Resources Management.

Dr Rory Flood

Geochemistry of tropical estuarine and deltaic coastal environments, particularly how estuaries and deltas have changed over the course of the Holocene (c. last 11,000 years). The relationships between geomorphology and climate, particularly development of approaches to understand carbon burial in tropical estuaries and mangroves.

Dr Ray Flynn

The role of groundwater in the wider environment. Recent on-going projects include quantifying blanket bog ecosystem services to water and field scale experimental investigation of salt water intrusion into coastal aquifers. Dr Flynn acted as the principal hydrologist in the development of the Irish Government's Peatland Management Programme. Other research interests include wetland habitat restoration and the mobility of colloids in the water cycle.  

Prof Gerard Hamill

Professor Hamill's research encompasses the major areas of water research that impacts humanity. The provision of fresh potable water to many growing coastal communities is essential for the preservation of life. His work on Saline Intrusion into freshwater coastal aquifer addresses this fundamental problem.  

Dr David Hester

Dr Hester's primary research interest lies in Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), with a particular focus on investigating instrumentation which is practical/cost effective, and developing data interpretation approaches that deliver information useful for decision support.

Dr David Hughes

Dr Hughes's research interests include the use of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to assess geohazards; ageing of geotechnical infrastructure and the impact of climate change on slope stability for the road and rail industry; pavement design and evaluation and pavement materials.

Dr Madjid Karimirad

The analysis, testing, development and design of offshore renewable energy structures. This covers offshore wind turbines both floating and bottom-fixed, wave energy converters, tidal turbines as well as floating solar units. He is particularly interested in the coupled analysis of offshore structures subjected to the simultaneous action of wave, wind and current.

Dr Pauline MacKinnon

River and coastal engineering, with a focus on numerical modelling and lab/field data collection for model validation. Past research has centred around the prediction of pollution from marine outfalls, riverine and coastal water quality and fluvial flood prediction. Other research interests have included the internal hydraulics of marine outfalls and the impact of saline intrusion on marine outfall performance.

Prof Jennifer McKinley 
(Research Cluster Director)

The development and application of spatial analysis techniques, including geostatistics, compositional data analysis and Geographical Information Science (GIS) in the areas of soil geochemistry, environmental and criminal forensics, renewable energy and sustainability, field and remotely sensed geotechnical applications, peatland monitoring, air quality, the environment and human health (cancer studies, renal disease and most recently spatial mapping and analysis of Covid-19).

Dr John McKinley 

As a Senior Lecturer in environmental engineering (Education), Dr McKinley focuses on pedagogy, particularly on criteria-based assessment and eLearning.

Dr Daniel McPolin

Dr McPolin’s research is in the area of structures and materials. He has focused on timber engineering, engineered wood products and connections. He also has extensive experience in cementitious systems and concrete durability. Much of his research is applied and relates directly to industrial organisations.

Dr Donal Mullan

Dr Mullan is an applied climatologist with a primary research focus on the development of regional and site-specific future climate change scenarios using statistical downscaling techniques, and their application to a wide range of environmental and socio-economic impact sectors.

His specialist impact sector is soil erosion and muddy flooding from agricultural land, with primary concern for changes in the off-site transport of sediment and nutrients into the neighbouring natural and built environment.

More recent research has applied climate change scenarios to a range of new impact sectors, with current projects examining future climate threats to natural systems and northern infrastructure in arctic and sub-arctic regions.

Dr Andrew Newton

Current research uses geological, geophysical, and petrophysical data to develop integrated models of the subsurface to explore how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) may (or may not) work. Other research focuses broadly on high latitude and altitude settings. This typically focuses on integrating geomorphological and stratigraphic information from 3D and 2D seismic reflection data, borehole/core data, and land area analysis. This holistic approach provides a better understanding of past environmental changes, their causes, and their potential use as analogues for contemporary and future climate changes.

Dr Kieran O'Driscoll

Development of numerical models for studying and simulating ocean dynamics and systems, and the impacts of anthropogenic pressures on these, including climate change and problematical contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and plastics. The models are highly integrated and interdisciplinary, and include coupled hydrodynamic, chemical fate, ecosystem, atmospheric, and sediment models/modules.  Other research interests include ocean renewable energy issues.

Dr Ulrich Ofterdinger

The overarching theme of Dr Ofterdinger's research is the characterisation of complex geohydrological and environmental systems with an emphasis on better understanding the underlying governing processes and the potential impacts to the environment and human health.

Dr Deborah Phillips

Contaminant fate, transport and behaviour issues associated with contaminanted groundwater, and sorption and precipitation of contamiants in soils/sediments and other geological materials, particularly in weathered environments.    

Dr Gill Plunkett

Dr Plunkett's research interests focus largely on the relationships between humans and their environment, including the causes and impacts of past environmental change. Her work entails the use of multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental methods (pollen, plant macrofossils, tephrochronology) applied to peat, lake or polar ice records.

Dr Ryan Rabett

Dr Rabett's research applies archaeology and palaeoecology to contemporary biodiversity and cultural heritage conservation. This work is centered in northern Vietnam where he has been leading a field project since 2016 within the Trang An World Heritage site. He also has a long-standing interest in early human adaptation and colonisation of new environments, including islands and periglacial settings.

Prof Paula Reimer

Prof Reimer's main research interests lie in extending and refining the internationally ratified radiocarbon calibration curves. She is also interested in all aspects of radiocarbon dating and applications in archaeology, carbon cycling, ecology and palaeoenvironment.

Dr Desmond Robinson

Dr Robinson's research interests include computational fluid dynamics and numerical simulation.

Prof Helen Roe

Key research focii include the response of ecosystems (particularly lakes and peatlands) to environmental change, development of biomonitoring approaches in lakes, and the use of quantitative multi-proxy techniques to aid palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.

Dr Alastair Ruffell

Use of Earth Science techniques in forensic search, scene and sample analysis for humanitarian, serious crime and environmental crime applications. Triassic climate change, the Carnian Humid Episode: the dawn of the dinosaurs and the modern world. Geophysics applied to environmental problems, peat-depth (carbon storage), buildings infrastructure and World War II sites.

Dr Vinayagamoothy Sivakumar

Dr Sivakumar's research interests include geotechnical engineering, soil mechanics, soil structure interaction and geomechanics.

Prof Mohammed Sonebi 

3D Printing of concrete, Bio-based building materials, Rheology of cement-based materials, Self-compacting concrete, Sustainable construction materials, Nanotechnology, BFRP, Structural Health Monitoring and use of industrial by-products.

Prof Graeme Swindles 

Prof Swindles is an Earth System Scientist with research interests in past-present-future environmental change, ecology and palaeoecology, peatlands, and human-environment relations. He works in a diverse range of environments from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests in a range of locations including South and Central America, Canada, Sweden, Britain, Ireland and Alaska.

Prof Su Taylor

Specific research interests include the application of Fibre Optic Sensors for structural and durability monitoring of concrete and timber structures, the development of low energy materials, the use of advanced composites in construction, structural analysis and CMA. She aims to develop intelligent sensing technologies and advanced concretes and composites in and for the built environment and to promote sustainable development. 

Dr Patricia Warke

Dr Warke is a geomorphologist, with specific interests in weathering processes and the conservation of building stone. She was responsible for setting up an historic stone database for Northern Ireland, which assessed nearly 2,000 stone structures. This has provided insights for conservation and management.

Prof Trevor Whittaker

Prof Whittaker has been a pioneer of wave power engineering since the early 1970s, when he first worked with Professor Allan Wells on the design and delivery of the first Wells Turbine.