School:

UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Tasman Crowe

Project Description:

Into the wild - Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas in Ireland
The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas has been introduced to many countries all over the world mainly for aquaculture. Its rapid growth under a variety of environmental conditions makes it well suited for aquaculture and it has been the belief that wild establishment would not occur due to unfavourable temperature regimes in many of the culture areas. However, today, the Pacific oyster has become a highly successful invasive species with self-sustaining populations outside aquaculture in many countries due to changing climatic conditions. In 1973, the Pacific oyster was introduced to Ireland and at present, it is one of the main shellfish species produced in Irish aquaculture. In recent years, the first populations have been observed in the wild. The extent of these populations is not yet known. Whether the oysters are recruiting also in the wild or the larvae still originate only from aquaculture individuals is also unknown.

In this project, I will investigate current patterns of distribution of Crassostrea gigas in Ireland and assess the status of establishing populations. Sampling and experimentation will be used to identify factors that may enhance or slow its spread. To test whether populations establishing in nature differ from farmed populations, genetic analyses comparing “wild” and aquaculture populations will be carried out. Findings will be used to improve prediction of its spread and plan management responses. This research is being done in association with the Simbiosysproject and in collaboration with Francis O’Beirn (Marine Institute), CiaránMcGonigle (the Loughs Agency), Grainne O’Brien (BordIascaighMhara (BIM)) and Claire Guy (Queen’s University Belfast).

Paul Brooks, UII

School:

UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Tasman Crowe

Project Description:

Combined effects of multiple disturbances and environmental change on coastal ecosystems
Human activities are causing major changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems. The new EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires member states to characterise the current state of its marine ecosystems, identify drivers of change and develop management plans to maintain or restore good ecological status. This task is extremely difficult because a wide range of different disturbances act individually and collectively and we currently lack the capacity to predict their impacts under particular circumstances. To avoid having to characterise all combinations of impacts on all systems under all circumstances, we must attempt to find general patterns of impact based on selected parameters of disturbances and the systems they affect. Suitable model systems will be selected on the coast of Ireland. Disturbance regimes combining different stressors will be imposed in long-term field experiments and impacts on ecosystem structure and functioning will be sampled. Relevant findings will be communicated to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and other relevant bodies to help underpin effective environmental management.

Paul O’Callaghan, UII

School:

UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Mary Kelly-Quinn

Project Description:

Development of a water quality index for Cusuco National Park, Honduras
Cusuco National Park is a cloud forest park situated in the Merendon mountains region of Honduras.  It is home to considerable biodiversity including 270 bird species, 93 reptile and amphibian species, and a massive diversity of invertebrates.  Despite this the area was declared a national park not because of its biodiversity, but mainly because of its function in protecting river water quality in the headwaters of the catchment, this being the potable water source for several large urban areas including San Pedro Sula.  The freshwater systems in the park are under increasing pressure however there is very limited water quality monitoring, mainly because a biological index such as those in use in western Europe and the United States has not been developed in Honduras.  Any monitoring which does occur is limited to chemical and physical parameters which have been proven to be very limited in the information they provide as well as being relatively The development of a biological water quality index was therefore considered of vital importance to the park.             
In 2008 a scoping exercise was performed to assess if the viability of the project and the first full round of sampling was completed in the summer of 2009 during which time macroinvertebrate samples were taken from 21 sites considered to be in near natural (i.e. reference) condition using standard methodologies.  These along with further samples to be taken during the summer of 2010 will be used as a baseline to develop a river typology and to identify possible indicator taxa.  For each river type the communities in reference condition will be compared to those along a gradient of impact and a quality index developed based on the differences found.

School:

TCD School of Engineering

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Mark Dyer and Dr. Ruth Collins

Project Description:

Data models to inform energy use software modelling systems
This research aims to examine measured parameters to improve the understanding of how energy is used in a building and to advance energy models. This data and understanding can then be used to develop the next generation of BEMS which in turn can improve consumer awareness of energy usage in buildings and create behavioural change. Building energy can also be automated to reduce energy consumption and this research will compare the effectiveness of automation versus increased awareness in terms of the reduction of energy consumption in typical university buildings.

Corelia Baibarac, TrinityHaus

School:

TCD School of Engineering

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Niamh Harty and Prof. Anna Davies

Project Description:

Remapping selected Dublin neighbourhoods to identify underutilised resources and connections to transform Dublin towards a low carbon society
This project will focus on remapping selected Dublin neighbourhoods in order to gain an improved understanding of local infrastructure and amenities to promote low carbon living. The research will consider existing public/private interface, connections and disconnections and also inhabitants’ behaviour and patterns of usage of resources. The aim is to remap selected neighbourhoods in order to identify underutilised resources and connections within the city. This process is intended at ultimately understanding how the neighbourhood can be reengineered in order to provide liveable urban environments, which are suitable throughout all stages of an individual’s life cycle and which encourage sustainable behaviour, thus transforming Dublin towards a low carbon society.

Niamh Rabbitt, TrinityHaus

School:

TCD School of Engineering

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Mark Dyer

Project Description:

The potential of the business community as part of the smart green economy to transform Dublin into a “Slim City”
This project will investigate the potential to use businesses as a lever to create a low carbon Dublin. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) are major users of materials and energy in the inner city, as such achieving a better understanding of the way they use resources and the volume of resources they use is a key component of reducing Dublin’s environmental impact. Understanding and improving the supply chains which lead into and out of Dublin City are key to understanding the cities resource model as a whole. At the same time recent opposition within the business community to “green” initiatives (e.g. cycle lanes) has the potential to hamper Dublin’s movement towards sustainability.

School:

UCD School of Economics

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Ronald B. Davies

Project Description:

• Trade and Environment
• Firm-level analysis
• Currently analysing the effect of exporting on firm's fuel use

More details of this research project are in the published Working Paper "Is there an environmental benefit to being an exporter?"

Svetlana's CV can also be downloaded here.

Jurate Jaraite, UII

School:

UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Frank Convery and Dr. Corrado Di Maria

Project Description:

The timing of this thesis allows me to perform the ex-post analysis of the 1st phase (2005-2007) of the European Union’s CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) which is the key policy launched in 2005 to help meet the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
My first analysis addresses an aspect of emissions trading that is often overlooked: transaction costs. My gathered evidence for the sources of transaction costs, their magnitude and the distribution of costs shows that these were mainly administrative in nature. Considerable variation in costs was found due to economies of scale, as the costs per tonne of CO2 were lower for participants with larger allocations.
In the second analysis we explore whether the EU ETS could provide incentives for the public power plants responsible for about one third of EU-27 CO2 emissions, to improve their environmental and productive performance. Two findings emerge from this analysis: i) the EU ETS had a positive effect on the environmental efficiency and technical change of the public power plants; however, ii) the looseness of this policy reflected in the overallocation of the grandfathered permits led to the deteriorating performance.
The third paper seeks to identify the change in a number of firm performance indicators relative to the change that would have occurred if the EU ETS had not been implemented. That is, it seeks to identify the causal effect of the EU ETS on the measures of environmental and economic performance. We perform this analysis for two sets of firms - the Irish and Lithuanian - which give us a unique opportunity to understand whether a different degree of permit allocation stringency experienced by Ireland (the net short position of the EUAs) and Lithuania (the net long position of the EUAs) caused different outcomes. It is still work in progress.

School:

UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Paula Russell and Dr. Declan Redmond

Project Description:

Creating Sustainable Urban Communities: Governance, Active Citizenship and Local Services
Owen’s research is in the area of sustainable urban communities and local service delivery with particular reference to the role of governance, community participation and active citizenship in the creation of places which are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. His research aims to conceptualise ‘sustainable urban communities’ and identify and examine existing models of community-state interaction and local service delivery in Dublin. From a strategic spatial planning perspective, his research seeks to understand the constraints on creating sustainable communities and to identify innovative and workable policies, strategies and models for governance and service delivery in Dublin. He is registered as a PhD student with the School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy at UCD and is supervised by Dr. Paula Russell and Dr. Declan Redmond. He is part of the Planning and Land Use cluster of the GREP in Sustainable Development and is based at the UCD Urban Institute Ireland.

Richard Waldron, UII

School:

UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Declan Redmond, Dr. Brendan Williams

Project Description:

An Analysis of the Spatial & Socio Economic Outcomes of Mortgage Risk in the Dublin Functional Urban Region
The proposal is to analyse the spatial and socio economic impacts of mortgage lending risk for First Time Buyers and Low Income Owners in the Dublin housing market over th period of 1985 to 2009, with a view to establishing linkages between the organisational structure, ethos and management of lending institutions, the spatial deconcentration of Dublin and increased household budgetary pressure.

Mozart Fazito, UII

School:

UCD School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Mark Scott, Dr. Paula Russell and Dr. Veronica Crossa

Project Description:

Conflicting Rationalities of Tourism Development at the Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve in Brazil
An alternative to development oriented by wealth and income, based on the modernization theory, and addicted to rankings and measurement, is the development centred in conflict management and consensus building. This process may help preserve local cultural diversity, a key concept in tourism’s attractiveness, since it avoids the standardizations promoted by rankings and single path development. The general objective of this research is to bring the concept of conflicting rationalities to tourism planning, drawn on the work of Rydin (2003), Murdoch and Abram (2002), and Scott (2008), with a focus on the formal and informal institutions which drive policy making for tourism. This research will take place in the UNESCO Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve in Brazil.

School:

UCD School of Architecture, Landscape and Civil Engineering

Supervisor(s):

Dr. Debra Laefer

Project Description:

Computational modelling crack propagation due to expansion agents
Increasing concerns regarding environmental impacts from high explosives provide a strong motivation to decrease their usage in the construction industry. Expansive cements (also known as soundless chemical demolition agents–SCDAs) offer an alternative but have not been widely adopted for selective removal of rock and concrete due to their proprietary nature and a lack of usage guidelines. This project will develop a computational model to replicate and optimise SCDA behaviour in concrete and rock to improve efficiency with respect to temperature, confinement levels, and post-cracking treatments in order to decrease the usage of blasting and percussive techniques for concrete and rock removal in inhabited and environmentally sensitive areas.

Ciarán Carey, UII

School:

UCD School of Architecture, Landscape and Civil Engineering

Supervisor(s):

Prof. Eugene OBrien, Dr. Arturo Gonzalez

Project Description:

Investigation of dynamic amplification factors in bridges.
It is important that the design of new bridges and the analysis of existing bridge stock can be done to the highest possible degree of accuracy. By ensuring this, savings can be made in terms of money, resources and environmental impact. Accurately determining the dynamic amplification factor is crucial in deciding the capacity of bridges to cater for the increasing frequency and weight of Europe's road freight.