Oscar Mooney

Biography

I am is a second year PhD student in TCD’s Geography department focusing on the social and cultural challenges of afforestation in Ireland. I have a Master’s in “Global Change Ecology: Ecosystem Science and Policy” from UCD. I have previous experience in community climate change work, advocacy, civil engagement, and environmental and climate change activism. My research interests include social ecology, political economy, systems theory, and human-nature interactions.

My PhD aims to contextualises forestry within the dual challenges of rural development and climate change and biodiversity loss. Understanding that Ireland’s agricultural and land-use system has been shaped by historic conflicts and ongoing contentions, afforestation will need to contend with the cultural sensitives to land-use change while acknowledging the legacies of farmers and their relationship to land.

I also works as a part-time Research Assistant with UCD’s “Just Transition Research Group” focusing on conceptualisations of Just Transition and how these are utilised in practice during the low-carbon transition.