Lily Toomey

Provost's Award PhD student, Peat mining as an unwritten chapter in the fossil fuel age

Lily is a PhD student at the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities working on the project ‘peat mining as an unwritten chapter in the fossil fuel age’, funded by the Provost PhD Project Award. Her research is focused on the modernising Irish state in the twentieth century and the industrialisation of a native energy source, peat. She is also exploring the links between the Irish case and peat mining in the Soviet Union. Her research will shed light on the relationship between rural development and energy use in Ireland and its relevance to contemporary energy and climate challenges.

Lily completed a BA in History and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin in 2019. She also worked from 2013 to 2019 as a vegan chef which fostered her interest in food justice, climate change mitigation and sustainability.

Research interests: environmental history, history of energy and resource use, modern Irish history, policy making, rural development, natural landscapes as symbols of identity and culture.

ltoomey@tcd.ie