Róisín Moriarty
Research Fellow
Researchers UCC Energy Transition, Climate Action Energy Policy & Modelling
University College Cork

OVERVIEW 

Dr Róisín Moriarty works on climate and policy and is based in University College Cork (UCC). While her research has focused on climate change and the carbon cycle, it is the synthesis and communication of scientific data for policy and other decision-makers that has shaped her career.
 
Her current focus is the development of new integrated energy-land-food systems modelling tools that support long-term climate planning and improve the evidence base for climate policy.
 
Her research is focused on carbon budgets, carbon removal and modelling the synergies and trade-offs in the energy-land-food system. She is interested in transformative mitigation and adaptation that move us from imagining a climate-neutral, resilient and equitable future to realising that transformation and its multiple benefits.
 
She has co-authored numerous academic papers, including a paper in Nature, a book chapter on carbon budgets and was a lead author on Climate Change Advisory Council Periodic and Annual Review Reports. She worked as an expert reviewer on greenhouse gas inventories technical reports for the UNFCCC (2018 to 2023).
 
CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Her current focus is the development of new integrated energy-land-food systems modelling tools that support long-term climate planning and improve the evidence base for climate policy.

BACKGROUND

  • 2022-2024: Climate and Policy Research Fellow at the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork. Lead author on Ireland’s Climate Change Assessment Volume 4: Realising the benefits of transition and transformation.
  • 2016-2019: Climate Mitigation Advisor at the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC), Ireland

Advised and briefed the council on climate science and policy, including GHG emissions, energy, land, climate and environmental justice and Just Transition

  • 2013-2016: Senior Research Associate at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Executive Officer of the UK Global Carbon Project Office, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK

Performed research related to GHG emissions, climate impacts, decarbonisation pathways and science-based targets as required, working closely with colleagues in the Global Carbon Project and the Tyndall Centre

  • 2009-2013: Research Associate and GEOTRACES Fellow at the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, UK

Analysed helium and tritium samples to investigate the distribution of trace elements and carbon in the oceans

  • 2005 – 2009: PhD in Environmental Science with the Dynamic Green Ocean Modelling Group at School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK and the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge UK, under the supervision of Professor Corinne Le Quéré.

Thesis: The role of macrozooplankon in the global carbon cycle. Investigated the effect of biological and ecological processes on ocean biogeochemistry and their role in the global carbon cycle using data collection, analysis and numerical modelling. To carry out his work I was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship in Antarctic Air Sea Ice Science (FAASIS)

For a complete list of academic publications, visit Google Scholar. 

  • 2000 – 2004: BSc in Marine Science, National University of Galway, Ireland