Assoc ProfessorDara Stanley

Dara is an Associate Professor in Applied Entomology in the School of Agriculture and Food Science, and Earth Institute, at UCD. Her broad research interests span biodiversity, ecology, conservation and sustainable agriculture, with a special focus on pollinating insects and plants.

Dara graduated in 2008 with a BA Mod in Botany from Trinity College Dublin, and in 2013 with a PhD entitled “Pollinators and pollination in changing agricultural landscapes; investigating the impacts of bioenergy crops”. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Royal Holloway, University of London on pesticides and bumblebee behaviour (2013-2015), and in the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa on plant-pollinator interactions in the Indian Coastal Belt grasslands and the importance of honeybees in wild plant-pollinator systems (2016). From 2016 to 2018 she worked as a Lecturer in Plant Ecology at the University of Galway before moving to UCD in September 2018. 

Dara currently leads a research team at UCD investigating questions around plant and pollinator ecology, conservation, contribution to crop production, public perceptions, and interactions with pesticide use and climate in Ireland, Europe and Africa. She is co-chair of the Earth Institute Biodiversity research theme, a founding member of the Irish Pollinator Research Network, and an active member of the All Ireland Climate and Biodiversity Research Network, British Ecological Society and Royal Entomological Society. She has won a number of awards for her work including the British Ecological Society Founders Prize (2021), Science Foundation Ireland Early Career Researcher of the Year (2021) and the Royal Entomological Society Marsh Award for early career entomologist (2018). She is also passionate about public engagement, science communication and outreach.

Media enquiries: Biodiversity, Bees, Pollinators, Insects, Pesticides and Conservation