DrFinbarr Brereton

I am a Lecturer / Assistant Professor in Environmental Policy with UCD Environmental Policy. I am currently Director of Graduate Studies in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. I was formerly the Director of the MSc Environmental Policy and the accredited version of that program and Head of Subject for Environemental Policy. I am a member of the UCD Earth Institute and the UCD Behavioural Science & Policy Group.

I am an Environmental Economist who's research focuses on exploring the determinants of subjective well-being, specifically the spatial environmental determinants. More recently, my research has focused on people's perceptions of, and behavioural responses to, environmental externalities caused by natural hazards and human activities. I have published papers in high quality international peer review journals such as Ecological Economics, Risk Analysis, Environmental Hazards, European Urban and Regional Studies and Natural Hazards.

I have worked on numerous externally funded projects and am currently PI for the BRIGHT project ("Behavioural Research to Inform Greener Home Transformations") funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Previous projects include, inter alia, a networking grant "All-Island environmental governance post Brexit? Mobilising key actors in Ireland and Northern Ireland" with QUB co-funded by the IRC and ESRC; FloodPAP exploring flood risk perceptions; Energy for Well-being, examining the influence of energy mix on well-being in Europe, and HAPPINESS (HAPpiness, Political Institutions, Natural Environment and Space). I was also a team member of the PERITIA (Policy, Expertise and Trust) project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

I teach on modules such as Environmental Change and Policy, Environmental Management and European Union Environmental Policy. I currently organise a fieldtrip for students to the EU Institutions in March each year.