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Dr

Ronan McDermott

Ad Astra Fellow - Lecturer/Assistant Professor (Above the Bar)

School of Agriculture and Food Science

Orcid identifier0000-0002-1800-7003
  • Ad Astra Fellow - Lecturer/Assistant Professor (Above the Bar)
    School of Agriculture and Food Science
  • +353 1 716 7784
  • University College Dublin, School of Agriculture and Food Science, Agriculture and Food Science Belfield Dublin 4

BIO

Dr Rónán McDermott is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor and Ad Astra Fellow based at the Centre for Humanitarian Action within UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.

His main areas of interest include disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, particularly the role of governance in enabling these outcomes. This work is aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 13 (climate action) and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). Rónán has published numerous journal articles, book chapters and policy briefs relating to these topics.  His publications have appeared in journals including Disasters, Progress in Disaster Science, Disaster Prevention and Management, Development Policy Review, Development in Practice, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, and Journal of International Humanitarian Action.  This output has been cited by a range of relevant stakeholders, including the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Rónán is the Programme Director of the Joint Masters in International Humanitarian Action.  In this capacity he is a Director of the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA), an international association of universities that aims to enhance professionalism in the humanitarian sector through education & training, research & publications, and projects. He is an inaugural Climate Fellow at the UCD Earth Institute and a Research Fellow within the Disaster and Climate Resilience Research Cluster of Resilience Development Initiative, an Indonesian think-tank focused on sustainable development.  

He was project manager at UCD Centre for Humanitarian Action of the Horizon 2020-funded Preparedness and Resilience to address Urban Vulnerabilities project from 2016 to 2019. During this period he was a visiting scholar at Gadjah Mada University, University of Nairobi and Jesuit Refugee Service (Latin America and the Caribbean).  Prior to his current appointment at University College Dublin, he held positions at the School of Geography, University of Nottingham and at the Department of Global and Local Governance, University of Groningen. 

He is a graduate of the University of Galway (BA (International)), London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc), and University College Dublin (PhD). He holds a Certificate in University Teaching from the University of Groningen.

If you are interested in studying for a PhD or completing a post-doctoral fellowship with Rónán please get in touch.

Open to media requests.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN APPOINTMENTS

  • Climate Fellow
    UCD Earth Institute, Ireland1 Sep 2024

MEDIA

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ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Director
    Network on Humanitarian Action, Belgium1 May 2024
  • Assistant Professor
    University of Groningen, Global and Local Governance, Netherlands1 Aug 2021 - 29 Feb 2024
  • Research Fellow
    University of Nottingham, Geography, United Kingdom1 Jan 2021 - 31 Jul 2021
  • Assistant Professor
    University College Dublin, Centre for Humanitarian Action, Agriculture and Food Science, Dublin, Ireland1 Jan 2020 - 31 Dec 2020

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Fellow (0.0 FTE)
    Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia1 Sep 2022

DEGREES

  • BA(International), Bachelor of Arts Degree
    NUI Galway IRL
  • Cert Continuing Professional Development
    University College Dublin
  • Cert. Uni. Teaching Quali. in Higher Edu
    University of Groningen
  • MSc, Msc in European Social Policy
    London School of Economics & Political Science UK
  • PhD, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
    University College Dublin