Energy Research in the Department focuses on the development of next-generation renewable energy technologies, while also examining topics such as energy recovery and behavioural change to address sustainability. Two prominent initiatives exist under this research theme: Trinity Haus, an innovation centre focusing on energy in buildings and sustainability in the built environment; and the Solar Energy Applications Group (SEAG), a leading research group working in the field of solar energy and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems.
Assistant Professor, Civil Struct & Env. Eng.
Dr. Clarke's research focuses on risk and the built environment. She conducted her PhD entitled "Risk Assessment for Masonry Buildings due to Tunnelling-Induced Settlement" at University College Dublin. Since then, her research has focused on vulnerability and risk modelling for critical infrastructure networks due to natural hazards and climate change impacts. Dr. Clarke led the implementation of a novel quantitative risk methodology to determine the losses for two case study regions in Europe due to extreme hazard events, as part of the INFRARISK EU-funded H2020 project. More recently, she acted as Principal Investigator for the EPA-funded TACT project, which developed a risk assessment framework to quantify the costs of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies for land and maritime transport networks in Ireland.
Professor, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering
Nonlinear Waves, Hydrodynamics, Mathematical Oceanography, Nonlinear Analysis, Renewable Energy Technologies, Smart Grid, Wind Energy, Offshore Wind Turbines, Wave Energy, Structural Health Monitoring, Passive, Active and Semi-active Vibration Control, Random Vibrations, Wind & Earthquake Engineering, Time-frequency and Wavelet Analysis, Non-stationary Processes, Tarffic Flow Theory and Control
Associate Professor, Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering
Electricity Storage; Energy Conversion Processes or Cycles; Environmental Impacts, Interactions; Integration of Renewable Energy Systems; Nanotechnology; Optics; Photovoltaic systems, cells and modules manufacturing; Polymers; Renewable energies.
Professor, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Associate Professor, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Assistant Professor, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
My research interests are mainly focused on Geotechnical and Offshore Engineering where I lead the offshore geotechnics research group which is focused on solving the technical challenges in offshore wind energy (aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals 7 and 13). I am actively involved in driving innovation within the geotechnical engineering community through advancements in fundamental understanding of soil behaviour, numerical modelling and experimental testing. My research has had a significant impact on the offshore wind industry, helping to reduce the costs and increase economic viability. I was a key contributor to the UK Carbon Trust Pile Soil Analysis (PISA) project, which developed new design methods for offshore wind foundations. The PISA design model is now the de-facto design approach used by engineers designing offshore wind foundations worldwide. This new approach is estimated to save ~30% of steel weight compared to the previous industry standard approach. The PISA project won the prestigious BGA Fleming Award and was recognised by the Carbon Trust as one of the 10 most high impact projects undertaken in the last 10 years by the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) program (which estimates its projects have resulted in £34 Billion cost savings for the offshore wind industry by 2030). I am currently collaborating with the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Southampton, Western Australia, Imperial College London, TU Delft. Geotechnical Engineering is historically poorly funded. Prior to my joining TCD, there had been no large grants (>€150k) won in this area in the previous 10 years. By harnessing my expertise in offshore geotechnics and targeting research funding supporting the Renewable Energy transition, I have managed to bring in significant research funding of €1.14 million to TCD in the past 3 years (with total consortium funding >€3 million), funded by SFI, SEAI, IRC and Geological Survey Ireland. In 2021 I joined the SFI ICRAG research centre as a funded Investigator where I was recently awarded funding of €170k. The program for government (2020) has targeted 5GW of offshore wind to be developed by 2030 which will require an investment of ~10 Billion. I have made this area one of the hot topics within the department and I will continue to grow my research group to position Trinity as Irelands leading University supporting Offshore Wind Geotechnics.
