Current Position
PhD Researcher

My Thesis' Abstract
Cian’s PhD is examining the transition from carbon intensive energy systems to renewable and low-carbon alternatives (supervisors Adrian Smith and Ed Steinmueller). Specifically he is asking why some countries are capable of “rapid catch-up” despite a low scale indigenous industrial base. This research has important implications for climate change mitigation strategies both in European Union contexts and the global south. He is concentrating his empirical focus on the growth of wind energy in Ireland over the past 25 years and innovation processes between Ireland and other European Union countries.
Like lots of people, Cian is all for keeping carbon dioxide trapped inside fossil fuels buried in the ground. But some questions as to how we do that remain. Such as who profits from transitions to new energy systems, who pays and who gains? In attempting to answer these questions Cian employs and is attempting to build on perspectives taken from the socio-technical transitions literature, technological innovation systems and capabilities and catch-up using both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Specific research interests include

• Diffusion of renewable systems
• Green growth
• Socio-technical transitions
• Technological innovation systems
• Climate change mitigation strategies and policies in the European Union
• Social movements and critical technology perspectives

 
Cian also teaches on two Masters level modules at Susses, An Introduction to Climate Change Economics and Politics, and Innovation for Sustainability