News & Events

UCD Earth Institute hosted events last week with senior European Commission figure Dr John Bell.  A UCD graduate, John is currently the European Commission’s ‘Healthy Planet’ Director leading DG Research and Innovation policy transitions on Climate Change, Bioeconomy, Food Systems, Environment, Biodiversity, Water, Circular Economy, Oceans and the European Green Deal. He leads the EU’s €10 billion Horizon Europe Research & Innovation programme across these planetary transitions.

John is currently Adjunct Full Professor at UCD School of Politics and International Relations. As part of this professorship John has been meeting with staff and students, participating in many events and sharing his extensive experience and knowledge, particularly around how research and education connect to the EU’s Green Deal. Ltast week the Institute worked with others across the university to facilitate exchange and discussion drawing on Professor Bell’s understandings of complex research and policy agendas within the European Commission.

On Monday 4 November the Earth Institute and UCD Dublin European Institute co-hosted a PhD masterclass in the Sutherland School of Law with Professor Bell on the topic "Research to Policy for Climate, Environment and Sustainability". Fifteen students attended from a range of subject areas including environmental policy, environmental science, architecture, agriculture, engineering, economics, politics, geography and mathematics. John spoke about the research-policy interface at the European Commission followed by a group exploration of the policy landscape for participant’s PhD research projects and their real world applications.

On Tuesday John gave a lecture to Professor Lisa Ryan’s Natural Resource Economics undergraduate class and other students from the BSc Sustainability degree. John spoke on the topic "In the planetary crisis, does the EU have a sustainable future?" at the lecture in the O’Brien Centre for Science. He talked about his career path in research and policy in the Commission, the urgent need for sustainability graduates, and the workings of environmental policy at European Commission level.   

In the afternoon the Institute co-hosted an event with Dublin European Institute on ‘The role of the EU in Environmental Protection’, at UCD’s Charles Institute. Professor Bell gave an overview from his perspective on some of the key issues and challenges. This was followed by a presentation by Dr Finbarr Brereton, School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy on "The rationale for supra-national protection of the environment" and Dr Craig Bullock, (APEP) on "The Nature Restoration Law (NRL): Insights from an Irish case study", providing insights from the WaterLANDS wetland restoration project Craig leads with Dr Shane McGuinness. Finally, Dr Catherine MacKenzie, Deputy Provost Chang’an Dublin International College of Transportation spoke about "the role of the CJEU in upholding EU environmental law".

In his contribution to the panel, Professor Bell described the EU's journey from its post-war mission of peaceful integration through to today’s environmental imperative to “make peace with nature.”  He explained how through the European Green Deal, the EU has charted a course for the next thirty years, covering the transition to a circular economy, nature restoration, and climate resilience. John also talked about the urgency of intergenerational action in order to build upon the EU’s comprehensive targets including the Nature Restoration Law.  He gave a call to action for the next generation of environmental leaders, noting that while the challenges are complex, “anxiety is not a policy – hope is essential” and stating that the role of science today is to “give courage to politicians, hope to citizens, space for innovation, and respite to nature.”

Patrice Harrington, Communications Officer at UCD Sustainability Unit has also written a post about the panel discussion for their LinkedIn page.

Images from panel discussion: Patrice Harrington.