LAB MEMBERS
JOHN DEVANEY
Principal Investigator
John received a PhD in Forest Ecology from University College Cork in 2013. After this, John was an EPA Ireland research fellow, using Earth Observation approaches to assess contemporary deforestation in Ireland. From 2015 - 2017, John was a Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellow & was based at the Terrestrial Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre in Maryland, USA. John was a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at Trinity College Dublin from 2018 – 2020. John is the Principal Investigator of the Forest Ecology & Global Change Lab at Maynooth University and also currently serves as the coordinator of the IUFRO working party on Forest Biodiversity and Resilience.
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LAURA HARRIS
PhD Candidate
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Laura graduated with a BSc in Botany from Trinity College Dublin in 2016 and went on to complete a MSc in Biotherapeutics at UCD. Laura joined the Forest Ecology and Global Change Lab in April 2022 to begin work on her PhD project - "Transformation to Continuous Cover Forestry". The PhD is part of the wider ContinuFOR project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine. Laura's PhD is exploring the environmental impacts of transformation of even-aged conifer stands to uneven-aged, structurally diverse mixed forests.
MESHACK MORANGA
PhD Candidate
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Meshack holds a BSc in Environmental Conservation & Natural Resources Management from the University of Nairobi, & a MSc in Environmental Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Meshack joined the lab in October 2022 to work on his PhD - "Natural Colonization of forest on post-industrial peatlands - implications for ecosystem services". The project is funded by the Irish Research Council & the EPA. The research will investigate the impact of natural woodland development on abandoned cutaway peatlands in Ireland, with particular focus on the biodiversity & climate mitigation value of these woodlands.
THOMAS LENISTON
PhD Candidate
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Thomas graduated with a BA in Geography from Maynooth University in 2019 and went on to complete a MSc in Climate Change at Maynooth University in 2020. With expertise in GIS, Thomas joined the Forest Ecology and Global Change Lab in September 2021 as a research assistant on the National Parks and Wildlife Service funded "Long-Established and Ancient Woodlands LEAF" project. In November 2022, Thomas commenced his PhD research on "Improved mapping, monitoring, and conservation of Ireland’s ancient woodlands". His PhD is co-funded by the National Parks and Wildlife, Maynooth Department of Biology, and ICARUS, and co-supervised by Dr John Devaney Dr Helen Shaw, Department of Geography, Maynooth University, and Dr Jenni Roche, NPWS.
Tim Coffey
PhD Candidate
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Tim graduated with a BSc in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Maynooth University in 2022 and completed a MSc in Environmental Sciences at Trinity College Dublin in 2023. Tim joined the Forest Ecology and Global Change Lab in Maynooth in October 2023 to start his PhD, “Role of tree diversity in mediating drought effects in forests under eCO2 and warming”. The PhD is investigating the effects of Irish tree diversity on whole-plant responses to increased warming, CO2 and drought variability. Tim’s research hopes to inform policy-makers and foresters of future afforestation strategy to mitigate effects of climate change, known as climate-smart forestry.
Duyen Hoang
Post Doctoral Researcher​
Duyen received a PhD in Soil Science from University of Goettingen in 2017. Following this, Duyen was Lecturer in Climate Change at the Vietnam National University, as well as a visiting researcher at the Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Kiel University, Germany. Since 2024, Duyen has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Maynooth University, Ireland, working first on the DNET4SOILS project (evaluating low-input sustainable crop+soil solutions, using an on-farm automated crop cultivation platform) and currently on the Future Proofing Senegal’s Great Green Wall project.
Molly Kennedy
Research MSc student
Molly graduated with a BSc in Zoology from University College Cork in 2025. In September 2025, Molly joined the Forest Ecology and Global Change Lab as a research master’s student working on the DeerImpact project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The aim of this two-year master’s is to quantify the impact grazing sika and fallow deer are having on silage production across a gradient of deer densities in order to help guide future deer management and policy in Ireland.