Dr Catriona Duffy
About
Catriona is a postdoctoral researcher whose expertise lies in the areas of ecology, agriculture and climate. Her background is in zoology and she completed her PhD in 2015 entitled ‘Developing a temperature-dependent simulation model for Sitobion avenae: Impacts of climate change for spring barley in Ireland’. Since then she has worked on the EPA-funded ‘Downscaling for Decision Making’ project, as well as the DAFM-funded FORM project. Both of these posts involved the application of machine learning, statistical and spatial analysis to elucidate the relationships that exist between entities within the natural environment.
She is currently working on the DAFM-funded FITFOREST project where she is assessing the impacts of climate change on Irish forestry. She uses numerical and biogeographic modelling techniques in conjunction with global climate simulations to assess the effects of climate change on the phenology and distribution of key forest species both nationally and globally.
Her research interests lie with the interactions that occur between the natural environment and climate, particularly changes in phenology, development and distribution of native and introduced species. More specifically, she is interested in the application of machine learning and biogeographical models to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on insect pest populations and their plant hosts.