Patrick Bresnihan

My research has looked at different but related concerns around water, land, and energy in Ireland and how these speak to broader questions of colonial and postcolonial development, the ‘green’ transition and environmental justice. My empirical focus is Ireland but always with a view to contributing to broader, international conversations and movements for environmental justice and social change.

My current research looks at the expansion of data centres in Ireland, the role that big tech plays in shaping Ireland's energy future, and the spatial justice implications of large-scale renewable energy and grid infrastructure development across Ireland. This work connects a number of longstanding interests, including how Ireland's colonial and postcolonial history continues to shape present-day development; the enrolling of rural landscapes (particularly bogs) within state and corporate projects; the justice implications of national and international environmental policy and governance; and the place-based resistance of affected communities, whose connections to land and environment are often discounted within planning and development.

My book, All We Want is the Earth. Land, Labour and Movements beyond Environmentalism, written with long-time collaborator Naomi Millner (Bristol University), will be published in 2023 with Bristol University Press. 

My research is often collaborative, including working with local community groups, activists, and artists. I am interested in experimenting with creative methods and practices. This interest has been shaped by my involvement in the Provisional University (provisionaluniversity.wordpress.ie) and the Authority Research Network (www.authorityresearch.net). 

I am currently supervising:
- Jamie Rohu on Just transitions on the Irish peatlands (IRC-funded).
- Laure Detymowski on urban environmental justice (IRC-funded).
- Robert Keogh on offshore energy & the politics of degrowth (John Hume Scholarship)