Ronan Cooney

Ronan is a graduate of the BSc in Marine Science (Hons) from NUI Galway. Following the completion of his degree he has worked on projects with Inland Fisheries Ireland. Namely the Environmental River Enhancement Programme, the National River Sampling Programme, and the Invasive Species Unit. From working on these projects he has gained skills in habitat assessment, water quality and river vegetation. He has also worked in the smolt unit of the Marine Institute when awarded a bursary and as an intern in Dunmore East as a port based fisheries analyst.

Ronan joined MOREFISH in 2015 and is currently a PhD candidate in the College of Engineering and Informatics. His research focuses on assessing the sustainability of the Irish freshwater aquaculture sector using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. A core area of Ronan's research is unifying the holistic techniques used in establishing the ecological status of a waterbody as per the Water Framework Directive (WFD) with LCA so as to develop a biodiversity impact category for freshwater aquaculture sites.

Research Interests:

• Sustainable aquaculture;
• Life Cycle Assessment - incorporating biodiversity impacts & Consequential LCA;
• process optimisation.