John O'Sullivan

Assoc. Prof. John O'Sullivan is an Associate Professor and Head of School at the University of College Dublin's School of Civil Engineering. He is a Fellow of the UCD Earth Institute and a member of the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research. His expertise spans catchment hydrology, river hydraulics, fluvial processes, and coastal engineering. He leads major projects like ACCLIMATIZE (climate change modeling for coastal waters) and ECOSTRUCTURE (sustainable coastal defenses). O'Sullivan has over 100 publications and supervised 8 PhD/MSc students. He coordinates modules in Hydraulics, Professional Work Experience, and Computer Applications in Civil Engineering.

Education:

• BA (Mathematics), Trinity College Dublin
• BAI (Engineering), Trinity College Dublin
• DPhil, University of Ulster
• MSc (Civil Engineering), Queen's University Belfast
• Professional Certificate in University Teaching & Learning, UCD

Research Interests: Focus on water-sensitive urban design, sediment transport modeling, and microbial pollution in aquatic systems. His work integrates field measurements with machine learning for predictive models in coastal resilience and water quality forecasting.

Grants & Projects:

• ACCLIMATIZE (EU Bathing Water Directive compliance)
• SWIM (real-time bathing water quality models)
• ECOSTRUCTURE (eco-friendly coastal defenses)
• RECONNECT (river barrier impact assessments)

Professional Activities: Leadership roles in Engineers Ireland, including Chair of the Civil Engineering Division. Active in curriculum development, including a hybrid academic advising model praised for improving student engagement.

Labs/Teams: Leads interdisciplinary teams in the Dooge Centre and Earth Institute, collaborating on projects like microplastic fate studies and antimicrobial resistance tracking in rivers.