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Dr. John Connolly

Kinsella Assistant Professor (Geography)

 JOHN.CONNOLLY@tcd.ie

 


Biography

Dr. John Connolly is an Assistant Professor in Physical Geography and leads the Trinity Geospatial & Environmental Modelling Group. He joined Trinity College Dublin in September 2020 and got tenure in July 2024. He teaches GIS and remote sensing at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. John's research uses GIS and Earth Observation to study the terrestrial environment including land use change; landscape carbon dynamics and habitat assessment. He has published more than 40 journal articles, reports and policy statements including articles in leading international peer-review journals such as: Earth Science Reviews; International Journal of Remote Sensing and Biogeosciences.

John is currently the Principal Investigator for the EPA funded ICONNEEx project, iHabiMap project (2019 - 2024) and the DAFM Funded RePEAT project (2022 - 2025). He is also PI on the EPA funded ICONEEx project (2023 - 2025). He is a CO-PI on several projects including the EPA & NPWS funded Irish Peatland Resilience project(2021 - 2024), SmartBog project(2019-2023); the DAFM funded GENENET project project (2020-2022) and the SFI funded Enable SolarMap Project (2020-2021). He is also an international collaborator on the Boston University led GLanCE Project(2019-2024). He has co-ordinated several national and international research proposals including FP7, H2020, EPA, DAFM and a Google Earth Engine Research Award. John Collaborates widely and has active collaborations with colleagues in Ireland, Germany, UK, Sweden, USA, Canada and Brazil. He is also a Coordinating Lead Author on Chapter 2.1 of the Global Peatland Assessment

He has supervised three PhDs to completions and currently supervises three PhD students (one at Trinity, one in NUI Galway and one in Greifswald University) and co-supervises four Post Doctoral Researchers.

He is interested in supervising PhD students, and working with Post Doctoral researchers interested in applied GIS and Earth Observation (Google Earth Engine etc.) under the following themes

· Global Land use and land use change using EO

· Landscape carbon dynamics (Net Ecosystem Exchange)

· Mapping peatlands and peatland degradation

· Mapping the historical extent of peatlands and loss of carbon

Prior to joining Trinity College Dublin, John held positions at Dublin City University, Lund University, University College Cork and University College Dublin

Research Projects

 RePEAT- A Modern Resurvey of Mapped Irish Peatlands to Refine Assessment of Land Use Change and Progress Greenhouse Gas Removal and Emissions Inventories
 Satellite-driven model to upscale Irish CO2 Net Ecosystem Exchange (ICONEEx).
 Irish Peatland Resilience
 Habitat Mapping, Monitoring and Assessment using High-Resolution Imagery
 Tellus Peatmap

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Representations

Details Date
Journal Reviewer - Geoderma 2021
Member of Editorial Board for Frontiers in Earth Science 2019
Treasurer of the Geomorphological Association of Ireland 2021 to present
Invited to be an external PhD examiner for Dept. of Geography at Maynooth University 2024
Invitation to be External Examiner for PhD student at the University of the Highlands and Islands 2021
Invited to join a OPW hiring Board for a GIS Grade 2 position. 2024
Invited to be a Steering Committee member for Peatland Finance Ireland 2023
Invited member of scientific advisory board for CSO Ecosystem Extent Accounts committee and the CSO Expert Group on Global Climate Regulation 2023
Invited Reviewer - Journal of Hydrology 2022
Invited Reviewer - Biogeosciences 2022
Invited reviewer - Frontiers in Earth Science 2022

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
French Basic Basic Medium

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) 2019 2023
International Peatland Society (IPS) 2004 2024
Geographical Society of Ireland (GSI) 2012 2024
Geomorphological Association of Ireland 2023 2024
Irish Geomorphological Society (IGGY) 2017 2023
European Geosciences Union 2020 2024
American Geosciences Union 2013 2014
Webster, Kara; Strack, Maria; Balliston, Nicole; Davies, Marissa; Hettinga, Katie; Hunter, Miranda; Kleinke, Kimberly; Schmidt, Megan; Barreto, Carlos; Bird, Melanie; Blann, Kristen; Bona, Kelly Ann; Cassidy, Alison; Connolly, John; Davidson, Scott; Fedorchuk, Lee; Garneau, Michelle; Harris, Lorna; He, Hongxing; Howie, Sarah; Kirkwood, Adam; Pontone, Nicholas; Richardson, Karen; Sanderson, Nicole; Seutin, Gilles; Xu, Bin; Yin, Xiangbo, Data and knowledge needs for improving science and policy for peatlands in Canada in a changing world: Insights from Global Peatlands Initiative Workshop, June 2023, FACETS, 2025, Journal Article, ACCEPTED
Cruz, C., Perrin, P. M., Martin, J. R., O"Connell, J., McGuinness, K., & Connolly, J., Mapping of temperate upland habitats using high-resolution satellite imagery and machine learning, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Catherine A. Farrell, John Connolly, Terry R. Morley, Charting a course for peatland restoration in Ireland: a case study to support restoration frameworks in other regions, Restoration Ecology, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Wahaj Habib, Remi Cresson, Kevin McGuinness, John Connolly, Mapping artificial drainage on Peatlands - A national scale assessment of Irish raised bogs using sub-meter aerial imagery and deep learning methods, Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Cruz, Charmaine; O'Connell, Jerome; McGuinness, Kevin; Martin, James; Perrin, Philip; Connolly, John , Assessing the effectiveness of UAV data to accurately map coastal dune habitats, European Journal of Remote Sensing, 56, (1), 2023, Notes: [https://doi.org/10.1080/22797254.2023.2191870], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Cruz, C., McGuinness, K., Perrin, P. M., O"Connell, J., Martin, J. R. and J. Connolly., Improving the mapping of coastal invasive species using UAV imagery and deep learning, International Journal of Remote Sensing , 44, (18), 2023, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Ruchita Ingle, Wahaj Habib, John Connolly, Mark McCorry, Stephen Barry & Matthew Saunders, Upscaling methane fluxes from peatlands across a drainage gradient in Ireland using PlanetScope imagery and machine learning tools., Nature Scientific Reports, 13, (11997), 2023, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Ingle, Ruchita; Bhatnagar, Saheba; Ghosh, Bidisha; Gill, Laurence; regan, Shane; Connolly, John; Saunders, Matthew , A new hybrid index to estimate gross primary productivity of peatlands under variable climatic conditions. , Remote Sensing, 15, (6), 2023, p1673-, Notes: [https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15061673], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Ruchita Ingle, Saheba Bhatnagar, Bidisha Ghosh, Laurence Gill, Shane Regan, John Connolly and Matthew Saunders, Development of Hybrid Models to Estimate Gross Primary Productivity at a Near-Natural Peatland Using Sentinel 2 Data and a Light Use Efficiency Model, Remote Sensing, 15, 2023, p1673-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  URL
Habib, W. and Connolly, J., A national-scale assessment of management activities in Peatlands between 1989 " 2020 using Landsat data and Google Earth Engine " a case study of Ireland. , Regional Environmental Change, 2023, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
  

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Gilet, L., Morley, T., Flynn, R., Connolly, J., Hidden and shallow peat in the new Irish Peat Soils Map, Environ 2024, outheast Technological University, Waterford, Ireland, March 25-27, 2024., 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Habib, W. and Connolly, J., Multi-spatial-temporal remote sensing and machine learning for mapping land use on peatland in Ireland, 35th International Geographical Congress, Dublin, 24th to 30th August, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Sabokrouhiyeh, N.; van der Velde, Y.; Connolly, J.; Kettridge, N., Irish Peatland Resilience and Presence Across National Climate Gradients, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Ingle, R. Habib, Wahaj; Connolly, John, McCorry, Mark, Barry, Stephen and Saunders, Matthew, A simple approach to upscale methane emissions from peatlands using Planetscope satellite data and machine learning algorithm, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Cruz, C., O'Connell, J., Martin, J., Perrin, P. & Connolly, J., Drones and machine learning for habitat monitorin, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Habib, W. and Connolly, J., Satellite-driven model to upscale Irish CO2 Net Ecosystem Exchange (ICONEEx)., EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
O'Leary, D; Connolly, J., Gilet, L., Tuohy, P., Hodgson, J., Daly, E., Identifying the Transition Zone between Peat and Mineral Soils Using Airborne Radiometric Data: a national scale case study from Ireland, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PRESENTED
Habib, W. and Connolly, J., Automated Mapping of Artificial Drainage in Peatlands Using Deep Learning and Very High-Resolution Aerial Imagery, EGU General Assembly,, Vienna, Austria, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
O'Leary, D; Connolly, J., Gilet, L., Tuohy, P., Hodgson, J., Daly, E, Identifying the Transition Zone between Peat and Non-Peat Soils Using Airborne Radiometric Data, IQUA Autumn Symposium, , Dublin, 2024, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Pilant, Andrew; Moeller, Iris; Connolly, John , Time-lapse animations of Sentinel satellite radar and infrared imagery: easy tools for visualizing and mapping Ireland"s dynamic landscapes and coasts through time, Conference of Irish Geographers, Wexford, Ireland, 2023, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED

  

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