His main research interests lies in climate history, discipline at the intersection of environmental history and climatology.

It is a young field but has grown in prominence with concerns over the pace of current and projected climate change, as well as the extent to which societies might adapt (or fail to adapt) to these changes. He is a co-founder of the Irish Environmental History Network (in 2009) and Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities (in 2017). He was a Principal Investigator of the IRC Laureate Award project “Climates of Conflict in Ancient Babylonia” (2018-2023) and Co-PI of the U.S. National Science Foundation project “Volcanism, Hydrology and Social Conflict: Lessons from Egypt & Mesopotamia” (2018-2024).

He is Project Partner of the Swiss National Science Foundation project “Effects of Large Volcanic Eruptions on Climate and Societies” (2019-2023). He serves on the “Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society” working group Steering Committee (2015-Present), and as a “Key Participant” (2018-Present) of the “Climate Reconstruction and Impacts from the Archives of Societies” working group (both PAGES-funded).