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Staff Profiles

Dr Colm Duffy

B.Sc., MSc., PhD

Contact Details

Research Fellow
PABC
School of Natural Sciences
University of Galway
E: colm.duffy@universityofgalway.ie
 
researcher
 

Biography

Colm Duffy is a Research Fellow at the University of Galway, specializing in agricultural adaptation, mitigation, and land use change modeling. With a focus on biophysical land use change models, Colm is deeply involved in the FORESIGHT project, working to develop open-source packages, such as the GOBLIN modelling framework, for land use analysis using Python. He is also the co-founder of the FUSION collaborative research group and oversees model development across several national and EU-level projects.

Colm's research spans various aspects of land use and climate adaptation, including the use of GIS for dataset generation, SQL for database integration, and the development of biogenic and bioeconomic modeling frameworks. His previous experience includes research fellowships at the University of Limerick and Bangor University, where he worked on projects such as agricultural adaptation and mitigation and sustainable dairy production pathways in Costa Rica. Throughout his career, Colm has managed and coordinated multiple PhD projects and contributed to the development of innovative land use modeling frameworks that focus on sustainability and mitigation.

He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Climate Change Adaptation and Lifecycle Analysis from the National University of Ireland Galway (UoG), where his thesis focused on climate-smart agriculture, particularly in Vietnam, Malawi, and Ireland. Colm also has a background in software engineering, climate change, and food security, having completed a Diploma in Software Engineering and an MSc in Climate Change Agriculture & Food Security from UoG, as well as a BSc in International Development and Food Policy from University College Cork.

In addition to his academic qualifications, Colm has completed numerous professional courses, including advanced training in life cycle analysis, GIS techniques, and Python programming. He has authored numerous high-impact publications on topics such as land use change, agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation, and climate-smart agriculture. 

Research Interests

Colm Duffy's research is focused on developing innovative, open-source solutions for tackling global challenges related to agricultural sustainability, land use, and climate change. His work emphasizes the integration of biophysical land use change models and their application to both adaptation and mitigation strategies, seeking to balance ecological needs with agricultural productivity.

Colm is particularly interested in leveraging collaborative research to develop tools that empower researchers, policymakers, and practitioners worldwide. This includes creating accessible, open-source biophysical modeling frameworks that facilitate transparent decision-making and foster global knowledge-sharing. His research encompasses the use of Python and GIS technologies to build datasets and models, with the goal of understanding complex land use dynamics and supporting evidence-based policy interventions.

At the core of his research is the belief that collaboration is key to addressing the climate crisis. By co-founding the FUSION collaborative research group, Colm aims to break down silos and promote interdisciplinary approaches, developing open platforms and resources that enhance our collective capacity to respond to challenges in agriculture, food security, and land use management.

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2024) 'Cattle production strategies to deliver protein with less land and lower environmental impact'
Henn, Daniel and Duffy, Colm and Humphreys, James and Gibbons, James and Byrne, Kenneth A and Styles, David (2024) 'Cattle production strategies to deliver protein with less land and lower environmental impact'. Journal of Environmental Management, 356 [Details]
(2024) 'Advances in Carbon Neutrality'
Cong, Cong and Page, Jessica and Nielsen, Chris P and McElroy, Michael B and Duffy, Colm (2024) 'Advances in Carbon Neutrality'. Advances in Carbon Neutrality, [Details]
(2024) 'Defining national net zero goals is critical for food and land use policy'
Duffy, Colm and Bishop, George and Prudhomme, R\'emi and Cowie, Annette and O’Donoghue, Cathal and Cain, Michelle and Lanigan, Gary J and Styles, David (2024) 'Defining national net zero goals is critical for food and land use policy'. Nature Communications, 5 (1) [Details]
(2024) 'GOBLIN Lite: A National Land Balance Model for Assessment of Climate Mitigation Pathways for Ireland'
Duffy, Colm and Henn, Daniel and Prudhomme, Remi and Styles, David (2024) 'GOBLIN Lite: A National Land Balance Model for Assessment of Climate Mitigation Pathways for Ireland'. Journal of Open Source Software, 9 (100) [Details]
(2024) 'GeoGOBLIN: A catchment-scale land balance model for assessment of climate mitigation pathways considering environmental trade-offs for multiple impact categories'
Duffy, Colm and Henn, Daniel and Styles, David and Toth, Gregory G and Prudhomme, Remi and Iannetta, Pietro PM and Byrne, Ken (2024) 'GeoGOBLIN: A catchment-scale land balance model for assessment of climate mitigation pathways considering environmental trade-offs for multiple impact categories'. Environmental Modelling \& Software, 180 [Details]
(2023) 'Improved representation of cattle herd dynamics for bio-physical modelling of pathways to a climate neutral land sector'
Henn, Daniel and Humphreys, James and Duffy, Colm and Gibbons, James and Styles, David (2023) 'Improved representation of cattle herd dynamics for bio-physical modelling of pathways to a climate neutral land sector'. Agricultural Systems, 212 [Details]
(2023) 'Optimising sustainability: Circular pathways for Scotch Whisky distillery co-products'
Duffy, Colm and Styles, David and Schestak, Isabel and Macgregor, Kenneth and Jack, Frances and Henn, Daniel and Black, Kirsty and Iannetta, Pietro PM (2023) 'Optimising sustainability: Circular pathways for Scotch Whisky distillery co-products'. Journal of Cleaner Production, 395 [Details]
(2023) 'Greenhouse gas and ammonia emission mitigation priorities for UK policy targets'
Buckingham, Sarah and Topp, Cairistiona FE and Smith, Pete and Eory, Vera and Chadwick, Dave and Baxter, Christina and Cloy, Joanna M and Connolly, Shaun and Cooledge, Emily and Cowan, Nicholas J and others (2023) 'Greenhouse gas and ammonia emission mitigation priorities for UK policy targets'. Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering, 10 (2):268-280 [Details]
(2022) 'Randomised national land management strategies for net-zero emissions'
Duffy, Colm and Prudhomme, Remi and Gibbons, James and Iannetta, Pietro PM and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Styles, David (2022) 'Randomised national land management strategies for net-zero emissions'. Nat Sustain, [Details]
(2022) 'GOBLIN version 1.0: a land balance model to identify national agriculture and land use pathways to climate neutrality via backcasting'
Duffy, Colm and Prudhomme, Remi and Duffy, Brian and Gibbons, James and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Styles, David (2022) 'GOBLIN version 1.0: a land balance model to identify national agriculture and land use pathways to climate neutrality via backcasting'. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 15 :2239-2264 [Details]
(2022) 'Climate mitigation efficacy of anaerobic digestion in a decarbonising economy'
Styles, David and Yesufu, Jalil and Bowman, Martin and Williams, A Prysor and Duffy, Colm and Luyckx, Karen (2022) 'Climate mitigation efficacy of anaerobic digestion in a decarbonising economy'. Journal of Cleaner Production, [Details]
(2021) 'Agroforestry contributions to smallholder farmer food security in Indonesia'
Duffy, Colm and Toth, Gregory G and Hagan, Robert PO and McKeown, Peter C and Rahman, Syed Ajijur and Widyaningsih, Yekti and Sunderland, Terry CH and Spillane, Charles (2021) 'Agroforestry contributions to smallholder farmer food security in Indonesia'. Agroforestry Systems, 95 (6):1109-1124 [Details]
(2021) 'Marginal abatement cost curves for Latin American dairy production: a Costa Rica case study'
Duffy, Colm and Apdini, Titis and Styles, David and Gibbons, James and Peguero, Felipe and Arndt, Claudia and Mazzetto, Andre and Vega, Andres and Chavarro-Lobo, Johan A and Brook, Robert and others (2021) 'Marginal abatement cost curves for Latin American dairy production: a Costa Rica case study'. Journal of Cleaner Production, 311 [Details]
(2021) 'GOBLIN: A land-balance model to identify national agriculture and land use pathways to climate neutrality via backcasting'
Duffy, Colm and Prudhomme, Remi and Duffy, Brian and Gibbons, James and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Styles, David (2021) 'GOBLIN: A land-balance model to identify national agriculture and land use pathways to climate neutrality via backcasting'. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, :1-37 [Details]
(2020) 'Drivers of household and agricultural adaptation to climate change in Vietnam'
Duffy, Colm and Pede, Valerien and Toth, Greg and Kilcline, Kevin and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Spillane, Charlie (2020) 'Drivers of household and agricultural adaptation to climate change in Vietnam'. Climate and Development, :1-14 [Details]
(2020) 'Climate Smart Agriculture Extension: Gender Disparities in Agroforestry Knowledge Acquisition'
Duffy, Colm and Toth, Greg and Cullinan, John and Murray, Una and Spillane, Charlie (2020) 'Climate Smart Agriculture Extension: Gender Disparities in Agroforestry Knowledge Acquisition'. Climate and Development, [Details]
(2020) 'Afforestation: Replacing livestock emissions with carbon sequestration'
Duffy, Colm and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Styles, David and Spillane, Charlie (2020) 'Afforestation: Replacing livestock emissions with carbon sequestration'. Environmental Management, 264 [Details]
(2020) 'The impact of forestry as a land use on water quality outcomes: An integrated analysis'
Duffy, Colm and O'Donoghue, Cathal and Ryan, Mary and Kilcline, Kevin and Upton, Vincent and Spillane, Charlie (2020) 'The impact of forestry as a land use on water quality outcomes: An integrated analysis'. Forest Policy \& Economics, 116 [Details]
(2019) 'Malawi's energy needs and agroforestry: Impact of woodlots on fuelwood sales'
Gregory G.Toth, P.K. Ramachandran Nair, Michael Jacobson, Yekti Widyaningsih, Colm P. Duffy (2019) 'Malawi's energy needs and agroforestry: Impact of woodlots on fuelwood sales'. Energy for Sustainable Development, 50 :101-108 [Details]
(2017) 'Constraints to the adoption of fodder tree technology in Malawi'
Toth, Gregory G and Nair, PK Ramachandran and Duffy, Colm P and Franzel, Steven C (2017) 'Constraints to the adoption of fodder tree technology in Malawi'. Sustainability Science, 12 :641-656 [Details]
(2017) 'Malawi’s energy needs and agroforestry: adoption potential of woodlots'
Toth, Gregory G and Ramachandran Nair, PK and Jacobson, Michael and Widyaningsih, Yekti and Duffy, Colm P (2017) 'Malawi’s energy needs and agroforestry: adoption potential of woodlots'. Human ecology, 45 :735-746 [Details]
(2017) 'National level indicators for gender, poverty, food security, nutrition and health in Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) activities'
Duffy, Colm and Murray, Una and Nowak, Andreea C and Girvetz, Evan H and Corner-Dolloff, Caitlin and Twyman, Jennifer and Huyer, Sophia and Jarvis, Andy and Spillane, Charles (2017) 'National level indicators for gender, poverty, food security, nutrition and health in Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) activities'. CCAFS Working Paper, [Details]