Our Team

---

Dr. Michael Keary is co-director of NovaAura Research. 

Michael has been researching the environment and climate change for over ten years, with a special focus on politics and policy. He has held positions at King's College London, the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Nazarbayev University, and Aberystwyth University, teaching subjects including Political Economy, International Relations, and Environmental Politics. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Michael has consulted for GermanWatch, the NewClimate Institute, and the World Resources Institute on projects covering climate finance, energy technologies, mitigation and adaptation policies, and the socio-economic impacts of climate change.

In his published research, he has explored the technological change modules that form part of IPCC climate change mitigation modelling; developed a novel theory of technological change for environmental politics; evaluated competing theoretical approaches to sustainable communities; and advocated for a problem-based learning approach to green education. 

He is driven by the desire to help build political communities that are both just and sustainable.

Dr. Conor Purcell is co-director of NovaAura Research. 

Conor is a consultant researcher with a background in climate science. He conducted a PhD in climate modelling at Cardiff University, UK, in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany.  Conor’s PhD work was focussed on climatology, working on research papers exploring climate tipping points, including a co-

authorship on a paper in the journal Nature. 

Having published at world class journals like Nature, Science and Scientific American, Conor is also an award winning climate writer specialising in issues around

environmental change, human impact, and sustainability. 

Since 2016 Conor has focused on consultancy roles, working with businesses, government bodies and NGOs. This involves working with a variety of stakeholders and taking ownership of projects from beginning to end. 

He is motivated by a goal of helping  to protect the environment and the world's most vulnerable.

Dr.  Oana Petrea is NovaAura's Health Research Lead.

Oana works with NovaAura on our work relating to how the emerging climate and environmental crises affect the health of vulnerable populations, especially children. Topics in this framework include the direct and indirect health effects of heat, flooding, infectious diseases, and stress due to forced climate migration.

Oana is a medical professional with consultant grade accreditation in paediatrics and experience working as a family physician. She graduated from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Gigore T. Popa, Iasi, Romania in 2009, and has since worked in Ireland in various senior roles, including at Ireland's premier children's hospitals, Temple Street Children's Hospital and Crumlin Children's Hospital, as well as in training positions accredited by the Irish College of General Practitioners.

Throughout her career as a doctor Oana has conducted research on topics ranging from hospital discharge planning, to neonatology and auditing rare disease cases.

She is driven by the idea of improving the health of the world's poorest.