Catherine has worked with Business in the Community Ireland to help build awareness within companies and is presently Business Programme Lead for the Business for Biodiversity Ireland Platform. She provides advisory support to a number of ENGOs including Hometree (a woodland charity based in Co. Clare) and the Community Wetlands Forum.
Catherine is Assistant Professor in Business and Nature in the Business School at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to her appointment in March 2025, Catherine worked as a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Natural Sciences. A pioneer of nature restoration and research in Ireland and internationally, Catherine worked to pilot the UN SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework at catchment scale in Ireland through the EPA funded INCASE project, 2019-2023.
Catherine was Senior Ecologist with Bord na Móna (2001-2019), where she worked to promote and develop peatland restoration and rehabilitation. A long time self-employed ecological consultant, Catherine has worked on a number of development projects (such as roads, electricity networks, housing, water provision, amenity). She also led the LIFE on Machair project (2022-2024), working with Ireland’s rare and unique species-rich coastal grassland habitats. Her current research as part of BiOrbic, the National Bioeconomy Research Centre, focuses on developing mechanisms to structure, finance, monitor and communicate the direct impacts and broader societal benefits of nature restoration. This is largely under the umbrella of project ReFarm.
A founding member of Natural Capital Ireland, Catherine has a strong commitment to community and business engagement and innovation through nature conservation and works to bridge and build connections from local / SME (bottom up) to national / corporate scales, while recognising the integral need for strong and functional governance systems (top down).