Biography
Fódhla is a PhD candidate in Trinity Business School since 2023. Her research focuses on the demystification of degrowth, as an alternative economic and political theory to the continuous, unsustainable growth imperative under capitalism. She is exploring the role of upstream social marketing in communicating degrowth as a vision of social-ecological transformation. Her research delves into mobilising political support for pro-social and pro-environmental degrowth policies; analysing communications frames used by politicians in their perceptions of degrowth and reframing the debates surrounding degrowth; and taking a critical marketing perspective to analyse corporate political activity (CPA) employed by industry to impede or lobby against degrowth-oriented policies. She is a co-founder of the Beyond Growth Research Network, an interdisciplinary group of early-career researchers. Previously, Fódhla completed a MSc in Climate Change: Policy, Media and Society from Dublin City University. Fódhla holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Training and Learning, a BA in Communications and Media Production and a BA in Journalism from Griffith College Dublin; where she received the collegewide award of Student of the Year and the Best Academic Achievement award in 2020. Since graduating from her Masters, Fódhla has worked as an associate lecturer in Griffith College Dublin, specialising in the areas of public relations and sustainability marketing. Additionally, she has experience of working in sustainability marketing and the not-for-profit sector in environmental communications, education and policy. In Trinity Business School, she has tutored on an undergraduate Principles of Marketing module and runs seminars for a new interdisciplinary module, Enacting Sustainable Development, which focuses on the topics of Earth Systems Science, the materials economy, CPA and colonialism.