Academic

2018 - present                  Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University

Interdisciplinary Assistant Professor within the Innovation Studies Department.

2017 - 2018                      Centre for Complex Systems Studies, Utrecht University

Coordinator of the Complexity Lab Utrecht (CLUe). 

2017 - 2018                      University College Utrecht, Utrecht  University

Lecturer and Tutor: I lectured in courses on Sustainability and Environmental Science. I also had the role of academic tutor and assisted students in mapping their academic path.

2015 – 2017                      Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University

Postdoc: Complex drivers of unsustainable water resource use

My Post-doctoral research focused on unravelling the complex processes within the global food production and trade system that lead to unsustainable water use. I developed human-environment models in an historical and contemporary setting to answer these questions. The goal of this research was to illuminate pathways towards a sustainable future for humans, ecosystems and the water they share. 

2009 – 2014                   Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University

PhD: Holocene climate change and its impact in the Roman Mediterranean

My thesis focused on developing a mechanistic understanding of climate change during the Holocene and the impact that these changes had on past societies. I used a suite of statistical methods to reconstruct past changes using several climate records. These reconstructions formed the basis for a model of Roman food and water management, designed and built in collaboration with quantitative historians, hydrologists and demographers.  

2008 – 2009                   Dept. of Environmental Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

MSc: Environmental Sciences (Grade: Distinction)

Dissertation:     The evolutionary pathway to obligate foraging in Gyps vultures

2001 – 2005               Dept. of Built Environment, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

BSc: Geomatics (Grade: 1st)

Dissertation:     An Investigation into the Performance of Predictive GIS Archaeological Models in an Irish Context

Other Experience

2007-2008                  Zhejiang University of Technology and Jiangshan Middle School, Zhejiang Province, China

English Teacher

Teaching oral and written English at high school and university level

2005-2007                UPC Communications, Ireland

Geospatial analyst

Drafting maps and schematics using GIS and AutoCAD software

De Witt, A., Bootsma, M., Dermody, B.J., Rebel, K., 2024. The Seven-Step Learning Journey: A Learning Cycle Supporting Design, Facilitation, and Assessment of Transformative Learning. Journal of Transformative Education 22, 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/15413446231220317
 

De Witt, A., Bootsma, M., Dermody, B.J., Rebel, K., 2024. Designing transformative interventions for a world in crisis: How the ‘Worldview Journey’ invites for personal, cultural, and systems transformation. Environmental Science & Policy 162, 103896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103896
 

Zimmermann, S., Dermody, B.J., Davis, N., Divine, L.M., Padula, V.M., Lestenkof-Zacharof, K., Wassen, M.J., Dorresteijn, I., 2024. The importance of diversity in local food systems: a network analysis of food-related interactions in the Indigenous food system on St. Paul Island, Alaska. Reg Environ Change 24, 91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-024-02255-y
 

Davis, N., Dermody, B., Koetse, M., van Voorn, G., 2024. Identifying Personal and Social Drivers of Dietary Patterns: An Agent-Based Model of Dutch Consumer Behavior. JASSS 27, 4.
 

van Etten, S., Jansen, L., Bal, M., Dermody, B.J., Müller, E., de Wit, J., Stok, M., 2023. The FLY-project: study protocol for mixed methods research to explore the complex social dynamics of sustainable food-related lifestyles in youth in practical education. BMC Nutrition 9, 100. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-023-00757-2
 

Zimmermann, S., Dermody, B.J., Theunissen, B., Wassen, M.J., Divine, L.M., Padula, V.M., von Wehrden, H., Dorresteijn, I., 2023. A leverage points perspective on Arctic Indigenous food systems research: a systematic review. Sustain Sci 18, 1481–1500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01280-2
 

Dermody, B.J., Chiu-Smit, A., van Beek, R.L., 2022. A Model of Grain Production and Trade for the Roman World. Simulating Roman Economies: Theories, Methods, and Computational Models 196.

Brelsford, C., Dumas, M., Schlager, E., Dermody, B., Aiuvalasit, M., Allen-Dumas, M., Beecher, J., Bhatia, U., D’Odorico, P., Garcia, M., Gober, P., Groenfeldt, D., Lansing, S., Madani, K., Méndez-Barrientos, L.E., Mondino, E., Müller, M., O’Donnell, F., Owuor, P., Rising, J., Sanderson, M., Souza, F., Zipper, S., 2020. Developing a sustainability science approach for water systems. Ecology and Society 25. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11515-250223
 

Dolfing, A.G., Leuven, J.R.F.W., Dermody, B.J., 2019. The effects of network topology, climate variability and shocks on the evolution and resilience of a food trade network. PLOS ONE 14, e0213378. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213378 

Nooren, K., Hoek, W.Z., Dermody, B.J., Galop, D., Metcalfe, S., Islebe, G., Middelkoop, H., 2018. Climate impact on the development of Pre-Classic Maya civilisation. Climate of the Past 14, 1253–1273. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1253-2018

Dermody, B.J., Sivapalan, M., Stehfest, E., van Vuuren, D.P., Wassen, M.J., Bierkens, M.F.P., Dekker, S.C., 2018. A framework for modelling the complexities of food and water security under globalisation. Earth Syst. Dynam. 9, 103–118. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-103-2018

Dekker, S.C., de Boer, H.J., Dermody, B.J., Wagner-Cremer, F., Wassen, M.J. & Eppinga, M.B. (2015) Holocene peatland initiation in the Greater Everglades. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, p.p.2014JG002806.

Dermody, B.J., van Beek, R.P.H., Meeks, E., Klein Goldewijk, K., Scheidel, W., van der Velde, Y., Bierkens, M.F.P., Wassen, M.J. & Dekker, S.C. (2014) A virtual water network of the Roman world. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18 (12), p.pp.5025–5040.

Dermody, B.J., de Boer, H.J., Bierkens, M.F.P., Weber, S.L., Wassen, M.J. & Dekker, S.C. (2012) A seesaw in Mediterranean precipitation during the Roman Period linked to millennial-scale changes in the North Atlantic. Clim. Past, 8 (2), p.pp.637–651.

Dermody, B.J., Tanner, C.J. & Jackson, A.L. (2011) The evolutionary pathway to obligate scavenging in Gyps vultures. PLoS ONE, 6 (9).

Outreach__________________________

2024     Keynote presentation at the KIWA Food processing industry stakeholders meeting

2024     Public lecture on Food system complexity at the Summer evenings in the Garden event

2024     Co-organised the the Future Food Youth Movement kickstarter event

2023     Studium Generale lecture entitled ‘Our Food System: Everything is Connected’

2023     Co-led the successful establishment of transdisciplinary research and education hub in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug

2022      Co-organised the Saviour Seeds harvest festival

2022     How students, teachers and society can learn from each other for a sustainable future

2022     Keynote lecture at the Future Food Symposium 2022 on Food Systems Resilience

2022     Main interviewee for NEMO Kennislink about complexity within the global food system. 

2022     Tipping the iceberg project awarded 5,000 euro from the Public Engagement seed fund to develop a podcast about the past, present and future of the island of St. Paul

2021     Panellist for the Dutch Food System summit at Pakhuis de Zwijger. 

2021     Main guest on an episode of the UK podcast Table Talk discussing the complex challenges in transitioning the Dutch food system to become more sustainable. 

2016-2019      1 day symposium on system thinking at the SENSE research school 

2018      'Cities drive food and water security', Evan Davies, Nature Sustainability2023               

2017/18 Teaching Sustainability to Primary School Students

2016     Coordinator of Complex Systems Studies Workshop, part of Utrecht University focus area

2016     ‘Keeping 60 million Romans fed as climate changed’ L. Kalaugher, IOP Science

2016     ‘Kingdom-busting volcanoes linked to the rise of the Roman Empire’ A. Coghlan, New Scientist

2016     Coordinator of the Copernicus Institute Sustainability Blog

2015     Featured Early Career Scientist of the American Geophysical Union Hydrology section

2015     ‘Rome’s hidden water trade led to glory, maybe ruin’, J. Rosen, Earth Magazine

2015 ‘Aufstieg und Fall des Römischen Reiches hing vom Wasser ab’ B. Ferreira, Der Standard

2014 ‘Ancient Roman Water Networks Made the Empire Vulnerable’, F. Diep, Smithsonian

2014     ‘The food-water-energy nexus defeated the Romans. It could defeat us too’, J. Bridge, The Conversation

2014     'What did the Roman's ever do for us?They left a water warning', J. Bridge, The Conversation

2014 ‘Water’s role in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire’, B. Ferreira, Science Daily

2014 ‘Hoe het Romeinse succes omsloeg na klimaatverandering’, K. de Vre, Trouw

2014 ‘The Roman Method of Water Management’, D. Jolivet, Archaeology Magazine

2014 ‘Romeinen kampioenen watermanagement’, R. Fransen, Nederlands dagblad

2014 ‘L'empire romain est-il tombé à l'eau?, B. Ferreira, L’Obs

2014 ‘Roman Empire's downfall could have been caused by a breakdown in trade and food supply’, M. Russon, International Business Times

2014 'Acqua e grano alla base del destino dell'Impero Romano' B. Ferreira, Le Scienze