Valerie Cummins B.Sc., M.Sc. is manager of the Coastal and Marine Resources Centre, University College Cork. This currently involves the coordination of 18 research staff working in 20 EU and nationally funded projects and commercial contracts. In addition to project management, Ms. Cummins has considerable expertise in GIS as a tool for managing many aspects of the complex coastal environment, as well as a thorough understanding of issues pertaining to Integrated Coastal Management. Ms. Cummins is actively engaged in research in these areas. See examples of relevant publications and presentations below. Ms. Cummins coordinates two Strategic Research Areas within UCC’s Environmental Research Institute (Modelling and GIS and Environmental Management). She also represents UCC on the CHIU/Marine Liaison Group committee.
In addition to research, Val coordinates the delivery of the ICZM module to UCC’s Geography Masters Students and acts as a guest lecturer for the Fisheries MSc course. She is also on the editorial panel of the international Marine Policy journal published by Elsevier.

Publications:

2004

Ballinger, R., Cummins, V., Dodds, W., C. O Mahony, C. & Smith, H. (2004). Community Based Approaches to Coastal Management – the CoCoNet Initiative. Proceedings of Littoral 2004: Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy, Volume 1. Cambridge Publications. ISBN: 0-9540081-0-4.

Cummins, V. (2004). National Considerations for Implementing Best practice in ICZM in Ireland. Proceedings of Littoral 2004: Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy, Volume 1. Cambridge Publications. ISBN: 0-9540081-0-4.

Cummins, V., Ballinger, R., O Mahony, C., Smith, H & Dodds, W. (2004). Coastal Communities Network: CoCoNet. Interreg IIIA Final Report.

Cummins, V., O Mahony, C., & Connolly N. Review of Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Principals of Best Practice. (2004). Published by The Heritage Council, Kilkenny. 102pgs.

Dwyer, N., O’Dea, L. & Cummins, V. (2004). The Marine Irish Digital Atlas: Providing Geospatial Information to a Wide Audience. Proceedings of Littoral 2004: Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy, Volume 1. Cambridge Publications. ISBN: 0-9540081-0-4.

Kozachenko, M., Rea, H., Cummins, V., O Carroll, C., O Duinnín, P., Good, J., Butler, D., Tully, T., O Tuama, E., Desplanques, A.M. & O Crualaoich, G. (2004). BiblioMara: An Annotated indexed Bibliography of Cultural and Maritime Heritage Studies of the Coastal Zone of Ireland. Published by The Heritage Council, Kilkenny. 380pgs.

O'Mahony, C., Cummins, V., Dwyer, N. & Johannessen JA. (2004) User Requirements for SAR Data in the Coastal and Marine Environment. Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Coastal and Marine Applications of SAR, SP-565, pp. 219-223. ESA Publications Division, The Netherlands.

2003

Dwyer, N., O'Dea, L., & Cummins, V. (2003). The Marine Irish Digital Atlas: A Web Portal to Coastal and Marine Data in Ireland. In: proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zone Management. 16th-18th October 2003. Genova, Italy.

O Donnell, V., Cronin, M., and Cummins, V. (2003). Sustainable Coastal Habitats: GIS Tools for Effective Decision Support. In: Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zone Management. 16th-18th October 2003. Genova, Italy.

O Mahony, C. & Cummins, V. (2003). End User Perspective Towards the Development of a Marine Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Analysis and Interpretation System. In: proceedings of the Environ 2003 Conference, Galway, January 2003.

O Mahony, C., Cummins, V., Dwyer, N. & Connolly, N. (2003). Final User Requirements Document. 5th Framework Programme. Environment and Sustainable Development. Development of Generic Earth Observation Technologies. Contract No. EVGI-CT-2000-00029. 222pgs.

2002

Cummins, V., Coughlan, S., McClean, O., Connolly, N., Mercer, J. & Burnell, G. (2002). An Assessment of the Potential for the Sustainable Development of the Edible Periwinkle, Littorina littorea, Industry in Ireland. Report No. 22. 2002. Marine Resource Series. Marine Institute, Ireland.

Cummins, V., O Donnell, V., Allen, A., Donnelly, J. & Koukoulas, S. (2002). A new approach to Landfill Site Selection in Ireland using GIS technology. In: Convery, F. and Feehan, J., (Eds) Achievement and Challenge: Rio+10 and Ireland.

Cummins, V., Dumas, F., Kershaw, P., Leroux, J., Loubersac, L., Populas, J., & Sutton, G. (2002). Building, Assessing and Standardising Information on Atlantic Coasts. In: Proceedings of the 8th EC-GI & GIS Workshop. Dublin Castle, Dublin. 3-5 July 2002.

Connolly, N. and Cummins, V.(2002). Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Ireland, with particular reference to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the EU ICZM Demonstration Programme. In: Convery, F. and Feehan, J., (Eds) Achievement and Challenge: Rio+10 and Ireland.

Johannessen, J., Hamre, T., Garello, R., Romeiser, R., Kern, S., Chapron, B., Robinson, I., Ufermann, S., Cummins, V., Connolly, N., Nittis, K., Perivoliotis, L. & Tarchi, D. (2002). Marine SAR Analysis and Interpretation System. Proceedings of the EuroGOOS Conference. Athens, Greece. 3-6 December 2002.

Johannessen, J. A., Garello, R., Chapron, B., Romeiser, R., Kern, S., Tarchi, D., Robinson, I., Connolly, N., Nittis, K., Hamre, T., Ufermann, S., Cummins V. (2002). “Marine SAR analysis and interpretation system – MARSAIS”. In: EGS on-line Newsletter, November 2002.

2001

Allen, A.R., Brito, G., Caetano, P., Costa, C., Cummins, V., Donnelly, J., Fernandes, C., Koukoulas, S., O Donnell, V., Robalo, C., Vendas, D. (2001). The Development of a GIS Model for the Location of Landfill Sites in Ireland and Portugal. In: Proceedings from the 3rd BGA Geoenvironmental Engineering Conference, Edinburgh, September, 2001.

Cummins, V., Dumas, F., Franklin, F., Kershaw, P., Le Roux, J., Loubersac, L., Mortimer, G., Populas, J. & Sutton, G. (2001). A Scoping Study to Establish a Common Approach to Examining the Impact of Atlantic Arc Water Quality and Dynamics on Coastal Activity and Sensitive Marine Environments. Atlantic Area, INTERREG 11C Final Report.

Connolly, N., Cronin, M., O Connell, M., Cummins, V., & O Leary, D. (2001). Coastal Sensitivity in Estuarine Habitats - Cork Harbour and the Shannon Estuary. Atlantic Area, INTERREG 11C Final Report.

Johannessen, J. A., Garello, R., Chapron, B., Romeiser, R., Pavlakis, P., Robinson, I., Connolly, N., Nittis, K., Hamre, T., Ufermann, S., Alpers, W., Espedal, H., Furevik, B., Cummins V. and Tarchi D (2001). “Marine SAR analysis and interpretation system – MARSAIS”. Annals of Telecommunication. pp. 655-660, 56, no. 11-12, November/December 2001.

Presentations:

Ballinger, R., Cummins, V., Dodds, W., C. O Mahony, C. & Smith, H. (2004). Community Based Approaches to Coastal Management – the CoCoNet Initiative. Presented at Littoral 2004 - Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy. Aberdeen.

Cummins, V. (2004). National Considerations for Implementing Best practice in ICZM in Ireland. Presented at Littoral 2004 - Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy. Aberdeen.

Cummins, V. (2004). Presentation of CMRC research activities at Memorial University, Newfoundland, August 2004. Invited guest speaker.

Dwyer, N., O’Dea, L. & Cummins, V. (2004). The Marine Irish digital Atlas: Providing Geospatial Information to a Wide Audience. Presented at Littoral 2004 - Delivering Sustainable Coasts: Connecting Science and Policy. Aberdeen.

Cummins, V. (2003). Links between Environmental Science and Marine Research in UCC. Presented at the First Open Day of the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork.

Cummins, V., Strong, D. & O'Cadhla O. (2003). Development in Marine Areas of Conservation - Dodgy or Do-able? Lessons learnt from recent studies in Broadhaven Bay SAC, Co. Mayo. Presented at the Environ 2003 Conference, Galway, January 2003.

Cummins, V., (2003). Integrated Coastal Zone Management Perspectives for the Interreg IIIB NWE programme. Transnational thematic workshop "Maritime Activities & Territorial Integration Across Seas" Liverpool March 13th-14th, 2003. Invited guest speaker.

Cummins, V., (2003). Coastal and Marine – Perspectives from an Irish University Research Centre. Presentation to the Virginia Institute for Marine Science, Virginia, USA. April 2003. Invited guest speaker.

Cummins, V., (2002). Future Directions for Information Technology in Coastal Zone Management: An overview of the DISMAR and MIDA projects. Presentation to the Irish Planning Institute, Dublin, 18th October 2002. Invited guest speaker.