Jennie C. Stephens is a climate justice scholar-activist and feminist focused on transformation toward a more just, healthy, and stable future for all. Professor of Climate Justice at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, she serves on the coordinating team of the Climate Justice Universities Union. Her research, teaching, and community engagement focus on confronting climate obstruction, analysing corporate power, integrating transformative social justice, feminist, anti-racist, decolonial perspectives into climate and energy policy, fossil fuel phaseout, the renewable energy transition, energy democracy, gender in energy and climate, and climate justice in higher education. She is listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists based on influence of her research.

She is a member of the Climate Committee of An Taisce, is part of the advisory group of Feminists Communities for Climate Justice, was a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard-Radcliffe (2023-2024), is a member of the New England Grist Fixer Network, is part of the Climate Social Science Network, and was a 2015-2016 Leopold Leadership fellow. Before moving back to Ireland to join Maynooth University, Professor Stephens was on the faculty at Northeastern University (2016-2024), the University of Vermont (2014-2016) and Clark University (2005-2014). She did post-doctoral research at Harvard’s Kennedy School and she has taught courses at Tufts, Boston University, and MIT. She earned her PhD at the California Institute of Technology in Environmental Science & Engineering and her BA at Harvard University in Environmental Science and Policy.

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Recent Publications

Corporate Power in Ireland: A Review. MUSSI Working Paper. January 2026

Time to Challenge Corporate Power in Ireland. Irish Times. January 15, 2026

Ireland is falling for the American fossil fuel industry’s ‘energy security’ con. Irish times. 18 December 2025

Confronting Climate Obstruction: The Role of Civil Society and Non-State Actors. Chapter 13 in Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment. J. T. Roberts et al. 2025. Oxford University Press.

Academic Capture: Investigating Industry Funding of Higher Education in Ireland. Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. Autumn 2025

Gender Equity and Care for Transformative Climate Justice. Administration.

Education

  • Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (2002),  Environmental Science and Engineering

  • M.S. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (1998),  Environmental Science and Engineering

  • B.A. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (1997),  Environmental Science and Public Policy

Awards and Fellowships

  • Listed in World’s Top 2% Scientist Ranking, September 2025

  • Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellowship at Harvard, 2023-2024

  • Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship, National Academy of Sciences, 2017

  • Research Leadership Development Initiative, Northeastern, 2016-2017

  • Leopold Leadership Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute of Environmental, 2015-2016

  • Faculty Community Engagement Award, Colleges of the Worcester Consortium, March 2013

  • Excellence in Teaching Award, Department of International Development, Community, & Environment (IDCE), Clark University. May 2011

  • US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship for Graduate Study, 1999-2002

  • Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship, 2000-2002

  • National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship, 1998-1999

  • Harvard College Research Fellowship and Dean’s Research Award, 1996

  • Pforzheimer Student Fellowship, Radcliffe College, 1994-1995

Academic Positions

  • Professor of Climate Justice, National University of Ireland Maynooth, 2024-present

  • Radcliffe-Salata Climate Justice Fellow, Harvard University 2023-2024

  • Visiting Researcher, Department of Geography, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 2022-2023

  • Climate Justice Senior Fellow, Global Council for Science and Environment, 2022-2023

  • Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy, Northeastern University, 2016-2024

  • Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern, 2018-2022

  • Director of Strategic Research Collaborations, Global Resilience Institute, Northeastern, 2017-2022

  • Senior Associate Director of Northeastern Environmental Justice Research Collaborative NEJRC, 2016-2022

  • Associate Professor, Blittersdorf Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy, University of Vermont, 2014-2016

  • Associate Fellow, Tellus Institute, Boston MA USA, 2015 - 2020

  • Associate Professor of Environmental Science & Policy, Clark University, 2012-2014

  • Assistant Professor of Environmental Science & Policy, Clark University, 2005-2012

  • Coordinator of Graduate Program in Environmental Science & Policy, Clark University, 2007-2010, 2011-2012

  • Research Associate Professor (2012-2014), Research Assistant Professor (2005-2012) Marsh Institute on Human Dimensions of Global-Environmental Change Clark University, Worcester, MA USA

  • Research Associate, Energy Technology Innovation Policy Group, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA USA, 2005-2011

  • Post-Doctoral Research Scholar, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA USA, 2002-2005

  • Visiting Lecturer, Environmental Policy Group, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA, 2004-2005

  • Adjunct Lecturer, Boston University, Department of Earth Sciences Boston, MA, USA, Summer 2003

  • Adjunct Lecturer, Tufts University, Medford, MA USA, Spring 2003