Post-Docs & Research Scientists

Brian O’Neill

Post-Doctoral Scholar

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Brian O’Neill

Brian F. O’Neill currently holds the position of postdoctoral scholar in the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, in addition to being an Ocean Nexus Fellow at the University of Washington. His research draws from engagements with the intellectual traditions of environmental sociology, critical policy studies, political ecology, and political economy. The underlying question motivating much of his work is: what is the nature of the recent, intense interest in “green” (broadly conceived) practices invoked in climate adaptation strategies? In problematizing existing adaptation efforts, he has explored issues of environmental injustices, public opinion, and social inequalities in policymaking at the nexus of the water and energy sectors (e.g., rivers and dams, desalination, fisheries, wind, and natural gas), using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Most recently, his work has focused on the intersections of climate and ocean policies as they illuminate significant trends in the future of labor, political economy, and competing conceptions of sustainability, equity, and justice. Brian’s activities are indicative of his commitment to scholarship that requires engagement across diverse publics, that is, with the academic community, but also those in power to make decisions about our future, and those who may not (yet) have a seat at the table. His research has been published in various venues, including Nature Water, WIREs Water, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, The Sociological Quarterly, Human Geography, Visual Studies, the Journal of World-systems Research and more. He is an active member of numerous professional organizations, such as the American Sociological Association, American Association of Geographers, and the Brown Social Science Network, among others.