Geography PhD candidate wins 2025 Mary Mulvihill Award

Posted on: 23 May 2025

Under the supervision of Professor Iris Moeller at Trinity, Kevin is researching the coastal geomorphology of the Malahide Estuary. He studies the interactions between seagrass and salt marsh systems within the intertidal zone, the area covered by the sea at high tide but exposed to the air at low tide.

His research aims to better understand the joint response of both systems to changing climatic conditions – considering them as part of a larger, connected “coastal seascape”. 

Kevin received a cash prize of €2,000 at a ceremony hosted by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies last night, along with the other co-winner, Simran Khatri, from University College Dublin.

Prof. Kevin Mitchell (left) with Mary Mulvihill Award 2025 co-winner Kevin O'Leary. 

‘Life’ was the theme for the 2025 award, offering entrants many ways to explore an endlessly fascinating topic. The judges decided the two winning entries were both of such a high standard and so distinctive that selecting one over the other was impossible. It’s the first time in the nine-year history of the competition that the judges have awarded the top prize to two winners.  

Kevin’s entry – Cascade – A Game for Saving Life as we Know it – is a highly original card game that requires players to work cooperatively to maintain biodiversity across land, wetland, and marine ecosystems.  

A single deck contains 95 cards of several categories, including: roles for each player, such as conservationist or policymaker; the species present in each ecosystem in the game; policy measures that aim to protect the environment; negative impacts, such as oil spills or plastic pollution; public figures associated with combating climate change, such as Mary Robinson and Greta Thunberg; and two “cascade cards”, which immediately worsen a given situation when they are drawn.  

Kevin devised an intricate set of rules that dictate how the game is played. There can be no individual winner. Either everyone wins, and biodiversity is maintained, or total ecosystem collapse occurs, and everyone loses.  

Kevin said: "I am delighted to win this year's Mary Mulvihill award. As a scientist, I believe that our knowledge is limited only by our ability to share it, and we are continuously seeking new ways to do this. It is truly an honour to be acknowledged by an organisation which promotes such creative forms of science communication." 

"Cascade is designed to reflect our need to work together to combat the climate crisis and all its complex challenges. While the game is full of facts about the natural world, it is the cooperation and discussions which it creates that I am most proud of." 

Prof. Iris Moeller added: “I am so very delighted to see one of our post-graduate researchers in Geography win this award. The creativity and enthusiasm of many of our researchers never ceases to amaze me and Kevin has managed to combine both with a very innovative way of communicating the intricate connections of life on our planet. A much-needed contribution at a time of such a multitude of environmental and societal challenges."

"On behalf of all in the Department of Geography: huge congratulations to Kevin!” 

Kevin Mitchell, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity, presented the awards. Of Kevin O’Leary’s entry, he said: “I just thought it was really clever. It does a really good job of capturing the complexity of these systems and the fact that you have complex human systems around them. And both are crucially important.”  

In all, students from seven colleges across Ireland contributed entries, which included essays, illustrated essays, video, and manga. The subjects explored included marine biodiversity, the history of DNA, and drug research in marine organisms.  

Anne Mulvihill, also a member of the judging panel, added: “As Mary's sister, the annual judging of the award is always a poignant affair. Through each year we have been impressed with the excellent standard of the winning entries, and we know that Mary would have been an enthusiastic reader of them and would have been delighted to meet with the winners.” 

ENDS 

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