Moira O'Neill

My research merges complexity science with spatial analysis and modeling, and I use these tools to develop and test new theories in political economy.  Ongoing research projects include 1) using agent-based gaming models to detect institutional sources of spatial inequality, 2) probing state controls on foreign direct investment (FDI) in essential and/or geostrategic industries (with S. Bagchi-Sen), 3) analyzing the relationship between global defense alliances and financial networks, and 4) the economics of political independence (with M. Gawrys).  I've also published on human capital development (with S. Bagchi-Sen) and mapping complex disease networks (forthcoming with J. Lee).

My dissertation (tentatively titled "The Military Industrial Simplicial Complex") uses big data, new and existing spatiotemporal statistics, and agent-based modeling to develop, test, and refine a new theory of military-industrial dynamics.  Its principal objective is to estimate an optimal spatial configuration of spending that would maximize the nation-state's global leadership in technology while minimizing harm from growing sociospatial inequality domestically. 

More radically, and inspired by the work of geographers like Luke Bergmann and Nick Lally who've written on the need for new "geographical imagination systems," the dissertation will also explore the potential for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based on non-Euclidean, non-standard spacetime.  The general idea is that contradictions that arise in conventional spacetime can dissolve under different axiomatic regimes.  I am especially passionate about this work at the frontiers of GIS, and my long term career goals include GIS development, geospatial data science, and solving puzzles in geospatial intelligence for firms and governments.