Berna Grist

Dr. Berna Grist B.L., a barrister and chartered town planner, is Adjunct Professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy at University College Dublin. She holds a PhD from the University of Ulster on The Legislative and Regulatory Framework for Development in the Republic of Ireland and has published widely in the fields of planning and environmental law, public policy and governance.

Berna has practiced as a barrister since 1991, specialising in consultancy and advisory work on planning and environmental law. Together with the late James Macken SC, she co-edited the Irish Planning Law Factbook (2003), which she continues to update annually, and in 2013 she published the second edition of An Introduction to Irish Planning Law.

Berna was appointed to the Board of the Dublin Port Company in January 2022 for a term of five years. During the period 2001-2006, she served as a member of An Bord Pleanála and, in 2013, she was appointed to the Expert Group advising the Minister for Housing and Planning on a successor to the National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020. She has served on a number of State Boards and is currently a director of the Marine Institute.