Experts

Arnab is Professor and Head of Economics at Heriot-Watt University and Research Lead (Regional Modelling and Microsimulation) at NIESR. He started his career as a central banker and moved into academia in 2001. His research focuses on econometrics and statistics, particularly in spatial and network Big Data contexts, with applications in economics and elsewhere. His applied work has generated active policy debate and societal impact in several areas, not least on regional and sectoral

Debopam obtained his PhD from Princeton, and subsequently taught at Dartmouth College, followed by Oxford, and is now at Cambridge, where he is a fellow of Trinity College. His broad research area is micro-econometrics, and his current interests are empirical modelling of consumer demand, welfare analysis of economic policies, and statistical analysis of university admissions. He is a fellow of the Journal of Econometrics and a winner of the European Research Council’s Consolidator grant.

Alexander Bick is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University. He is a macroeconomist with interests in labour economics. His research focuses on cross-country differences in labour supply, how hours worked are related to current and future wages, and on tracking the labour market in real-time during the COVID-19 pandemic and providing additional insights not available from existing labour market surveys.

Alvin Birdi is Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Education Innovation at the University of Bristol where he works on curriculum and pedagogical enhancement of the University’s education. He is also Director of the Economics Network, a UK wide institution which promotes evidence-based improvements in economics education through training and symposia. He has contributed to the education resources of the CORE and currently chairs the Education Committee of the European Economic Association.

UU 2016+. 2010-16 Chief Economist PwC in NI. 2007-10 Special Advisor. 1998-2007 MLA NI Assembly. 1989-98 Lecturer Queen’s University. Research Interests: NI economy, devolution policy, inter-regional and international productivity, and religion, ethics and economic thought. Recent article: “A critical review of competitiveness measurement in Northern Ireland”, Regional Studies, 53, 10, pp. 1494-1504.

Matt is a political economist specialising in global economic governance, the nature of globalisation, trade and development, the rising powers, and, increasingly, narcopolitics and drug policy. He previously worked at the University of the West Indies, and has regional expertise on Latin America and the Caribbean. He is based at the University of Sheffield and also co-directs the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative at the Overseas Development Institute in London.