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UBEL Economics of Social and Ecological Sustainability

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A research pathway for those exploring the economics behind climate, care, and inclusive growth.

Applications for admission open every September.

The School of Accounting, Finance and Economics at the University of Greenwich is pleased to offer PhD supervision as part of the Economics Pathway within the UBEL Doctoral Training Partnership.

Supervision is provided by selected staff from the Greenwich Business School. This document introduces the training route and our capacity to supervise within it. Potential applicants need to apply through the UBEL website and should read carefully the guidance given there.

Please Note: Some AFE staff are also available to supervise within the Climate, Environment and Development route as part of the International Development Pathway and  Intersectional Gender Inequalities route as part of the Gender and Sexuality Pathway.


This training route supports students interested in researching topics such as:

  • Ecological economics
  • Income, wealth, gender and regional inequalities
  • Social mobility and poverty alleviation
  • The care economy
  • Green finance
  • Macrofinancial stability
  • Decentralisation, democratic institutions and citizen participation

We offer:

  • Direct entry to a 3.5-year PhD programme, building on our existing Economics PhD
  • A 1+3.5 pathway starting with our MSc in Economics
  • Advanced training through our summer school, covering econometrics, environmental modelling and qualitative methods.

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Research Environment

The team has expertise in ecological economics, economics of gender, labour economics, international economics, development economics, agricultural economics, economics of innovation and technological change in addition to the core areas of macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, quantitative and qualitative research methods, economic history, finance, and governance.

We have a vibrant community of current and former PhD students working in topics related to the Economics of Social and Ecological Sustainability at University of Greenwich.

Supervision is provided through two key research centres:

Centre for Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (PEGFA) – Based in Greenwich Business School, an interdisciplinary centre with expertise in economics, finance, accounting, and gender studies. PEGFA has developed specialisms in quantitative methods (time series and panel data econometrics, nowcasting, input-output analysis, meta-analysis, treatment-effect and program evaluation methods, single-state and multiple-state event history models, Bayesian predictive probability models, agent-based models, stock-flow consistent models) and qualitative methods. The strands of research include greening the economy and finance; the care economy; causes and consequences of inequalities; productivity and innovation; finance, governance; globalisation; development employment and work. PEGFA hosts two annual PhD student-led conferences, one internal and one international.

Natural Resources Institute (NRI) – An interdisciplinary research institute with a focus on global food security, sustainable development and poverty reduction. NRI’s economic research includes quantitative approaches to social mobility, farmer behaviour and its outcomes under climate risk, and AI-assisted food insecurity monitoring.

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Supervision

We have a large pool of potential supervisors. Some of these, especially Onaran, Nikolaidi, Ugur, Iversen are experienced supervisors having supervised multiple PhDs to completion. Others listed may be newer to PhD supervision, but have highly relevant research experience and interests. Under University of Greenwich regulations, each research student is supervised by a team of three supervisors, so more experienced staff may act as co-supervisors. Further details of potential supervisors are given below, please follow the links to their webpages for a more detailed account of their research interests.

For discussion on proposed projects for a UBEL application, please contact at most two of the named supervisors below, following the guidance on the UBEL website.

For more general queries, please contact Professor Ozlem Onaran:o.onaran@greenwich.ac.uk

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Supervisor

Indicative Research Interests

Prof. Ozlem Onaran

Distribution (income, wealth and gender), growth regimes, employment, equality-led development, sustainable development, care economy, green economy, fiscal policy, public finance, globalization, financialization

Assoc. Prof. Maria Nikolaidi

Ecological macroeconomics, sustainable development, climate finance, the links between climate policies and gender equality,

Prof. Mehmet Ugur

Innovation and employment; income distribution; creative destruction and wellbeing; economics of governance and institutional quality

Prof. Vegard Iversen

Impact evaluation techniques, mixed methods, behavioural experiments, social mobility in developing countries, local democracy in low-income contexts, gender norms

Prof. Apurba Shee

Development economics, agricultural economics, agricultural finance, applied econometrics, evidence-based policy research, innovative climate risk financing, climate adaptation, food systems resilience

Assoc. Prof. Pamela Giselle Katic

Environmental/ecological economics, Agricultural economics, Water economics, water governance, water justice, Indigenous Peoples’ food/water/knowledge systems, Biodiversity economics, Biocultural heritage and conservation

Assoc. Prof. Rafael Wildauer

Distribution of income and wealth; non-response in household (income and wealth) surveys; tax revenue micro simulation models; distribution and heterogeneity in macroeconomic models

Dr Edna Solomon

Panel data econometrics, firm productivity, growth, foreign direct investment, multinational firms

Dr Rob Calvert Jump

Urban and regional economics, economic statistics

Dr Cem Oyvat

Development economics, green economy, care economy, income distribution

Dr Alex Guschanski

labour economics, income distribution, unemployment, global imbalances microeconometric analyses of firm-level data

Dr Jeff Powell

Subordinate financialisation and its impact on stability and sustainability; feminist and ecological approaches to monetary policy; history of economics of gender, race and environment

Dr Mary Paz Arrieta Paredes

SMEs financing and investing in the global economy; the financing of innovation adoption for sustainability; the adoption of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) tools in SMEs and the role of policymaking

Dr Francesco Guidi

Portfolio diversification strategies, Integration of stock markets, financial stability, time-series econometrics

Dr Luca Tasciotti

Climate, environment, and their interlinks with development economics, sustainable agriculture, food security/poverty reduction in developing countries, the socio-economic effects of environmental policies, the economics of the extraction industries

Dr Yuliya Yurchenko

Public services, energy economics, global networks, political economy of Ukraine

Dr Navjot Sangwan

Applied microeconomics, development economics, experimental economics

Dr Jose Coronado

Complexity economics, behavioural economics, Bayesian econometrics, renewable energy and finance, bounded rationality, bargaining

Dr Pedro Machado

Income distribution, technological development, patterns of trade specialization

Dr Thomas Rabensteiner

Labour economics, income distribution, applied economics, microeconometrics, causal inference, industrial relations

Our strength lies in the diversity of topics we cover, providing interdisciplinary solutions to global challenges. We are excited to make a tangible impact on local communities, cities and the world through innovative research and knowledge exchange

- Petros Ieromonachou, Associate Dean for Research and Knowledge Exchange for the Greenwich Business School

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Faculty of Business