skip to content
 

2022-2023


Alessa Widmaier

Alessa Widmaier

Environmental Economics

Alessa completed her MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2019 after obtaining an MA in Economics from the University of Aberdeen. Thereafter, she worked as a Senior Economist at Vivid Economics on topics related to natural resources and sustainable growth.

Alessa’s research will consider the nexus between the environment and inequality. In her PhD, she would like to study how climate change, natural resource depletion and biodiversity loss may have varying impacts on different societal groups, and how this may influence disparities across income and wealth strata, geographies, and generations.


Fergus McCormack

Fergus McCormack

Fergus completed his MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2021, before taking a year out to work at the European Central Bank and teach English in Japan. He also holds an MA in Economics from the University of Edinburgh.

He is interested in doing research at the intersection of macroeconomics and happiness. As part of his PhD, he will investigate the impact of macroeconomic phenomena on people’s happiness, and how policy can be adjusted to improve happiness outcomes.

 

2021-2022


Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor

Sarah completed her MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2020. She also holds an MSc from Imperial College London and a BSc from the University of Cape Town, both in pure mathematics.

Sarah is interested in applying economic network theory to understand the behaviour of large technology firms. She hopes to use her research to design optimal regulatory policy for such firms with the aim of protecting consumer welfare. Sarah will also study the applications of hypergraphs (multi-dimensional networks) to broader topics in micro-economic theory.


Shane Mahen

Shane Mahen

Network Economics

Shane completed both his Bachelor's degree and the MPhil in Economics at the University of Cambridge. He then worked at a strategy consulting firm, gaining commercial experience across a variety of sectors including health care, transport, and defence.

Shane is undertaking research in the area of network economics. As part of the PhD, he will investigate how supply chains evolve over time, and their implications for macroeconomic outcomes.


Alex Davenport

Alex Davenport

Labour Economics

Alex completed his BA at the University of Cambridge in 2019 and went on to work as a Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. While there, his work focused on levelling-up, the long-run effects of deindustrialisation, and the impact of Covid-19 on household spending patterns. He is currently studying for the MPhil in Economic Research which is the foundation year for the PhD.

Alex has been awarded a 1+3 ESRC studentship which funds MPhil and PhD years. He will use the year studying towards the MPhil in Economic Research to refine his research ideas into a specific agenda for a PhD focused on labour market scarring from deindustrialisation.


Sean Lavender

Sean Lavender

Sean completed his Bachelor’s degree at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 2020. After working in economic consulting for a year, he is now studying for the MPhil in Economic Research.

Sean has been awarded a 1+3 ESRC DTP scholarship and he hopes to study for a PhD in Economics in Cambridge. He is particularly interested in researching the interactions between public finances, monetary policy, and growth.

 

 

2020-2021


Charles Parry

Charles Parry

The relationship between Monetary Policy and Firm Dynamics

Charles completed the MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2019 after graduating from his Bachelor's degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2017.

Charles's research will consider the relationship between monetary policy and firm dynamics. Recent trends in the product market – where concentration and mark-ups have shown sustained increases – throw up questions for monetary policy efficacy and transmission, which he is keen to investigate.


Ivan Harkins

Ivan Harkins

Nutrition Economics

Ivan completed a BA in Business, Economic and Social Studies at Trinity College Dublin and an MSC in Quantitative Finance at University College Dublin. He began his career in investment banking before moving to JCRA, a boutique financial risk management consultancy. While working, he completed an MSc in Applied Statistics and Stochastic Processes. He was part of the management team at JCRA completing an MBO in 2017, and, following the sale of JCRA to Chatham Financial, he started to pursue a career in academia. In 2019, Ivan completed the Advanced Diploma in Economics at Cambridge and is currently undertaking the MPhil in Economic Research.

Ivan has been awarded a 1+3 studentship which funds both his MPhil and PhD years. Ivan is interested in researching the differences in nutrition across households in developed countries. Nutrient deficiencies have a heavy personal toll, causing a reduction in quality of life, longevity and productivity. This means that nutritional inequalities can compound other forms of inequality. Ivan hopes his research will help identify policy initiatives to improve nutritional outcomes.

 

2019-2020


Alastair Langtry

Alastair Langtry

Network Economics

Alastair completed his Bachelor's degree at the University of Cambridge in 2017 and is currently studying for the MPhil in Economic Research which is the foundation year for the PhD.

Alastair has been awarded a 1+3 ESRC studentship which funds both his MPhil and PhD years. The year spent on the MPhil in Economic Research will give him the opportunity to define and refine a research proposal for his PhD dissertation. During this year he will receive training (a) in advanced topics in current economic research in all area of economics, though a variety of compulsory and optional courses and (b) in quantitative methods to the highest level, as used by current economic research. Alastair's research will focus on both theoretical and empirical aspects of network economics.


Jamie Moore

Jamie Moore

Financial Innovation on Financial Access

Jamie completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the University of Kent in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Shortly after, he started working as an Economist at NIESR (National Institute of Economic and Social Research) where he predominantly worked on improving labour market statistics through the use of microeconometric and machine learning methods before starting his PhD in the autumn of 2019.

Jamie’s main research fields are in microeconometrics, machine learning, and the microeconomics of development. More specifically, his PhD thesis will focus on the role of financial innovation on financial access—namely mobile money—and the impact it has on household welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

2018-2019


Darija Halatova

Darija Halatova

Strategic Thinking

Darija completed the MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2018 after graduating from her Bachelor’s degree at the University of St Andrews.

Darija's research interests lie primarily within behavioural game theory, strategic thinking, and experimental economics (both practical application and methodological issues). Recently, I have added network theory to the list of my research interests. As part of the PhD, I want to design and conduct my own experiments using dynamic games (and, in particular, games played on networks) in order to enhance our understanding of how people think and learn in strategic situations.


Balduin Bippus

Balduin Bippus

International Economics

Balduin completed the MPhil in Economic Research at Cambridge in 2018 after graduating from his Bachelor's degree at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.

He is undertaking research in the area of International Economics.

 


Thomas Prayer

Thomas Prayer

Balancing Rules and Discretion in the Design of Trade Agreements

Thomas completed both his Bachelor's degree and the MPhil in Economic Research at the University of Cambridge.

His research interests include international trade, networks, industrial organisation and macroeconomics.