We list some research topics that academic staff members are interested in supervising. This list is indicative and applicants should feel free to submit research proposals on different topics.
Environmental factors in low- and middle-income countries: This topic aims to study how environmental factors (e.g., water scarcity/quality, floods/coastal erosion, land degradation, indoor air pollution from cooking stoves, tobacco curing, etc) in low- or middle-income countries (such as South Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa) affect the physical and mental health of women and girls. Additionally, aspects such as various intrahousehold and gender empowerment outcomes, e.g. women's bargaining power within their households, the incidence of gender-based violence, and outcomes related to marriage, such as age at marriage, partner selection, or husbands’ polygamy will be examined. Candidates with good knowledge of spatial data analysis, and openness to the idea of jointly designing and implementing a field experiment in one of these regions are preferred.
Social Norms and Artificial Agents: This project aims to develop artificially intelligent agents that mimic human behaviour in the laboratory. It includes giving them the ability to learn based on experience and the ability to pursue social objectives and enforce social norms. Both theoretical research on the performance of artificial agents and laboratory research testing the agents will be conducted. There are a variety of applications for these agents, including simulating large economic systems, too large to be done with human participants.
Historical energy transitions: Decarbonization efforts will require a large-scale shift from gas to electric heating in households. This thesis investigates the historical transition of Britain's energy system, focusing on the shift from town gas and coal to the natural gas grid, to draw insights for the modern energy transition. By analysing this transition, the research will explore the social, economic, and infrastructural challenges faced, alongside the health benefits achieved. The study will assess how cleaner energy sources impacted health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations, to inform policy strategies for the current move towards electrification and decarbonization in the UK.
Causal Inference in Electronic Trading: Financial markets mostly operate within exchanges where buy and sell orders are produced by algorithms and are matched electronically. Information in these markets is organised in the form of an order book which represents the aggregate demand and supply schedule for an asset. Understanding electronic financial markets requires an understanding of the causal relation between order book information in a dynamic context. This project focuses on applying existing techniques, possibly devising new one, to the analysis of order book data and their relations via structural models.
Imperfect Competition in General Equilibrium: In general equilibrium models it is assumed that all firms are price-takers. This is in stark contrast with reality. In response, models have been formulated that allow firms with market power (Gabszewicz and Vial, 1972). Yet, many of these assume that firms maximize profits with respect to a fixed numeraire. But the profit function depends on the numeraire to an extent that the qualitative features of an equilibrium, even its existence, depend on the particular numeraire chosen (Grodal, 1996). This raises the question of what is the objective for firms under imperfect competition.
Discrete choice models of social and economic behaviour: this project formulates and estimates discrete choice dynamic programming models of social and economic behaviour. Examples include female labour force participation, marital and fertility choices, health choices both conventional and risky (which may include decisions related to sexual activity and the use of legal and illegal narcotics), and choices about form of employment, such as remote work, self-employment and business start-ups (entrepreneurship).
Military service and social cohesion in Europe: In our increasingly diverse society, the importance of social cohesion cannot be overstated. This project aims at exploring the effect on social cohesion of a particular policy that has been crowded out in most modern countries: the military service. Previous studies have shown that military service served to create a national identity. We would like to look across the European context how the removal of this institution has affected national identity.
Inclusive Higher Education: Students of differing backgrounds (social class, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity,) have different experiences in school that carry over to their university education. How do these demographics impact on the choice of subjects and university? How do they affect performance at university and post-university, and in the early stages of building a career? There is now more data available to explore these issues. The methodology used should extend to an understanding of higher education finance and structure, and should encompass theoretical modelling as well as data analysis.
Language and Economic Behaviour: This project focuses on the intricate relationship between language and economic decision making, employing formal logical tools, computational methods, and experimental and psychological frameworks. It aims to decipher how a decision maker's language, knowledge, and awareness influence her decision-making, bridging the gap between the natural language descriptions of decision problems and the cognitive models a decision maker uses to understand them. By understanding how language influences economic decision-making, strategies can be developed to mitigate biases and polarization of beliefs, and better understand the reasons behind empirical deviations from rational behaviour.
