This pathway includes researchers from three institutions, with collaboration across political science, law, sociology, health and psychology which are represented across UBEL’s pathways and groups. The pathway spans microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics, addressing some of the most pressing national and international socio-economic challenges of our time, such as inequality, migration, globalisation, and sustainable growth. 

It draws on specialist research centres and exploits cross-field synergies so that empirical and theoretical research blend seamlessly and there is dialogue across different fields of economics. UCL’s Policy Lab of Economics and Political Science aims to amplify the national and global impact of UCL’s research by disseminating research to the public and policy makers, an annual lecture with a senior policy figure, a “Policy and Practice” seminar series and Professors of Practice who are policy makers spending time at UCL. Joint appointments with other departments bring additional diversity of ideas and methods.

Birkbeck’s Centre for Political Economy and Institutional Studies also highlights interdisciplinarity. Birkbeck’s Institute of Data Analytics is a forum for interdisciplinary research in digital technologies, data analytics, artificial intelligence and data science and provides exposure to the technological frontier and training on the opportunities that AI and data science promise. The Institute has CDT support to facilitate knowledge exchange, identify collaborative research opportunities, create professional networks and develop relevant skillsets. The pathway delivers quantitative training in policy evaluation, econometrics, computational methods, micro- and macro-economics and applied microeconomics via the Centre for Microdata and Methods and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

At the University of Greenwich (UoG), the route “Economics of Social and Ecological Sustainability” builds on research at the UoG Centre of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (PEGFA) and the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) with a focus on ecological economics; inequalities in income, wealth, gender, race, regions; social mobility and poverty alleviation; the care economy; innovation; technological change; green finance; macro-financial stability; decentralisation, citizen participation and democratic institutions. The supervisory team and training offer 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.