Council – Scottish Economic Society

Officers

President

Prof Sarah Brown

University of Sheffield

Prof. Sarah Brown is a professor of economics at the University of Sheffield and has been with the institution since 2005. Her research interests include labour economics, household finances, and intergenerational attitudes. She is a Research Fellow at the IZA and an Associate Fellow at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). Currently, she serves as the President of the Scottish Economic Society.

President-Elect

Dr Tanya Wilson

University of Glasgow

Dr. Tanya Wilson is a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Glasgow and an associate at the School of Health & Wellbeing. Her research focuses on family economics, exploring topics such as the impact of local labour market conditions on domestic violence and the influence of education on early motherhood, juvenile crime, and marital sorting.

Secretary

Dr Harminder Battu

University of Aberdeen

Dr. Harminder Battu is the Dean for International Student Pathways and a reader in economics at the University of Aberdeen Business School. His research interests include educational mismatch, labour market outcomes, and the effects of cultural and educational diversity on wages. He is the honorary secretary of the Society.

Treasurer

Prof Lindsey Macmillan

UCL Institute of Education

Prof. Lindsey Macmillan is the founding director of the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) at University College London and a research fellow in the Education and Skills sector at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Her research focuses on educational inequalities, intergenerational income mobility, and the role of family background in access to and progression within occupations. She is an elected member of the Scottish Economic Society Council and co-editor of Education Economics.

Past Presidents

Charles Nolan (2020 - 2023)

Prof. Charles Nolan is the Bonar MacFie Chair in Economics at the University of Glasgow and a member of the Macroeconomics research cluster. His research interests include monetary policy, macroeconomics, banking, fiscal policy, and macroprudential issues.

Matthias Klaes (2017 - 2020)

Prof. Matthias Klaes is a visiting lecturer at the Vinson Centre, University of Buckingham. His research interests include economic governance, transaction costs, online financial intermediation, and economic methodology. He is the current President of the Scottish Economic Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Institute for Leadership and Management.

Anne Gasteen (2014 - 2017)

Dr. Anne Gasteen is a research fellow at the University of Stirling and a former senior lecturer in economics at GCU Glasgow, where she worked from 2004 to 2018. Her research interests include various aspects of economics with a focus on education and gender. She served as the first woman President of the Scottish Economic Society from 2014 to 2017.

Klaus Beckmann (2011 - 2014)

Prof. Klaus Beckmann is the current President of Helmut-Schmidt-University / University of the Bundeswehr Hamburg (2018 - ). His research interests are in public economics, especially the economics of conflict and its simulation.

Robert Wright (2008 - 2011)

Prof. Robert Wright is the Milne Visiting Professor at the University of Western Australia and co-chair of the Implementation Group for a project on reducing informal employment in rural Uzbekistan. His research interests include population economics, labour economics, education economics, inequality and poverty, finance, and applied econometrics. He is also an Affiliate of the Adam Smith Business School and an Associate Tutor in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow.

Martin Chalkley (2005 - 2008)

Prof. Martin Chalkley is a professor of economics at the University of York. His research interests include economics of public services, health economics, and labour economics. He is an editor of the Scottish Journal of Political Economy and an associate editor of the Bulletin of Economic Research.

Bob Elliot (2002 - 2005)

Prof. Bob Elliott is an emeritus professor with the Health Economics Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen. His research focuses on health economics, labour economics, and public policy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and has held visiting positions at several universities worldwide. Prof. Elliott has served as a Commissioner on the Low Pay Commission and coordinated the EC Framework 7 research project MUNROS, examining healthcare reform and the roles of health professionals.

Gavin Reid (1999 - 2002)

Prof. Gavin Reid is an emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen and an honorary professor of economics at the University of St Andrews. His research interests include industrial organization, entrepreneurship, venture capital, small firms, innovation, R&D, intellectual property, information systems, risk appraisal, and financial structure. He is the founder and former director of the Centre for Research into Industry, Enterprise, Finance, and the Firm (CRIEFF) at the University of St Andrews and has published extensively in leading academic journals.

Paul Hare (1996 - 1999)

Prof. Paul Hare is a professor emeritus of economics at Heriot-Watt University, where he has been a faculty member since 1985. His research focuses on the economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, microeconomic policy, investment, trade policy, and private sector development. He founded the Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation (CERT) and has worked on projects funded by the EU, World Bank, IMF, ESRC, and EBRD.

Laurie Hunter (1993 - 1996)

Sir Laurence Colvin Hunter is an emeritus professor and honorary senior research fellow in the School of Business and Management at the University of Glasgow where he was Professor of Applied Economics, 1970 to 2003. He was Vice-Principal, 1982 to 1986; Director of External Relations from 1987 to 1990 and Director of the Business School from 1996 until 1999.. His research and teaching focus on labour economics, industrial relations, and human resource management. He has held numerous public appointments, including serving on the Court of Inquiry into the Miners' Strike and the Royal Commission on Legal Services in Scotland, and was knighted in 1995 for his services.