Can you tell us a little bit about your background and what brought you to UEA?
I did my undergraduate and PhD in Economics at the University of Melbourne. I started specialising in Behavioural and Experimental Economics towards the end of my Bachelors, and moved on to doing a PhD in this area. While doing my PhD, I also spent about 3 months visiting the University of Nottingham. During my time, I got to meet many academics from around the region, including at UEA. UEA has a very strong group of researchers in this area of interest, and that was what enticed me to apply for a position here.
What are you passionate about outside of economics?
I love to cook, and I enjoy playing table-top games (board games, card games, etc). I guess I am a bit of a nerd in that regard.
What inspired you to pursue a career in economics?
I did economics in high school and fell in love with its approach of studying individual behaviour and how we make decisions. What really struck me then (and still does now) is how economics applies to every day decisions and things that we do on a daily basis.
What excites you the most about economics at the moment?
The advent ‘big data’. I think this opens up many new opportunities to better understand decision making and how we as individuals make choices.
What are you researching at the moment?
My fields of research are experimental and behavioural economics, and I focus specifically on topics on biases in belief updating, leadership, and methodology. Broadly, I study the biases that individuals have when they evaluate the outcomes of others when the determinants of outcomes are often not observable. How we evaluate others for their outcomes can have broad implications. For instance, our evaluations may directly affect how decision makers are remunerated for the outcomes that they deliver. If there are biases in the way their outcomes are evaluated, then these biases can also distort their own incentives, such as their incentives to exert costly effort or to make risky decisions.
What do you enjoy most about the School of Economics at UEA?
The School is very collegial and my colleagues are very supportive of one another. Moreover, students receive a lot of support from the faculty in their learning and research, which is something I am really impressed about.
What is your favourite place in Norwich?
1 ) The lake on campus – A colleague brought me there for a walk after coffee and I really love it! It’s a good way to take a break from a hectic day at work. 2) The city centre – it has a lot of character and unlike (the few) other places I have been to in England. I think this makes Norwich a very unique and beautiful city to live in. 3) St. Andrews Brew House – I have not been to that place yet, but apparently there is a group which hosts regular table-top games there two days a week!