Role
Rob is Professor Emeritus in Economics and Policy in the Department of Economics, Nottingham Business School, having been at NTU since 2000, and full professor since 2010. He became Professor Emeritus in October2024, but remains active in, for example, ongoing research projects, research ethics, doctoral supervision, and the promotion of the Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.
Career overview
Rob completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Nottingham in 1992, after which he was first a Tutorial Assistant then Teaching Fellow. In 1995, Rob was appointed Lecturer in European Economics in the Department of Economics, University of Leicester. He was Deputy Director of the Centre for European Studies, Programme Leader for the MA in European Economic Studies and also held a Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Studies. After arriving at NTU as Senior Lecturer in Economics, he progressed to Reader in European Economics in 2006, and to Professor of European Economics and Policy in 2010. He was also awarded a second Jean Monnet Chair in 2010. He became Professor Emeritus in October 2024.
In 2014, Rob was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the-then Higher Education Academy. This followed internal teaching awards, in 2012 (as the inaugural recipient of the Nottingham Trent Students’ Union Outstanding Teaching award for Nottingham Business School) and 2013 (as one of two inaugural winners of the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Inspirational Teaching).
These strong commitments to research and teaching have also been manifest as a specific strand of activities. Bridging teaching and research, Rob has always placed great importance on the practice of research-informed teaching, to enhance students’ learning experiences. This commitment has led Rob regularly to lead workshops on the full meaning and implementation of research informed teaching as student-centred pedagogic practice. He is more than happy to continue to deliver these workshops to any group of colleagues who wish to learn more about research informed teaching. Rob has also long been active in promoting good practice in research ethics amongst both staff and students, establishing and chairing the Nottingham Business School’s Research Ethics Committee for its first ten years. He has also led several Working Groups and Task and Finish Groups that have strengthened NTU policies on research ethics and integrity.
Research areas
Rob’s research is shaped primarily by expertise in the theory of the dynamics and drivers of public policy. Empirical applications fall into two broad categories – sustainability, and economic informality. Under sustainability, Rob’s recent work has focused on the energy transition and sustainable mobility, including strands on the challenges of adopting anaerobic digestion on local farms (with Dr Hafez Abdo, University of Nottingham); the dynamics and drivers of biofuels policies (with Dr Adrian Kay, Cardiff Metropolitan University); the implementation of Positive Energy Districts (with Professor Kostas Galanakis, University of Dundee, and other colleagues from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network: Smart-BEEjS Human-Centric Energy Districts – see below); and the shift in UK policy from low-to-zero emissions vehicles (Dr Ural Arslangulov, University of Sunderland), this last topic being part of a collaboration exploring ways to unify theories from the fields of public policy and strategy in analysing the sustainability transition.
The second principal strand of research analyses economic informality in Lagos, Nigeria (with Dr Eghosa Igudia, de Montfort University; Dr Olasunmbo Olusanya, University of Lagos; and Dr Basirat Oyalowo, Oxford Brookes University). This research focuses primarily on the challenges facing those involved in the motorcycle taxi (okada) paratransit system, and street hawkers – two highly visible and mobile sectors that the State Government has tried to restrict or ban outright. This research also addresses the challenges faced in collecting data on informality and the ethical issues that arise from such research.
Rob is the author of two books: The Common Agricultural Policy (2000; Sheffield Academic Press); and The Growth of Biofuels in the 21st Century: Policy Drivers and Market Challenges (2014, Palgrave), the latter jointly with Dr Adrian Kay.
He has published articles in many leading international public policy and applied economics journals including, amongst many, Corporate Governance: An International Review; Energy Policy; Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space; European Policy Analysis; Governance; the Journal of Agricultural Economics; the Journal of Cleaner Production; the Journal of Common Market Studies; the Journal of European Public Policy; the Journal of Rural Studies; and the World Economy.
Full publication details can be found by following the link at the top of the page.
External activity
Rob was awarded Visiting Fellowships to Griffith University, Brisbane (in 2007) and to the Centre for European Studies, Australian National University, Canberra (in 2012 and 2014).
Rob has acted as External Examiner for PhDs at Cambridge University, Utrecht University, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, and Rhodes University, South Africa.
Rob is a member of the Editorial Board of Economic Issues, a member of the Advisory Board for EuroChoices and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Common Market Studies.
Rob is a member of the International Jury for the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) ‘doc.funds’ programme.
Sponsors and collaborators
Rob has received research funding from a number of different funders, including the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the British Academy. In 2018, Rob was Scientific Manager on the €3.9 million Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network: Smart-BEEjS Human-Centric Energy Districts, a project with 8 academic partners, 16 non-academic partners, and 15 Early-Stage Researchers.
Press expertise
Rob can provide comments on European Union policies; biofuel policies; renewable energy and sustainable mobility policies; and the challenges of economic informality in Africa.
My UN Sustainable Development Goals
My research covers the sustainability transition; and economic informality in Africa. The work on sustainability looks at a range of aspects, with one core theme being the promotion of a just transition. This work analyses both rural and urban contexts for sustainability. The work on economic informality has a particular concern for addressing poverty, especially in the context of poverty resulting from government policies.
