Spotlight on Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc graduate Vassilis Gkoumas

The Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc programme is a joint MSc with the UCL Energy Institute and Institute for Sustainable Resources. Before starting the Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc Vassilis worked in the shipping industry, at Envolve Entrepreneurship in New York and at the U.S. Commercial Agency.

Vassilis said that he initially saw the MSc as a way for him to take his career in a new direction:

However, when he began studying on the programme he became involved with two research projects which encouraged him to pursue further education after the MSc. The first research project was led by ISR director Prof Paul Ekins, which studied the effects of a tax on plastics on the plastic supply chain. During his dissertation Vassilis worked with Paul Drummond and the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on a project trying to estimate how industrial operators in the UK perceived different aspects of carbon pricing schemes. These two projects encouraged Vassilis to apply for a PhD.

Vassilis is now doing a PhD at the Land Economy Department at the University of Cambridge where he is currently researching ways in which people can be incentivised to protect the natural environment. He is also a PhD researcher at the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance. He says that his time on the Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc is helping him with his current research:

For future Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc students looking to get the most out of their MSc, Vassilis offers the following advice:

We’d like to thank Vassilis for sharing his experience of studying Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment MSc at The Bartlett UCL and wish him all the best in his PhD.