Elections 2019

CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT

CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS

Your President and Council give shape, style and leadership to our organisation, and it is important that they have a real mandate from the membership, so please vote, and encourage your colleagues to do likewise.

CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT

Phoebe KOUNDOURI

Athens University of Economics and Business
ReSEES: Research on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability
ICRE8
Athens, Greece
www.aueb.gr/en/faculty_page/koundouri-phoebe

“In October 2018 the IPCC special report on “Global Warming of 1.5 ºC” warned that there are only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which, even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to reach the target. EAERE should and must play a central role in the needed sustainability transition!

I believe that EAERE members research outputs and policy initiatives can have an instrumental role in creating a prosperous, inclusive, climate-resilient society with a circular, zero-carbon economy. Why? Well, EAERE not only boasts members which include the majority of the most influential scientists in the field, but it also organizes the most prestigious annual international conference in the field, bringing together in fruitful discussion hundreds of research and policy institutions. In addition, its official journals, ERE and REEP, shape a significant part of the relevant research agenda. Moreover, EAERE has strong research and policy related dissemination impact in more than 30 countries, via national representatives, while it works on re-enforcing its policy role, through the newly developed “Policy Outreach Committee”.

I am truly and deeply honored to be nominated for EAERE presidency, and I sincerely thank the nominating committee and the council for their trust. If I am elected, I believe I can contribute to continuing and advancing the already excellent work carried out by our association.

Let me first quickly say that I am currently ERE co-editor and REEP associate-editor, have served as EAERE vice-president for 2 years and council member for 4 years, EAERE newsletter editor for 4 years, president of the EAERE fellow-nomination committee, member of president-nomination committee, member of the policy outreach committee, member of the annual conference scientific committee and country representative for more than 15 years, and was the chair of both the scientific and local organizing committees of the 2017 EAERE conference. The last 20 years, the association has been my academic home!

If I am elected, I will do my best to serve the association along the following 4 directions, by formulating respective consultation groups composed by EAERE members and key members from corresponding communities, as well as devoting lots of energy to leveraging the needed grants smartly and efficiently.

1. I will encourage EAERE to continue to seek to meet the highest expectations of scientific merit, in a way that will increase its visibility and influence amongst the relevant associations on other continents, as well as in the general economics profession. This can be achieved through inter-association merit-based awards, fellowships and joint academic events/projects/special issues etc., which can be stimulated via capitalizing on our members’ academic networks, while mobilizing grants from selected funding organizations, which will support these activities. Such visibility will also help in attracting international sponsorships earmarked for lowering the participation fee for our annual conference.
2. I will encourage EAERE to embrace more explicitly interdisciplinary scientific work. Almost all applied problems are interdisciplinary, hence scientific solutions need to be interdisciplinary and support socio-economic and environmental sustainability. That said, interdisciplinary work is difficult and expensive. Given my 20 years of experience and passion for interdisciplinary work, I can bring the association closer to the relevant academic community and funding sources. Given my 20 years of collaboration with DG Research and Innovation, I will invest time in increasing the influence of the association in formulating the priorities of research and innovation policy at the European Commission.
3. I will put a lot of effort in bringing our academic community closer to the innovation community that catalyzes and nurtures innovation, from large corporations, research institutes and public bodies, through to start-ups and individual entrepreneurs. Technological and social innovations ought to integrate our scientific results, while their acceleration in the market should be supported by our expertise in market, financial and economic sustainability. Such a strategy will encourage fresh new thinking from beyond the mainstream and I drive work towards achieving this aim in my capacity as Director of EIT Climate KIC Greece (and member of EIT Climate KIC Europe, www.climate-kic.org).
4. I will continue to reinforce EAERE’s role in being an influential bridge between the academic community and the other stakeholders that are instrumental in the implementation of the sustainability transition: politicians, policy makers, businesses and the civil society. My role as co-chair of UN SDSN Greece (and member of UN SDSN Global, unsdsn.org, unsdsn.gr) places me in a unique position to facilitate this work.

I believe that the above strategy will enhance EAERE’s role in the urgently needed sustainability transition.”

Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri holds a PhD (2000) and MPhil (1995) in Economics from the University of Cambridge (UK). She is a Professor of Economics and Econometrics (with special emphasis on Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment) at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece). She is also Founder and Scientific Director of the Research Laboratory: ReSEES: Research on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability  (www.dept.aueb.gr/en/ReSEES) at the same University. Prof. Koundouri is also the Founder and Scientific Chair of the International Center for Research on the Economy and the Environment (ICRE8, www.icre8.eu). She is also an affiliated Professor at the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center, (Greece) where she directs EIT Climate KIC Greece (www.climate-kic.org; www.climate-kic.org/countries/greece/). Prof. Koundouri is also the co-chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Network – Greece (unsdsn.gr; unsdsn.org) and the Vice-Chair of the scientific advisory board of the European Forest Institute (www.efi.int). Professor Koundouri was elected Council Member (2012-2016) and appointed Vice- President (2014-2016) of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, before co-founding the Greek Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in 2019.

Ranked in the top 1.6% IDEAS Female Economists, Professor Koundouri is a highly cited academic author, with 15 edited books and monographs, and more than 200 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and edited volumes in the following fields of research: Economics and Econometrics , Mathematics, Social Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Multidisciplinary. Her work focuses, mainly but not exclusively, on microeconomic and econometric modelling with applications to water, marine and biodiversity resources, as well as climate change; non-market valuation, long-run costs benefit analysis and relevant discouting issues, interdisciplinary approach to natural resources management, and more recently philosophy of science. Central to Professor  Koundouri’s research is the concept of the ‘total economic value of public goods’ and in particular the value humans derive from natural resources and their ecosystem services, within a framework of uncertainty and ambiguity. Her main research goal is to refine the theoretical models and empirical methods used in the field of natural resources economics, towards: (a) better understanding of the concept and determinants of the total economic value of ecosystem goods and services, (b) more accurate modelling of this value, (c) more robust estimation of this value, (d) more efficient integration of this value in interdisciplinary resource management and policy-making, while incentivizing the development of technological and social innovations that integrate the results of this research, and accelerating these innovations in the market.

Professor Koundouri is co-editor of the journal of Environmental and Resource Economics, and associate-editor of the Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, the official journals of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, as well as associate editor and/or editorial board member in more than 30 academic journals (including Water Resources and Economics, Environment and Development Economics, Economics-ejournal).

Between 1991 and 2006, while based in the UK, she held fixed-term and tenure track academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading. In 2006 she relocated to Greece, where she is now Professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business. She was also a visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, London School of Economics (2014-2018), while she held numerous visiting positions worldwide.

Professor Koundouri is an advisor to the European Commission, World Bank, EIB, EBRD, OECD, UN, NATO, WHO, numerous national and international foundations and organizations, as well as national governments. Since 1997, she has coordinated more than 65  interdisciplinary research projects on natural resources management issues, and together with her team, has attracted significant competitive research funding. She has supervised many PhD students and co-established a master course in Energy Economics and Law.

She has organized numerous prestigious international conferences, workshops, summer schools aand training courses, including the annual conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in 2017. She also co-established the annual Sustainability Summit, an event co-organized by UN SDSN, EIT Climate KIC and The Economist Events. The Summit has developed into an annual meeting of high-profile academics, policiticians, policy makers and civil society stakeholders in South-East Europe and the Mediterranean, convening networks of expertise, mobilizing resources and influencing regional policy for the urgently needed sustainability transitions.

Professor Koundouri and the large interdisciplinary team of researchers she directs (under the cluster of ReSEES, ICRE8, EIT Climate-KIC and UN SDSN) has produced research and policy results that have contributed to shaping European policies with regards to integrated and holistic management of the interaction between nature and people. Over the last two decades, Professor Koundouri has given keynote and public lecturers all over the world, and received scholarships and prizes for academic excellence from various academic institutions and associations.

Professor Koundouri was born in Cyprus in 1974 and is married to Prof. Nikitas Pittis. They are based in Athens, Greece where they live with their three daughters, Chrysilia, Billie and Athena.

CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT

Matti LISKI

Aalto University
Department of Economics
Helsinki
Finland
https://people.aalto.fi/matti.liski

Dear members of our society! I’m highly honored that the nominating committee thought of me for this position. After all, the association is looking for “an enthusiastic and inspiring candidate with demonstrated capacity for team leadership and consensus building, strategic thinking, organizational development and management abilities, fund raising, intellectual contribution, the personal and other qualities required to build on previous growth and guide the Association toward a successful future.” Quite some qualities in search!

I tend to think that the association is an indispensable asset that we, currently active members, have inherited from the pillars of the Association. It is now our turn to take care of it and, then, we leave it in good shape for future members. I’m thrilled to think about the possibility, if I’m elected, to pay back part of what I received as a junior from this society. Like love, it is a game of give and take, and now I feel it is my time to give.

So how would I serve to leave behind an association that is in good or even in better shape? Our main assets, as with most academic associations, are the annual meetings and the official journal. These have been well nurtured, but there is always some room for development. In particular, juniors entering the field should easily learn to know their relevant peers in the annual conference to form a well-functioning community. Their commitment to the society can arise only if they find it professionally and socially valuable. This development does not inevitably happen in a gigantic conference, unless the program provides clear pathways where the subgroups meet more than once. Thus, I think there is a need for more oversight on how local organizers put together the program structures, acknowledging of course that this should not increase the already overwhelming workload of the scientific committees. I believe this development could actually clarify tasks and reduce the workload of the organizers.

To further serve the juniors entering the field, I think it is time to consider if we can better support the job market outcomes and career developments of the juniors. The job market for fresh PhDs should be synchronized with the common recruitment cycle in economics, and perhaps also organized together with the European Economic Association (EEA). There are strong reasons for such a coordination. First, the EEA job market has taken off of very well and our efforts could strengthen the overall attractiveness of Europe for placements. Second, the mainstream economics departments are increasing considering environmental economics as one of the main fields that they cover. It is of high strategic priority that EAERE is a key player when departments are searching for young talents from this field.

Although I would pursue collaboration with the mainstream economics, diversity and interdisciplinarity is what makes this society truly exciting! The association can and should provide exposure to researchers who follow the sometimes-risky career paths between the disciplines. For example, this support can be achieved through keynote presentations, prizes, and fellowships. Universities put an effort to find researchers whose work is appreciated in multiple ways. We are in a position to show that appreciation.

The presidents of scientific associations should use their authority to have an impact on policies or public discourses. Social media is of course part of the package in achieving this but, if I set about tackling this, the overall approach would be close to developing a science-policy interface for the association. I have recently gone through such a development project for an institute that I’m currently running together with my colleagues at my home university. There were many surprising lessons from this project which could of value for the future development of the association.

Matti Liski is a Professor of Economics at Aalto University School of Business. His also an affiliate at MIT-CEEPR, University of Cambridge EPRG, CESifo Munich, and has been a visiting professor at Toulouse School of Economics.
Liski is an award-winning teacher, with experience ranging from principles of economics and executive education to advanced international doctoral courses and summer schools on specialized topics. His research focus is both theoretical and empirical microeconomics with applications in industrial organization, public policy, energy markets, and climate change.
Liski has given several keynote lectures in scientific conferences, served as a board member in foundations and scientific associations, and has held several editorial duties in journals, such as the Scandinavian Journal of Economics and Journal of the European Economic Association. His research has appeared in journals such as Journal of European Economic Association, Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Public Economics, and Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

CANDIDATE FOR COUNCIL MEMBER

Simon DIETZ

Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
London, UK
www.simondietz.com

“EAERE is an important and successful vehicle for our field in Europe and indeed across the world, a field that has never been so vital. More than that, it often feels to me like a big family, an attribute that becomes clear each year when we congregate for the wonderful annual conference. Since 2017, I have served as UK country representative to EAERE and I also serve on the newly created Policy Outreach Committee. These are giving me a much better understanding of the association, how it works and what it wants to achieve. If elected to the Council, I would do my best to ensure its continuing success in organising conferences and summer schools, in overseeing its stable of journals, and especially in its outreach beyond academia, where, over the years, I have accumulated a fair amount of experience.”

Simon Dietz is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where is currently Professor of Environmental Policy, with joint appointments in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and the Department of Geography and Environment. He was educated at the University of East Anglia, ETH Zürich and LSE, and joined the LSE faculty in 2006, having first worked at the UK Treasury as an analyst on the Stern Review. He helped found the Grantham Research Institute in 2008 and served as director until 2017. He also directed the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at LSE from 2008 to 2018. Simon’s research interests are diverse, including decision-making under uncertainty, questions of equity within and between generations, the links between economic growth and the environment, and the formation of international environmental treaties. However, he is probably best known for his work on the social cost of carbon emissions and its relationship with issues in welfare economics such as discounting and risk/uncertainty. Simon is also the lead researcher on the Transition Pathway Initiative, a project backed by $13tn of investors to assess the climate actions of multi-national corporations, a Principal consultant at Vivid Economics, co-editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, a CESifo Research Network Fellow and a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Society of Arts. In 2018 he became the first recipient of the new European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty. During 2018/19 Simon holds a Visiting Fellowship at the Oxford Martin School and is a Research Associate of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, both at Oxford University.

CANDIDATE FOR COUNCIL MEMBER

Massimo FILIPPINI

Center for Energy Policy and Economics
ETH Zürich
Zurich, Switzerland
www.eepe.ethz.ch/people/massimo.html

“I have been a member of the EAERE community for over 15 years. During this period, I have particularly enjoyed and appreciated the high quality scientific conferences organized by EAERE. If elected, I would like to promote connections across various scientific communities that contribute towards a more sustainable society, and to further develop advanced training for young researchers from all over Europe and developing countries.”

Massimo Filippini is a Full Professor in Economics and has a joint professorship at the ETH Zurich and the Università della Svizzera Italiana since October 1999. He is director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE) at ETH Zürich, member of the Center for Economic Research at ETH Zurich (CER-ETH), coordinator of the international network “Empirical Methods in Energy Economics” (EMEE) and a member of the board of Country Representatives of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE). He has also been the President of the Swiss Association for Energy Economics (SAEE). He studied economics at the University of Zurich, where he also received his doctorate. Massimo Filippini has been a visiting scholar at MIT (Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change) and at the  Harvard University (John F. Kennedy School of Government of Harvard) and visiting researcher at the Harvard University (Economics department), University of York (Centre for Health Economics), University of British Columbia (Center for Transportation Studies).  Professor Filippini´s main fields of specialization are: energy economics and policy, behavioral economics, applied econometrics and public economics. His main areas of research are:  the economics of energy efficiency, energy and development, empirical analysis of energy demand, productivity and efficiency analysis of firms, as well as evaluation of energy policy instruments. Massimo Filippini is a member of several editorial boards and has published several books, book chapters, and more than 80 articles in top field and field peer-reviewed journals.

CANDIDATE FOR COUNCIL MEMBER

Marita LAUKKANEN

VATT Institute for Economic Research
University of Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland
https://vatt.fi/en/researcher/laukkanen-marita

“I first attended an EAERE conference in 1997 in Tilburg, the summer before I started my Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. Presenting my Master’s thesis at the conference’s collegial environment made the transition into an international Ph.D. program much easier for me. Since then, I have enjoyed watching both EAERE and environmental and resource economics as a discipline grow and gain importance in Europe. I would bring experience from service as a council member and president of the Finnish Economic Association and a member of the Finnish Climate Change Panel, a scientific policy advisory panel based on Finland’s Climate Change Act. I would be committed to actively contribute toward the development and application of our discipline in Europe, toward furthering communication between researchers, policymakers and students in our field, and toward cooperation across universities and research institutions in Europe.”

Marita Laukkanen is a Chief Researcher at the VATT Institute for Economic Research and an adjunct professor of economics at the University of Helsinki. She earned her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001. After her Ph.D. she held a Ciriacy – Wantrup postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley and a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Venice. She has also been an Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation visiting fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an affiliate researcher of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and a member of the Finnish Climate Change Panel, a scientific policy advisory panel based on Finland’s Climate Change Act. Through this role, she has gained significant experience in collaboration and communication with policymakers and the media. She has also been active in the Finnish Economic Association, serving on the council (2011-2013) and as president (2013-2014). She co-organized the first Nordic Annual Environmental and Resource Economics (NAERE) Workshop in Helsinki in 2017. Marita’s current research focuses on climate and energy policy, including international environmental co-operation, energy taxation and empirical policy evaluation. In prior years, she has also worked on agri-environmental policies and fisheries management.

CANDIDATE FOR COUNCIL MEMBER

Martin QUAAS

Leipzig University
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Leipzig, Germany
http://bit.ly/2X3KJAD

“The community, not individual researchers, pushes the research frontier in a field. EAERE is organizing and coordinating the community of environmental and resource economists in Europe and beyond. EAERE assures top standards of scientific rigor and quality in its journals, presentations at the annual conferences, winter- and summer schools. EAERE provides not only a productive, but also a highly enjoyable atmosphere — think about the dancing after conference dinners. EAERE thus has an important function for our field, which I would be happy to support as member of the council.”

Martin Quaas is professor of Biodiversity Economics at Leipzig University and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany. He has been professor of Environmental, Resource, and Ecological Economics at Kiel University, Germany, in 2007–2018, and postdoc at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, and at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He received his PhD in Economics at Heidelberg University as fellow of the Graduate Program “Environmental and Resource Economics” in 2004. Martin Quaas research focuses on sustainable use of renewable natural resources (especially marine fisheries, rangelands), conservation of biodiversity from regional to global, and climate economics, in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians. He has published more than 75 papers, half of them in economics journals, half in science journals. He has been associate editor of Environment and Development Economics for the past six years and is editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management since 2019.

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