Council

Volker Beckers graduated from Cologne University in Economics and Business. After an initial career in the IT industry working in different sectors, he spent more than 25 years as a senior executive within the energy industry. Volker now works for a portfolio of companies of different sizes as non-Executive Director/Chair and his professional expertise spans across all sectors – private, public and academia.

Volker was Group CEO, RWE Npower plc until the end of 2012 and prior to this, its Group CFO from 2003 to 2009. He has worked with a variety of trade and industry bodies, including the CBI President’s Committee, on the Board of the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce, and since 1999 as Deputy Chair of the Executive Commercial Management Committee at the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and was also member of the Executive Committee of UKBCSE (now Energy UK). He held a number of non-Executive directorships including HM Revenue & Customs where he chaired the Scrutiny Committee.

Volker sat on the Advisory Board of the EU Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at King’s College and was Chair of the Advisory Board with Erasmus Centre for Future Energy Business (ECFEB), a specialist research center at Rotterdam School of Management. He was appointed in 2019 as Chairman of the Advisory Group of ewi – the Energy Institute of the University of Cologne. In 2014 he joined the Board of Trustees of Forum for the Future. He is also a member of The Worshipful Company of Fuellers and a Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI).

Joanna Whittington has held a number of senior roles in the energy and transport sectors and in economic regulation. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at SGN, a UK gas distribution business, at the Payment Systems Regulator and at Powerful Women, an initiative which seeks a gender equal, diverse and inclusive energy sector.

Before starting her portfolio career, Joanna was Director General, Energy and Security at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) from October 2018 to December 2022.

Joanna was the Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) from January 2016. She joined the ORR in 2014 as Director of Railway Markets and Economics with responsibility for ORR’s economic regulation and competition roles.  Prior to this she worked at Ofgem for over a decade where she held a number of senior posts. In her last role as Partner for Markets, she was responsible for regulation of the wholesale gas and electricity markets.

David Newbery has been Professor of Applied Economics since 1988, and was Director of the DAE from 1988-2003. He was elected to a fellowship in Churchill College in 1966 on returning from a year as an economist in the Tanzanian Treasury as an ODI Nuffield fellow. He became an Assistant Lecturer in the Faculty at the same time, and directed studies in the college until 1988. In between he took leave to go the World Bank, where he became Division Chief of Public Economics from 1981-3. He has been a visiting Professor at Yale, Stanford, Berkeley and Princeton. He was an associate editor of The Economic Journal from 1977-2000. He was President of the European Economic Association for 1996.

He has written books on social cost-benefit analysis, commodity price stabilisation, taxation in developing countries, tax reform in transitional economies, and the privatisation, restructuring and regulation of network industries such as electricity, gas and telecoms. His articles cover economic theory, risk, futures markets, energy policy, agricultural price policy, tax policy, public goods, transport economics, international trade, industrial organisation, privatisation, regulation, environmental policy and reform in Eastern Europe.

He has worked with international agencies on tax reform in Europe and Africa, road user charging, energy policy and regulation of privatised utilities. He is currently working on regulation and privatisation, particularly of electricity and gas, and is Principal Investigator and Project Co-Leader on the Cambridge MIT Institute Electricity Project. He continues his interest in road pricing and transport policy.

He was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society, 1989, and of the British Academy in 1991. He was awarded the Frisch medal of the Econometric Society for applied economics in 1990, the Harry Johnson prize of the Canadian Economic Association in 1993, and the IAEE’s 2002 Outstanding Contributions to the Profession Award. He was a Member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (later Competition Commission) from 1996-2002. He is a member of the DEFRA’s Environmental Economics academic panel and chairman of the Dutch electricity market surveillance committee.

Mike is Chief Economist at National Grid ESO, soon to be the National Energy System Operator. He is also Chair of BIEE. Previously, Mike was Director in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice and Chief Economist and Director of Analysis at the Climate Change Committee, the UK’s independent statutory climate adviser. Mike led the CCC analytical team in developing the CCC’s advice on Net Zero, the Sixth Carbon Budget, the actions and policies required to deliver it, and the framework for tracking and monitoring progress. He also oversaw the CCC’s adaptation analysis.

Having spent his career telling stories with evidence, Mike is a firm believer in the power of analysis to make the world a better place.

Mallika is Shell’s Chief Economist. She advises on economic, energy and climate policies to shape Shell’s long-term scenarios. She leads strategic engagements on energy transitions with national and city governments across the world, notably a multi-year collaboration with the Chinese government. Mallika also helps shape Shell’s policy and advocacy on the energy transition to support the company’s decarbonisation strategy. She sits on a range of external advisory boards.

Before joining Shell, she was Deputy Director at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responsible for evidence and analysis across the environment, food and green economy portfolio. She has held senior positions in the UK government, including at the Cabinet Office as Head of Policy Analysis for the 2009 G20 London Summit. Before that, Mallika worked in senior economics and policy roles in the USA.

Mallika holds PhD and MS degrees in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and a BA from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India.

After working as an Economic Adviser to the President of Kazakhstan, Professor Yelena Kalyuzhnova founded and remains the Director of the Centre for Euro-Asian Studies at the University of Reading, UK. She is an authoritative expert in the areas of oil and gas and emerging economies. Professor Kalyuzhnova is the author of the first English-language book on the Kazakhstani economy, a number of research monographs, as well as a range of academic papers on economic issues. Within the UK government, Professor Kalyuzhnova served as an economic adviser on Caspian issues to the Rt. Hon. Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, Q.C., House of Lords as well as the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kazakhstan, House of Commons. She is now Vice Dean of Henley Business School. Yelena is also a member of the Council of the British Institute of Energy Economics.

Owen is Deputy Chief Economist and Deputy Director for Central Analysis in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. His team are responsible for ensuring economics and other forms of analysis sit at the heart of departmental decision making, that the department’s analysis is robust and that it has a well resourced and capable analytical function.

Owen has a breadth of experience as an economist. Most recently he spent close to ten years leading analysis on Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security in the Home Office. Prior to that he had two postings overseas, serving as Chief Economist to two British Overseas Territories. This came after various roles as an economist working for a local council, private sector consultancies and across the Civil Service. Owen is currently a senior member of the Government Economic Service, regularly attending its Corporate and Strategic boards, as well as being involved in numerous other cross-Whitehall groups, such as the Chief Economist Appraisal Group and Wellbeing Analysis Senior Group.

Anas Karkoutli is a PhD student and Research Assistant within the Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde.

He has a strong background in economics and international politics. Anas is working on identifying the UK economy-wide impacts of industrial decarbonisation and the subsequent ‘Just Transition’ implications. He currently uses Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling for this PhD research, which explores the concept of “Competitiveness” in the context of industrial decarbonisation, with a focus on firm -and country-level competitiveness impacts under varying policy scenarios.

Anas’ current work aims to bridge the knowledge gap between the industrial sector, academia, and policymakers by formulating a common economic lens through which all stakeholders can look to understand, analyse, and ultimately address decarbonisation challenges.

Jorge is a senior advisor for the energy transition. He is involved in the production of the bp Energy Outlook and Statistical Review of the World Energy. Jorge joined bp in October 2018. Previously, he worked as research fellow at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in 2014-2018. The rest of his professional career developed in both, the private and the public sector. In the public sector, he worked as economic advisor at Spanish Prime Minister’s Economic Bureau, at the cabinet of the Minister of Energy, and at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He is also a research associate at Oxford Institute of Energy Studies.

Prof. Robert Gross joined UKERC as Director in March 2020.

Prior to this role Rob was Director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (ICEPT) at Imperial College London. He was also the Policy Director of Imperial’s Energy Futures Lab and a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre.

Professor Gross has been involved with UKERC since its inception, leading the Technology and Policy Analysis theme and has published extensively on energy policy and technology.  He has wide-ranging research management expertise and has made a substantive contribution to UK energy policy development, acting as advisor to Select Committees, preparing reports and chairing committees for Government departments and non-departmental public bodies, and as a consultant. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in the early 2000s and contributed to the Blair Government Energy Review.

Rob has extensive teaching experience at masters and PhD level. He has been an invited speaker at a wide range of conferences and forums in the UK and overseas and makes regular contributions to the popular debate surrounding energy, in the mainstream press, online and in TV and radio appearances. In 2014 Gross was Chair of the Council of the British Institute of Energy Economics.

Robert has a PhD in Energy and Environment Policy and Technology and an MSc in Environmental Technology, both from Imperial College.

Matthew works as a Professor of Sustainable Energy Business and Policy at the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School. His research examines the business models, policies and technologies necessary to accelerate the transition to a socially equitable, net-zero economy. He is a co-investigator on UKRI’s £10m EnergyREV consortium on smart, locally led energy systems, and the UK Energy Research Centre’s ‘Whole Person – Whole Place’ net-zero neighbourhood solutions project.

Matthew has published in ‘Financial Times 50’ ranked journals and co-authored two books on innovation to accelerate the energy revolution. He has written reports on behalf of the World Energy Council and been cited in government and parliamentary reports. His work has enjoyed extensive media coverage (e.g. BBC, Forbes) and he has also provided commentary for national media outlets like the i newspaper and The Conversation.

He sits on Scottish Power Energy Networks’ Customer Engagement Group to inform their five year business plan for Ofgem’s RIIO-ED2, as well as USwitch’s Green Tariff Accreditation Panel. He is a council member of the British Institute of Energy Economics, chair and trustee of the community energy charity South Seeds and an Honorary Member of the Green Angel Syndicate. Finally, he is co-founder and host of the Local Zero podcast, which champions local action to tackle climate change and profiled as the Times Pod of the Week.

Prior to joining Strathclyde he worked at Imperial College’s Centre for Environmental Policy (2012-2016) examining the effectiveness of energy innovation policies both in the UK and overseas (e.g. China, Finland). He completed his PhD at the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) at the University of Leeds (2009-2012), examining the role that business model innovation plays in driving a low-carbon energy transition.

Peter has over thirty years of experience working on a wide range of energy and climate change policy issues. He currently holds a joint appointment at the University of Leeds as Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems in the Schools of Earth and Environment and Chemical and Process Engineering. Peter has acted as advisor to a number of United Nations organisations, the International Energy Agency and the European Commission. He is also a member of several large national research centres including the UK Energy Research Centre, the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre, the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, the Supergen Energy Networks Hub and the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Peter’s research is strongly interdisciplinary, combining science, technology, economics and policy to enhance the understanding of, and policy responses to, the challenges of accelerating the transition to sustainable low-carbon energy systems. Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Peter was Head of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency in Paris from 2007 to 2011, responsible for high profile publications such as Energy Technology Perspectives and the Energy Technology Roadmap series. In an earlier consultancy career, he was Technical Director of a major UK energy and environmental practice.