Research Fellow, Birmingham Business School
What is your research background and current field of research?
I’m currently working as a research fellow in Birmingham Business School (Economics Strand of WM-Air Project), I did my PhD in Economics at University of Birmingham, my research interests include environmental economics and climate change finance. I’m interested in policy evaluation using interdisciplinary methods including econometric models (causal inference) and machine learning algorithms, with particular focus on policies and interventions that promote regional economic development, environmental protection and sustainable development. For example, I evaluated policies like Covid-19 lockdown (global), Clean Air Zone (Birmingham) / Low Emission Zone (London), Clean Winter Heating Plan (China), Environmental Inspection Program (China), Clean Air Interstate Rule (US), etc.
Which BEAR Services have been most helpful to you in your research?
I use the Research Data Store and HPC service [BlueBEAR] intensively in my research, the HPC service provides great computing power that enables me to run machine learning models that would otherwise take months. The HPC service also greatly improved my research efficiency, especially with big data, I can always use HPC service to test different models within a short period of time.
How widespread do you think BEAR Services are known in your School and how do you plan to spread the word?
I think the Research Data Store is widely known as most PGRs and researchers use it to store their research data, the HPC service is less widely known. But with the increasing demand for high computing power, and the increasing popularity of machine learning, big data and relevant applications in the business school, the HPC service is attracting more and more users. I believe organising workshops or seminars can be useful ways to spread the word, researchers in the business school or social science community can demonstrate how their research benefits from utilising advanced BEAR services.
How can researchers in your School/College contact you?
My email: b.liu.1@bham.ac.uk
What's an interesting fact about you?
I like hiking in national parks, even when the weather is bad.