I am an Associate Professor of International Political Economy in the PoLIS Department. My research sits at the intersection of political economy, monetary theory, public finance, and energy policy. I investigate three interconnected themes: 

1. Political Economy of Energy Transitions

My research examines critical historical junctures when states confronted the challenge of building entirely new energy infrastructures—moments when existing systems proved inadequate and massive capital mobilisation became essential. These transitions share a common puzzle: how to finance infrastructures that appear fiscally unaffordable yet are deemed necessary for economic development, national security, or climate action.

I trace how Britain navigated such transitions across different eras: from the post-war challenge of electrifying the nation to today's imperative to rebuild the energy system around renewables. Contemporary transitions add complexity through the renewables-security nexus—as states pursue energy independence while managing new vulnerabilities around supply chains, critical minerals, and grid resilience. Each transition required states to innovate financially, creating new instruments and governance arrangements to mobilise private capital for fundamentally public infrastructure projects.

2. Evolution of Monetary and Financial Systems

I research how wartime mobilisation and post-war reconstruction fundamentally reshaped modern finance. Wars represent extreme moments when states must finance objectives on a scale that dwarfs peacetime expenditure, forcing fiscal and financial innovations that permanently alter how these systems operate.

These historical episodes reveal how extraordinary demands generate fiscal and financial innovations that persist long after the immediate crisis—government-sponsored enterprises, national development banks, special purpose vehicles that became enduring features of modern state finance.

3. Changing Nature of State Capacity

I look at how states have progressively restructured their governing functions by turning to innovative financial mechanisms when direct public provision appears fiscally or politically untenable—representing a fundamental shift from direct provision toward orchestrating private capital through financial engineering.

Whether financing social services through impact bonds, electricity infrastructure through Contracts-for-Difference, or war through special financial vehicles, states repeatedly reconfigure capacity by enlisting private financial actors. The common thread reveals state capacity as not a fixed attribute, but a flexible repertoire of institutional arrangements that states continuously adapt to meet extraordinary demands.