Our First Year in the DTC

 The Economics pathway is represented in all three of our universities.  Complement each other in terms of covering a wide range of areas in the discipline ◦ Sheffield – applied, mostly microeconometrics ◦ York – theoretical – strong on macroeconomics ◦ Leeds – policy evaluation e.g. transport and health.

 Initial meeting between PhD directors in each department.  First annual Economics PhD conference.  Visiting lecturer master classes.  Support for students to access external training provision.

 To be held annually, rotated between the three departments.  This year, held at Leeds in March  All day event.  First year students asked to present posters, while second and third years presented papers in parallel sessions.  Academic staff from all three departments in attendance, some acting as discussants.

 Students organised much of the conference themselves, through a small committee.  Organised like a full academic conference  Good experience of presenting  Use of discussants  A ‘good day out’

 Estefania Mourelle (visiting Sheffield), ‘Linearity vs. Asymmetry in Economic Time Series’, 14 December 2011  Andrew Clark and Conchita D’Ambrosio (visiting Sheffield), Labour Economics, 27, 30 & 31 January 2012  Herakles Polemarchakis (visiting York), Economic Policy in Market Economies, 28 & 29 February

 Designed for graduate students  Intensive training in particular areas  Open to students in all 3 departments  Give students access to new academics with whom to discuss their work

 Increasingly, PhD students are wanting access to training in very specialised topics.  Provide information and support to attend suitable training courses at outside institutions.

 Repeat activities from first year.  Develop online presence for cluster: ◦ Online publication of chapters/discussion papers ◦ Discussion boards ◦ Notices  We have talked about the possibility of ‘exchanges’ of academic staff between the 3 departments.