Dr. Swaroop RAO

Work experience

• EIFER European Institute of Energy Research EDF-KIT EWIV, Karlsruhe, Germany (July 2025 - present)

Senior researcher, project leader

Expert on German energy policy

• Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany (July 2022 - June 2025)

Senior researcher in the Energy Policy business unit

Member of the scientific team of the German Expert Council on Climate Change (Expertenrat für Klimafragen)

Project leader for the evaluation of the electric car subsidy programme (Umweltbonus) in Germany, a project of the German Ministry of Economic Affairs (BMWK)

• Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, France (September 2017 - June 2022)

Ph.D Candidate (research and pedagogical assistant)

• European Institute for Energy Research (EIFER) EWIV, Karlsruhe, Germany (June 2017 - September 2017)

Researcher

•  KIC InnoEnergy Germany GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany (October 2016 - January 2017)

Developer

• Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft e.V., Munich, Germany (February 2016 - September 2016)

Master thesis student

Education

• IREGE, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Annecy-le-Vieux, France

Doctorate in Economics 

Thesis: "Sustainable development investment in Brazil and socio-economic externalities: three empirical essays" (Supervisor: Dr Dorothée Charlier)

• Grenoble Ecole de Management, Grenoble, France

Ph.D. in Business Administration (2017-2022)

Thesis: "Sustainable development investment in Brazil and socio-economic externalities: three empirical essays" (Supervisor: Dr David Grover)

• Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal

MSc. in Energy Engineering and Management (2015 - 2016)

Thesis: "Supply and Demand of Flexibility in European Electricity Systems" (Supervisor : Dr Paulo Manuel Cadete Ferrão)

• Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Karlsruhe, Germany

MSc. in Energy Technologies (2014 - 2016) 

Teaching 

As teacher :

• Statistical techniques for decision making (bachelor), 24h - 2020/2021

• Excellence in MS Excel (bachelor), 24h - 2020/2021

• Advanced quantitative methods in marketing (bachelor), 18h - 2019/2020

• Ethical dimensions in international business (bachelor), 9h - 2019/2020

• Ethical perspectives on nuclear energy (master), 3h - 2018/2019

• Social science perspectives on energy innovation (master), 12h - 2018/2019, 3h - 2017/2018

As tutor/teaching assistant :

• Tutor of 6 courses between 2017 and 2019 in various roles (quantitative methods/business ethics/climate justice)

As supervisor :

• Supervision of  master's degree theses/projects (Grand Mémoire/Final Management Project)

Languages

• English (native/C2)

• French (fluent/C1) - 78,5/100 on the DALF C1 exam

• German (fluent/C2) - 85/100 on the Goethe-Zertifikat C2 (GDS)

• Kannada (native/B2-C1)

• Spanish (intermediate/B1)

• Portuguese (intermediate/B1)

• Hindi (intermediate/B1)

Publications

1. Berger, F., Brunzema, I., Rao, S. et al. Evaluating co-benefits of energy efficiency policy measures: a holistic framework with case studies from Germany. Energy Efficiency 18, 105 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-025-10397-z  

2. Bagheri, M., Kochanski, M., Rao, S., Kranzl, L., Korczak, K., Mayrhofer, L., Müller, A., Özer, E., "Reduction of gas demand through changes in heating behaviour in households: novel insights from modelling and empirical evidence", Energy and Buildings (under review, major revisions), 2024 

3. Grover, D., Rao, S. (2020) “Inequality, unemployment, and poverty impacts of mitigation investment: evidence from the CDM in Brazil and implications for a post-2020 mechanism”, Climate Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1760773, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 609-625 

4. Rao, S. and Gopal, L. (2015), “Lighting a Billion Lives: Social Impact in Karnataka,” The International Journal on Green Growth and Development, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 155–164

Conference Presentations

1. Rao, S., Plötz, P., Speth, D. "Accounting for freerider effects in policy evaluation: between statistical robustness and ease of use for evaluators", 46th IAEE International Conference, Paris, 2025

2. Rao, S., Grover, D., Charlier, D. "Local economic development through clean electricity generation – an analysis for Brazil and a staggered difference-in-difference approach"., 18th IAEE European Conference, Bocconi University, Milan, 2023

3. Rao, S., Charlier, D., Grover, D. (2021) "Can you have your growth and eat it too ? : Tradeoffs between green growth and pro-poor growth in Brazil, 26th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), TU Berlin (en ligne)

4. Grover, D., Rao, S. (2019) “Distributive impacts of clean energy financing in Brazil : Evidence from the CDM”, 42nd IAEE International conference, HEC Montréal

5. John, J., Srinivas, B., Giridhar, M.S., Ashwini, J., Islam, R.,Rao, S., Suhas, E. and Pai, R. (2014). “Design and Fabrication of a Silicon MEMS Microstructure for Seismometer Applications,” ISSS International Conference - Indian Institute of Science