Bio

Short Bio

Vasilis Sarafidis' educational background is in the areas of economics and econometrics. He received his BA in Economics with Computing and Quantitative Methods at the University of Sussex, and his MPhil in Economics and Econometrics at the University of Cambridge. He completed his PhD in Econometrics in 2006 with a full ESRC scholarship at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Donald Robertson. 

Vasilis' main area of research lies in the econometric analysis of panel data. His focus lies on model specification and testing, dynamic panels, common factor structures, models for spatial interactions and networks, multi-dimensional panels, and random coefficient models; with applications to the analysis of crime, banking, and water-usage demand, among others. 

Before studying for his PhD, Vasilis worked as an economist for a private consultancy in the City of London. During that time he led projects involving econometric analysis and modelling for the electricity, water and telecommunications sectors. As a consultant he advised, among others, the Office for Water Services (U.K.), the National Telecom Agency in Denmark, the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority and the Electricity Association (U.K.) 

Since 2023, Vasilis has served as a Professor in the Department of Economics and Finance at Brunel University London. Before joining Brunel, he held academic positions at the BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University in Melbourne, and the Department of Operations Management and Econometrics at the University of Sydney. 

During his academic career, Vasilis has acted as an advisor to the Productivity Commission (Australia), the Essential Services Commission in Victoria, the Commonwealth Environmental Office, the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, the Bureau of Airline Representatives of Australia, and the NSW Corrective Services.

Vasilis has substantial experience in teaching subjects in econometrics and statistics at various levels, including Introductory Statistics, Econometric Theory, Applied Econometrics, Analysis of Limited Dependent Variables, and Panel Data Analysis. He has also taught panel data econometrics outside academia, including at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics, Sydney Water Corporation, as well as at several professional development workshops organised by MEAFA. 

In 2018 and 2020, Vasilis received a Commendation for Teaching Excellence by the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Monash University. In 2011 he was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award by the Discipline of Operations Management and Econometrics at the University of Sydney, while in 2009 Vasilis received the Dean's Citation award for high contribution to learning and teaching in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney.

Currently, Vasilis is Associate Editor for Empirical Economics (2019-present). He has served as Guest-Editor for the Journal of Econometrics and for Empirical Economics. During the period 2017-2019, he held an executive position as Director of Education at the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash University. Since 2016 he is a member of the Scientific Committee for the International Panel Data Conference series.

One highlight of Vasilis' career has been the organisation of three major international conferences in his hometown, Thessaloniki. In particular, the 2015 Annual Conference of the International Association for Applied Econometrics, the 2017 International Panel Data Conference,  and the 2019 International Symposium on Forecasting. It has been a privilege to bring these prestigious conferences to Greece.

In 2020, Vasilis was awarded a scholarship by the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program, which is funded from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.


Selected Publications


Selected Grants