Economics Professor: Role, Skills, Research & Teaching in the UK
Thinking about an academic path in Economics? This guide explains what an Economics Professor does in UK universities. You’ll see how teaching, research and service fit together, what skills matter, how progression works, and how students can prepare for postgraduate study and academic jobs.
What does an Economics Professor do?
The job blends three strands. Teaching, research and service. Teaching covers lectures, classes and supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Research means publishing original work, applying for grants, and sharing results with policy and industry. Service includes leadership, committees and outreach. Each department uses a workload model so these strands stay in balance.
- Teaching: modules, assessments, dissertation supervision, feedback
- Research: studies, data work, writing, conferences, impact
- Service: programme leadership, committees, recruitment, mentoring
Teaching responsibilities
Teaching can include large cohort lectures, small classes and office hours. Staff plan sessions, write assessments, and mark fairly with clear rubrics. Many modules use R, Stata or Python for empirical work and reproducible coursework.
Undergraduate teaching
- Core micro, macro and econometrics
- Options such as labour, public, development, industrial organisation or finance
- Workshops with data, coding and interpretation
Postgraduate teaching
- Advanced micro/macro, applied econometrics, time series and policy evaluation
- Methods courses that stress identification and clear write-ups
- Supervision for MSc and PhD dissertations
Good practice: clear learning outcomes, accessible notes, timely feedback, and open consultation hours.
Research and publications
Professors plan projects, collect or source data, choose methods, and write papers. Topics range across applied micro, macro, finance, trade, labour, health, development, industrial organisation, behavioural economics and more. Many projects use panel data, time series or causal designs.
Research cycle
- Define a question and contribution
- Build data and code with a reproducible setup
- Choose identification and tests (IV, DiD, RDD, event studies as needed)
- Write, present and revise after seminars and peer review
- Share data and code when possible; summarise policy implications
Outputs and recognition
- Journal articles, working papers and policy briefs
- Conference papers, seminars and invited talks
- Grants and collaboration with centres or institutes
- Public engagement: blogs, media explainers, workshops
Service and leadership
Departments run on shared effort. Professors help with governance and student experience. Typical tasks:
- Programme director or head of subject group
- Assessment boards and quality assurance
- Recruitment and mentoring of staff
- Ethics review and research integrity
- Diversity, inclusion and student support initiatives
Academic pathways in the UK
Titles vary by university, but the broad path looks like this. Early roles may be fixed-term with probation and mentoring.
- Lecturer (or Assistant Professor): research, teaching and service begin to build
- Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor: stronger publication record and leadership
- Reader (where used): recognition of research standing
- Professor: sustained contribution to research, education and leadership
Progression weighs evidence across publications, teaching quality and service/leadership.
Skills that matter
Research skills
- Strong methods: regression, panel, time series and causal designs
- Reliable coding: R, Stata or Python with version control
- Clear writing and data visualisation
- Grant writing and collaboration
Teaching skills
- Explaining complex ideas in simple steps
- Constructive feedback with examples
- Inclusive classroom practice and accessible materials
- Assessment design that matches learning outcomes
Professional practice
- Planning and time management through teaching and term peaks
- Mentoring, teamwork and calm decision-making
- Ethics, data protection and research integrity
- Public engagement and stakeholder communication
What a typical week might include
- Lectures and seminars; class preparation and marking
- Office hours and supervision meetings
- Research time: coding, analysis and writing
- Seminar attendance and visiting speaker sessions
- Committee meetings and programme planning
- Conference travel during vacation periods
How students can prepare for academic careers
If you want to pursue a PhD and later become an Economics Professor, start early. Build evidence of research potential and teaching interest.
Build a strong academic profile
- Take the full econometrics sequence plus a methods option
- Complete an empirical dissertation with tidy, reproducible code
- Present in student research seminars; ask for feedback
- Act as a teaching assistant if offered; collect student feedback
- Create a small website or repository with projects and notes
Choose projects that travel well
- Panel project with a clear identification strategy
- Time-series forecast with rolling evaluation
- Policy evaluation with a short, plain-English summary
Applications and references
- Keep a one-page research statement and CV
- Ask supervisors early for references and guidance
- Follow seminar series and call-for-papers to learn the field
Where econometrics helps most
Modern Economics teaching and research rely on data and inference. Econometrics turns theory into measurable claims. It supports clear lesson design, honest interpretation and reproducible results. If you want extra help with methods or code, focused tutoring can speed up progress on dissertations, working papers and presentations.
See Econometrics tutors in London | Post a tutoring job on Spires
Economics Professor — FAQs
What qualifications do you need to become an Economics Professor?
What methods and software are most useful?
Do professors need to bring in grants?
How much teaching is typical?
What is the difference between Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor?
How can students prepare for a PhD?
Need help with methods, code or dissertation design?
Build confidence with econometrics, time series and causal tools. Short, focused lessons help you turn drafts into clear results and better presentations.
