Patrick Narbel elected to the IAEE Council

PhD Research Scholar Patrick André Narbel at the Department of Finance and Management Science has been elected student representative to the IAEE Council.

21.09.2012 - Hallvard Lyssand

The International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) is a world-wide, interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas, experience and issues among professionals interested in energy economics.

The non-profit organization was founded in 1977 in response to the energy crisis during the decade. It now has more than 4000 members from over 100 countries. In addition to publishing three journals and a newsletter, the organization host conferences and other events.

At the IAEE European Energy Conference in Venice earlier this month, PhD research scholar Patrick André Narbel from NHH's Department of finance and management science was elected student representative to IAEE's highest governing body, the Council.

Narbel's research interests are energy economics and energy policy. His PhD project is on energy economics and on various policy aspects related to renewable energy.

Suggested by Hope

"How did you get nominated for the position?"

"The final task of NHH Professor Einar Hope as past president of IAEE was to suggest a potential new student representative for the council. At the time he contacted me, I was looking at getting more involved in some type of international group. I quickly accepted the nomination. The position is for two years, starting next January," says Narbel.

"How does the council function and what kind of tasks you will be working on?"

"The IAEE council consists of roughly fifteen members representing academia, industry and government. Each council member has specific tasks he or she must fulfill. For example, such task can be to ensure that the industrial members find what they are looking for in such an association or to guarantee that the IAEE keeps offering high quality conferences in the future," Narbel explains.

"The IAEE has over four thousand members and this number is growing. 25% of the members are either pursuing a master degree or working on their PhD thesis and my task is to be their voice in the council," he continues, and adds:

"The goals I will be pursuing as a student representative are two folds: I wish to provide student members with services they need to improve their research, for instance possibility to present and obtain feedback on their research at international and regional conferences, and help them place themselves for the future, for instance through networking possibilities and increased visibility. Further, I wish to work to retain the student members in the association at the end of their study."

His next immediate task is to organize a poster session at the upcoming IAEE Latin American conference in Montevideo, Uruguay in April 2013.

"This event will provide PhD students with the possibility to present their work and obtain valuable feedback," he says.

Better research, better visibility

- What does a position like this one mean to you personally, the department and NHH?

"This position will provide me with a real possibility to help a large number of young researchers to perhaps get better at what they do through a variety of services," Narbel answers.

"In addition, it will allow me to attain a number of conferences and share my research with a larger group of people, hopefully leading to better research. I will also gain valuable knowledge on how such organization operates," he continues.

"Such position will increase the visibility of the Department of Finance and Management Science as well as the visibility of NHH because over a thousand students will hear a lot from me in the next two years and because all the persons I will be dealing with through this position will see that I come from the Norwegian School of Economics," he concludes