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Profile

Dr Grega Smrkolj

Lecturer in Economics

  • Email: grega.smrkolj@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: Newcastle University Business School
    Room 7.24
    5 Barrack Road
    Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4SE
    United Kingdom
Background

Profile

Grega is a Lecturer in Economics at Newcastle University Business School and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam. His research specialises in Industrial Organization, with a particular emphasis on the use of computational methods to study the dynamic aspects of competition.

Roles and responsibilities

  • Lecturer in Economics
  • Elected Member of the University Senate (2024 – Present)

Qualifications and certificates

  • PhD in Economics, University of Amsterdam (Tinbergen Institute)
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • Certificate in Advanced Studies in Academic Practice (CASAP), Newcastle University (2016)

Previous positions

  • Academic Lead for Education, Enhancement and Employability in Economics (2018 - 2021)

CV

Curriculum Vitae [PDF]  

Bibliographic links

Google Scholar, ORCID iD, Scopus, ResearchGate

Teaching

Module Leader 2025/26

Other Modules Taught 2025/26

Visiting Scholar 

School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana

Consultation hours 

By appointment or as announced on Canvas.

Past teaching

Introductory Econometrics (MSc), Applied Econometrics (MSc), Topics in Microeconomics (MSc), Statistical Methods for Economics (BSc), Analysing Economic Data (BSc), Economic Modelling (BSc), Economic Analysis (BSc)

Selected workshops and short courses

  • Python for Economists — School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana (2023, 2024, 2025)
  • Python for Data-Driven Business and Economics — Winter School, Audencia Business School (January 2026)

Innovative, industry-relevant teaching in economics

I design and deliver teaching that equips economics students at Newcastle University with industry-relevant, data-driven skills, with a particular focus on Python programming and applied computational methods. With over a decade of pedagogical experience, my teaching combines curriculum innovation with a consistent focus on assessment clarity, high-quality feedback, and employability.

A central strand of my teaching is the integration of programming and applied data analysis into economics education. I am the creator and module leader of ECO2018: Python Programming for Economists, developed in response to growing employer demand for Python skills across economics, business, and analytics roles. At the time of its introduction, ECO2018 was among the first economics modules in the UK to embed Python programming directly within the core undergraduate curriculum. The module emphasises hands-on learning, transparent and well-documented data analysis, and real-world economic applications, enabling students to build practical skills valued by employers and postgraduate programmes.

Building on ECO2018, I developed Python for Data-Driven Business and Economics, an intensive short course adapted for international and professional audiences. I have been invited to deliver this teaching internationally, including at the University of Ljubljana and Audencia Business School, with a forthcoming delivery scheduled at Seoul National University.

Alongside curriculum development, I have extensive experience in educational leadership and enhancement. As Academic Lead for Education, Enhancement and Employability in Economics, I led work to strengthen engagement and feedback in large classes. This included the early and systematic use of mobile phones as classroom response systems, enabling students to engage with in-class quizzes and interactive activities in large lectures, as well as mentoring colleagues in adopting these methods and adapting them to their own modules.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and have a sustained commitment to effective assessment and feedback practices. I led the introduction of Bloomberg within the School, including the establishment of the Bloomberg Financial Lab and the organisation of the Bloomberg e-module, securing the School’s recognition as a Bloomberg Experiential Learning Partner.

My wider teaching and enhancement activity includes leading employability initiatives such as the annual employability programme and the Future Focus Conference, mentoring students in international competitions, and contributing as a judge and interviewer at student events. These activities are reflected in consistently strong student feedback and positive graduate outcomes, and they underpin my ongoing commitment to high-quality, engaging, and forward-looking economics education.

Research

Main expertise

My main research interests are in Industrial Organization, Applied Microeconomics, and Computational Economics, with a particular focus on the use of computational methods to analyse market structure and strategic behaviour. A significant part of my research examines dynamic models of innovation and imitation, and their implications for competition and market outcomes.

I am a member of the Department of Economics.

Interactive Visualization Tool

Restaurant Clustering and Quality Differentiation

This interactive MATLAB application accompanies the paper “Quality Differentiation and Spatial Clustering among Restaurants” (Mossay, Shin, and Smrkolj, International Journal of Industrial Organization, 2022). The tool allows users to explore the spatial distribution of top- and bottom-quality restaurants across 96 cities in England and Wales, as discussed in Figure 1 of the paper. Users can select a city and adjust the quality percentile to visualise clustering patterns, centroids, and dispersion for each group.

Access the application: Launch App

(A MathWorks account is required to use MATLAB Online.)

Academic referee activity

I have served as a referee for the following journals:

International Journal of Industrial Organization, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Automatica, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Dynamic Games and Applications 

Selected international conference presentations

  • 19th International Industrial Organization Conference (virtual, 2021)
  • The 2021 Annual Conference of the Royal Economic Society (virtual, 2021) 
  • 53rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Economic Association (Banff, Alberta, 2019)
  • 9th International Research Meeting in Business and Management (Nice, 2018)
  • 28th International Conference on Game Theory (Stony Brook, NY, 2017)
  • 13th European Meeting on Game Theory (SING13 2017; Paris)
  • 50th Annual Conference of the Canadian Economic Association (CEA 2016; Ottawa)
  • 42nd Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE 2015; Munich)
  • 2015 Australian Conference of Economists (ACE 2015; Brisbane)
  • 49th Annual Conference of the Canadian Economic Association (CEA 2015; Toronto)
  • The 2015 Annual Conference of the Royal Economic Society (RES 2015; Manchester) 
  • 68th European Meeting of the Econometric Society (EEA - ESEM 2014; Toulouse) 
  • 16th International Symposium on Dynamic Games and Applications (ISDG 2014, Amsterdam)
  • 19th International Conference of the Society for Computational Economics: Computing in Economics and Finance (CEF 2013, Vancouver)
  • 11th International Industrial Organization Conference (IIOC 2013, Boston) 
  • 14th International Schumpeter Society Conference (ISS 2012, Brisbane)
  • 9th International Industrial Organization Conference (IIOC 2011, Boston)
  • 26th Annual Congress of the European Economic Association (EEA-ESEM 2011, Oslo)
  • 38th Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE 2011, Stockholm)
  • 37th Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE 2010, Istanbul)
Publications