Lecturer appointed as Office for National Statistics Fellow

Dr Marcel Lukas, Lecturer in Banking and Finance, has been appointed as a Fellow to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Dr Lukas, of the School of Management, is an expert in consumer financial decision-making and financial technology. He will join the ONS Economic Experts Working Group and will take a hands-on role, working with ONS staff and offering expert advice on those key topics.

The ONS is a world leader in economic statistics and regularly provides official figures that help formulate public policy and inform the direction of economic and commercial activities, providing valuable information for analysts and researchers, as well as public and voluntary bodies, and enabling the public to hold to account organisations that spend public money.

Dr Lukas, who is one of seven new Fellows appointed, said: “I am very happy to be working with this fantastic group of academics and industry experts over the next two years. Especially in the current environment with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, I think it is important to keep a focus on questions around financial wellbeing, affordability, and consumer financial decision-making, and I am excited to be able to provide some insights into questions around this for the ONS.

“I am grateful for the University of St Andrews’ support in the application process and look forward to representing our University at the ONS.”

The ONS’s Director General for Economic Statistics, Mike Keoghan, said: ‘“We are honoured to welcome another excellent group of ONS Fellows. Being able to draw on the advice and expertise of this group of experienced and respected economic experts will be key to the next phase of our continuing development of UK economic statistics.”