Menu

Search

Robert O'Neill

Robert O'Neill

Senior Lecturer in Economics, Strategy, Marketing and Economics, University of Huddersfield

Rob is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics and began working at the University of Huddersfield in September 2013.

Rob is originally from Heywood in North Manchester, and has returned to the area after living in Newport, South Wales, for two years prior to moving to the University of Huddersfield in order to pursue an academic career which would allow him to further develop his research and teaching interests.

After completing his first degree in economics, with an accounting specialism at the Victoria University of Manchester, Rob began working at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an auditor, primarily working with insurance companies such as the Royal & Sun Alliance and Royal Liver.
After completing his PhD thesis Rob worked as an economist at Bury Council, providing analysis of adult care services, with a focus on pricing telecare systems available in the area, and performing cost-benefit analysis of the technology. Following this, he moved to Wales where he began work in the methodology department of the Office for National Statistics, where he worked primarily on Index Number methodology and more recently on methods employed in the National Accounts. Significant pieces of work completed at ONS included an analysis of consumer demand, and its implications for price indices and providing technical support to the National Statistician's review of the Retail Prices Index. He retains an interest in the area of inflation measurement and hopes to continue his work in this area in collaboration with colleagues at ONS.

While a PhD student at Manchester Rob taught on modules including Econometrics, Microeconomics, Business Forecasting and Marketing Research, and while at ONS he also designed and taught a range of courses related to index number construction for a range of audiences.

Rob has two main areas of research interest. The first is financial econometrics, with a particular focus on the forecasting of return volatilities for a portfolio of assets. The second is measurement methods for inflation, this includes the economic rational for such measures and how this might be related to the cost of living for individuals or households.

After two years as an accountant Robert returned to the University of Manchester on the award of an ESRC 1+3 studentship. He completed an MSc in Economics and Econometrics in 2007 and began planning his PhD research in the area of financial econometrics. His PhD thesis focused on the forecasting of the volatility of returns of a portfolio of stocks (and was divided into three chapters. ) The first two chapters of the thesis introduced new methods for forecasting the variance-covariance matrix for a portfolio of stocks and the third questioned whether the additional complexity in mulitivariate models represented an improvement in terms of forecasting the volatility of the overall portfolio returns. Rob retains an active interest in this area and hopes to extend his research in this area in the future.

Why economists are calling for the RPI inflation measure to be scrapped

Feb 22, 2018 13:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The RPI measure of inflation is without merit. The retail price index has been an official measure of inflation for close to 50 years in the UK, but it requires a deliberate and carefully timed withdrawal. Thats according...

The big money Mayweather-McGregor fight pits boxing against UFC in a battle of the brands

Aug 22, 2017 14:20 pm UTC| Sports Economy

Las Vegas is soon to host one of the most lucrative boxing matches of all time. Dubbed The Money Fight it features UFC (which stands for the Ultimate Fighting Championship) star Connor Mcgregor making his boxing debut...

1 

Economy

Why China’s economy has hit a wall

Chinas annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing came to a close on March 11. They were conducted under great pressure: a weak economy and high expectations from both the domestic public and international observers as to...

Vladimir Putin’s gold strategy explains why sanctions against Russia have failed

There are more than 16,000 sanctions imposed against Russia. Yet the Russian economy and war machine grew by 3.6 per cent in 2023 and is projected to grow another 2.6 in 2024. Nearly six per cent of Russias gross...

Mentorship is key to improving social and economic outcomes for Black youth

Black youth in Canada experience poorer educational achievement than other children and youth, which leads to subsequent poor economic outcomes. A series of problems and barriers contribute to poor educational outcomes....

There’s an extra $1 billion on the table for NT schools. This could change lives if spent well

The federal and Northern Territory governments have just made a historic funding announcement of about A$1 billion for schools in the territory. This includes an extra $737.7 million from the federal government and an...

Undersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents

Large parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were left without internet services on 14 March because of failures on four of the fibre optic cables that run below the...

Politics

China's Commerce Minister to Advocate EV Sector in Europe Amid Subsidy, Tariff Probe

Chinas Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is set to visit Europe in April to address concerns and advocate for the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) industry amid a European Commission investigation into alleged unfair...

Chinese Hackers Target US Officials and Dissidents in Cyber Espionage Scheme

Seven nationals of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) face charges for a long-term cyber espionage campaign targeting political dissidents and officials in the US, marking a significant escalation in international cyber...

SpaceX Builds Spy Satellites for US; Russia Warns of Military Response

Russia has issued a stark warning to the United States, stating that the use of SpaceXs satellites for espionage could render them targets for military action. This follows revelations that SpaceX is constructing a spy...

Deepfakes are still new, but 2024 could be the year they have an impact on elections

Disinformation caught many people off guard during the 2016 Brexit referendum and US presidential election. Since then, a mini-industry has developed to analyse and counter it. Yet despite that, we have entered 2024 a...

Science

How do airplanes fly? An aerospace engineer explains the physics of flight

Airplane flight is one of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century. The invention of the airplane allows people to travel from one side of the planet to the other in less than a day, compared...

The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve

The progress of science in the last 400 years is mind-blowing. Who would have thought wed be able to trace the history of our universe to its origins 14 billion years ago? Science has increased the length and the quality...

What is minoxidil, the anti-balding hair growth treatment? Here’s what the science says

Hair loss (also known as alopecia) often affects the scalp but can occur anywhere on the body. Its very common and usually nothing to worry about; about half of Australian men show signs of visible baldness at age 50 and...

Our survey of the sky is uncovering the secrets of how planets are born

When we look out to the stars, it is typically not a yearning for the distant depths of outer space that drives us. When we are looking out there, we are truly looking back at ourselves. We try to understand our place in...

Archeoastronomy uses the rare times and places of previous total solar eclipses to help us measure history

Total solar eclipses have fascinated and terrified people for centuries. Today, we know that total solar eclipses like the upcoming eclipse on April 8 are caused by a cosmic coincidence when the moon comes between the...

Technology

Amazon One App Launches Palm-Scanning Sign up; Palm Pay at Whole Foods, Panera

Amazon now allows users to set up palm recognition for seamless payments at Whole Foods, Panera, and other locations directly from their smartphones. Amazon One Expands with Mobile App for Easy Palm Recognition...

Crypto ATM Installations Set to Skyrocket, Driven by Bitcoin FOMO, CEO Predicts

As the crypto industry anticipates a surge in Bitcoin interest post-halving, Bitcoin Depot CEO Brandon Mintz predicts a significant resurgence in crypto ATM installations worldwide. This optimism follows a decline in 2023...

Ford Motor Slashes F-150 Lightning Workers as EV Sales Slow

Ford Motor Company is trimming down its workforce at its Michigan production plant for F-150 Lightning pick-up trucks. The automaker cited slow EV sales as the reason for the move. Ford Motor will slash two-thirds or...

Wendy’s Signs Deal With PAR Punchh AI Platform to Advance Customer Loyalty Program

The Wendys Company selected the PAR Punchh customer loyalty platform to upgrade its loyalty program for better customer engagement. The fast-food chain will apply next-generation technology to offer the best solutions to...
  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.