Research Assistants

  • Amelia Spittal

    Amelia Spittal

    Research Assistant

    Education history
    A Levels: Economics, Maths and Geography
    Bachelor’s degree, University & Course: BSc Economics Degree at the University of Bath
    Dates of employment: 21/06/2021 – 12/08/2022

    Why did you apply to join the Capital Economics intern/student scheme?

    As part of my degree, I had the option to do a placement, whilst looking I found that Capital Economics have a yearlong placement programme. Capital Economics was one of the few companies I found where I could use what I had learnt in my degree so far in an applied setting. It was also a field of research I was less familiar with, as at university the research was more theoretically driven, so it was something I was excited to explore.

    What have you worked on while on the scheme?

    During my placement I have had the opportunity to work with a range of teams covering developed markets and commodities. Whilst working for these teams I have helped with research into the pandemics impact in Europe, energy prices, the pandemics impact on the global tourism industry and helped the UK team during the Autumn and Spring Budget.

    What is the most rewarding or surprising aspect of your role at Capital Economics?

    The most rewarding part of the placement has been the opportunity to research new topics. Commodities was an area that I knew little about before I started my placement, but since working with the team I have gained a much larger understanding on how the market works and published my own research on US natural gas prices.

  • Hamad Hussein

    Hamad Hussain

    Research Assistant

    Education history
    A Levels: Mathematics, Economics and Spanish
    Bachelor’s degree, University & Course: University of Surrey – BSc Economics with Placement Year
    Dates of employment: June 2021 – August 2022
    Why did you apply to join the Capital Economics intern/student scheme?
    I applied to join the Capital Economics student scheme because I’ve always had a keen interest in macroeconomics ever since I started studying Economics. The opportunity to join a firm that specialised in producing macroeconomic research appealed to me and is a key reason why the student scheme at Capital Economics stood out amongst other placement schemes.

    What have you worked on while on the scheme?
    I have worked with a variety of teams across the company to retrieve data for economists, create charts and even write publications on a wide range of topics such as Pakistan’s IMF deal, the outlook for Ethiopia’s economy and the EU’s rule of law dispute with Hungary and Poland. I’ve learnt a lot about debt crises in emerging markets, the drivers of inflation and the impact of monetary policy tightening during my placement year. I have also helped to create presentations that have been used by the Chairman and Chief Economists to outline our view on the global economy to clients.

    What is the most rewarding or surprising aspect of your role at Capital Economics?
    The most surprising part of my role is how much opportunity there is to get involved with producing publications. Economists were always willing to provide me with the opportunity to write updates and chartbook pages which has helped me understand the role of a macroeconomist. Through the process of writing publications, I was able to learn from experts in macroeconomics to not only improve my knowledge of Economics, but also better my writing skills.