Sheffield Urban, International Trade and Environmental Economics (SUITE)
Our research group brings together scholars from the School of Economics who specialise in urban and regional economics, international trade, and environmental economics.
About our work
The group brings together researchers working across urban and regional economics, international trade, environmental economics, and innovation. It is united by a shared commitment to advancing economic theory and applying rigorous microeconometric methods to address pressing policy questions, including the spatial and international distribution of economic activity, the evolution of local labour markets, dynamics in housing markets, and the design of environmental policies and the energy transition.
Key research strengths include:
- the spatial and regional impacts of globalisation and innovation;
- the economics of cities, remote work, housing markets, and inequality;
- energy poverty, household resilience, and the low-carbon transition;
- environmental policy design and industrial organisation;
- and the analysis of networks and transport systems.
The SUITE group plays a central role in the microeconomics research community. The group contributes to externally funded projects supported by organisations such as the ESRC, UKRI, and the British Academy. Its members publish in leading journals, actively engage with academic and policy audiences, and supervise PhD students across a wide range of topics in trade, urban, and environmental economics.
Our activities
We convene regular group meetings to foster collaboration, generate new research ideas, and initiate joint projects. These meetings also provide a platform for knowledge exchange, support the development of grant applications, and offer training in cutting-edge theoretical and empirical methods for our staff and PhD students members.
We actively contribute to policy development through collaborations with UK local and national government departments and agencies - including DBT, DSIT, HMT, MHCLG, OFGEM, and UKRI - as well as international organisations such as the OECD and the European Commission.
We organise the Sheffield Spatial Analysis Network (SAN) webinar series, which promotes research exchange and collaboration on spatial issues. The network brings together over 300 members across 25 countries, fostering interdisciplinary engagement and supporting innovative research.
We regularly host major academic events in Sheffield, bringing together leading scholars in the field. Recent examples include the Network of Industrial Economists 2026 Conference & PhD Symposium, the annual Bessemer Symposium on the Economics of Innovation, and the Royal Economic Society 2024 workshop on the evolution of regional income disparities
See events from the cluster and across the school.
Get involved with our work
The Sheffield Urban, International Trade and Environmental Economics group is led by Enrico Vanino.
Our group includes researchers at all levels, from established professors to early career researchers and PhD students.
We welcome enquiries from researchers within and beyond academia. Please reach out to Enrico to explore engagement opportunities or if you would like to know more about our activities.
Academic staff
PhD students
- Representative publications
- Adetutu MO, Odusanya KA, Stathopoulou E & Weyman-Jones TG (2024) The Impact of Firm Technology on Carbon Disclosure: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 86(6), 1438-1471.
Burlinson A, Davillas A & Giulietti M (2025) Socioeconomic inequality in low-carbon technology adoption. Energy Economics, 143.
Cuadros A, Navas A & Paniagua J (2022) Moving ideas across borders: foreign inventors, patents and FDI. World Economy, 45(12), 3652-3678.
De Fraja G, Matheson J, Mizen P, Rockey J & Taneja S (2026) Remote working and the new geography of local service spending. Economica, 93(369), 188-208.
McHardy J, Reynolds M & Trotter S (2023) A consumer surplus, welfare and profit enhancing strategy for improving urban public transport networks. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 100.
Nanos P (2023) Minimum wage spillover effects and social welfare in a model of stochastic job matching. Journal of Public Economic Theory, 25(4), 753-802.
Vanino E, Douch M & Cakmak I (2026) Political, economic and research disintegration: The impact of geopolitical uncertainty on innovation and cross-border R&D collaborations. Research Policy, 55(5).
Zhu J & Pryce G (2025) Measuring the impact of immigration on neighbourhood house prices: evidence from England and Wales. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 40(1), 441-460.Funded research projects
Uncovering Hidden Innovators: using big data to develop comprehensive measures of firm innovation and regional tech specialisation (British Academy Innovation Fellowships 2023 - 2025 – Enrico Vanino)
'Trade under Turbulence: Political Tensions and International Trade.' (CITP - Dr Antonio Navas)
Exploring the Link between Publicly Funded R&D Collaborations and Regional Technological Development (UKRI - Dr Enrico Vanino)
New project aiming to tackle wage disparities in the UK (ESCR - Dr Enrico Vanino and Dr Richmond Egyei)
UKERC Flexible Research Fund: Gas price volatility: distributional impacts and mitigations (Andrew Burlinson).
EPSRC Grant: Energy Transactions for Non-Traditional services (EnTraNTS) (Andrew Burlinson).
Media
Breathing rooms: pollution and the property market - Financial Times
How the working from home boom has left slim pickings for burglars - The Guardian
From beating burglary to weight gain: 12 ways that working from home has changed Britain - The Guardian
Here’s What We Do and Don’t Know About the Effects of Remote Work - New York Times
Work-from-home era is bad for thieves. They find a new target - The Economic Times
Why the Energy Security Strategy won’t control soaring household bills - The New Statesman