Alex Westerberg

I bring a combination of passion for data handling with a drive to solve the climate crisis fuelled by my deep concern for global warming and the repercussions of this on the economy and society. 

My bachelors degree was in maths and economics, in which I excelled at the statistical analysis elements, and found a real passion for the theory and practice of it. I built on this by securing a statistical developer role at a cutting edge research group in Newcastle upon Tyne, where I put to use my understanding of statistics to assist with the code development of privacy preserving statistical analysis software - DataSHIELD.

Then I decided to take some time out to explore my passion- a deep desire to clue myself up about climate change - which I pursued at Leeds University, home of the world-leading climate change research hub, the Priestley centre. I targeted economics modules to gain a climate-informed reset view of how the economy should be reconceptualised with sustainability and the climate at its centre. I then created my own dissertation topic on the subject of Integrated Assessment Modelling, analysing how the Nobel-prize-winning William Nordhaus DICE model can be improved to account for higher levels of warming (>3degC).

Now that the masters study is finishing, I feel armed with a wealth of knowledge about the magnitude of the problem and potential mitigation solutions, supplemented with a powerful data analysis skillset. With this I want to find a role where I can make a tangible difference, given the acute urgency of the situation.

My previous role was 2.5 years as a statistical research assistant on the DataSHIELD project.

In this role I collaborated with colleagues on development of new privacy-preserving statistical functions, wrote research grant applications, secured new funding for myself, assisted Public Health England with a data handling contract, created and improved documentation, managed the public presence including commissioning of a new website, and lead training of newcomers to the software.

BSc Mathematics and Economics, 2.1 (Hons), Newcastle University,  2019
Took the statistical pathway in 2nd year.
In 3rd year excelled at statistics options including experimental design, linear and generalised linear modelling, probability theory, survival analysis.

MSc Climate Change and Environmental Policy (Classification TBA), University of Leeds, 2023.
Core modules including Physical Science of Climate Change, Environmental Policy and Governance, Research Methods, Climate Change Impacts & Adaptation, and Climate Change Mitigation.
Elective modules including Ecological Economics, Climate Security.
Dissertation:  Analysis of the efficacy of modelling as a tool to predict the future economy under the effects of climate change, with an experimental modification of DICE IAM in GAMS language (generalised algebraic modelling system) to ascertain the limits of its capability to do so.