Prof. Martin Watts

Work Phone	(02) 4921 5069
Fax	(02) 4921 6911
Email	Martin.Watts@newcastle.edu.au
Position	Professor Newcastle Business School The University of Newcastle, Australia
Office	SRS235, Social Sciences

Biography

Dr. Watts spent 16 years as a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Monash University. In 1991 he moved to the University of Newcastle as a Senior Lecturer in Economics, and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor (2002) and then Professor (2010).

He has had a long-standing commitment to research, and has published 16 book chapters and 52 refereed journal articles, of which 30 are in international refereed journals. Conference papers have been presented in countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Korea, Japan, Portugal and New Zealand.

Over his career he has established a record of research in macroeconomics and labour economics, with the majority of publications in Australian journals, including the Journal of Industrial Relations, Labour and Industry, Australian Bulletin of Labour, Australian Economic Papers, Australian Journal of Social Issues and the Australian Economic Review.

During the 1990s he demonstrated the capacity to place articles in respected international journals, including Demography, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Environment and Planning A , Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Review of Political Economy and Work, Employment and Society, Over this period, Dr. Watts established an international reputation for his research into the measurement of segregation and the empirical analysis of segregation trends, as is evidenced by citation rates for his papers in Demography, Work, Employment and Society and European Sociological Review, and requests to referee papers submitted to journals, including the Economic Journal and Feminist Economics, and the Eastern Economic Journal. He was invited to act as an international referee of grant applications submitted in the USA, Israel and Austria.

From 2004 onwards, his interests have broadened to include spatially based research, notably commuting behaviour, the conceptualisation and measurement of local labour markets and the evolution of urban form. This has led to publications in journals including Urban Studies, Built Environment and Geographical Research. His increasing reputation in these areas has led to requests to review papers submitted to high ranking publications including Urban Studies and IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation.

Professor Watts was a founding member of the Spatially Integrated Social Sciences ARC Research Network, and was a regular participant in their research workshops and conferences. He has been a consistent and successful applicant for University research funds. He was a successful co-Chief Investigator for ARC DPs (2000, 2008) and an ARC Linkage Grant (2004). In 2010 he was sole CI for an ARC Discovery Project application entitled 'Evolving urban structure, mode choice, travel behaviour and energy consumption: a study of the Sydney planning strategy' which secured ARC funding for three years. His program of research continues to encompass the three broad strands identified above, using both quantitative and econometric techniques.

Dr. Watts has had a broad range of teaching experience at both the undergraduate and honours level, with a particular focus on labour economics and macroeconomics. His student evaluations have been sound in these challenging discipline areas.

During his career, he has undertaken a number of administrative responsibilities on Faculty and Department/School Committees. From the beginning of 2002 until mid-2007, he was Head of the School of Economics, Politics and Tourism (formerly School of Policy), after being Acting Head of the Department of Economics from time to time from 1994 to 2001. He was Deputy Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle from when the Centre commenced operation in 1998 until 2007.

Qualifications

PhD, University of British Columbia - Canada, 1976
Master of Arts, University of Manchester - England
Bachelor of Arts, University of Essex

Research

Research keywords

Commuting Behaviour
Contemporary Economic Policy
Gender Segregation
Local Labour markets

Research expertise

Measurement and interpretation of segregation indices.
Spatial grouping algorithms.
Spatial econometrics.
Contemporary macroeconomic and labour market policy

Collaboration

Throughout his academic career, Dr. Watts has co-authored journal articles with a number of colleagues and made joint conference presentations. He collaborated with Professor Mitchell and others in the 3 completed ARC Projects (2000, 2004 and 2008). Recently he has co-authored conference papers with one of his PhD students, which have been revised for journal submission.

Languages

English

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
150399	Business And Management Not Elsewhere Classified	50
140199	Economic Theory Not Elsewhere Classified	35
140299	Applied Economics Not Elsewhere Classified	15

Centres and Groups

Centre

Centre of Full Employment and Equity

Memberships

ARC Committee member

Member - Assessor - Australian Research Council

Editorial Board.

Editor - Gender, Work & Organisation

Administrative

Administrative expertise

He was Acting HoS in the Department of Economics on a number of occasions over the period 1994-2001. He was Head of the School of Economics Politics and Tourism (and previously the School of Policy) for 5.5 years, (2002-2007) which included participation in the process of Change Management in 2005. He was been a member of Faculty Executive and a number of Faculty Committees, including Research and Teaching and Learning.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

Labour Economics
Macroeconomics
Quantitative Methods

Teaching expertise

Professor Watts has had extensive experience over many years in teaching undergraduate and Honours students. Some years ago he shared the teaching of first year Basic Econometrics and Quantitative Methods, in which he and his colleagues tried to break down the mystique of QM which can adversely impact on students with an indifferent quantitative background. He has taught Labour Economics and 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Macroeconomics. He tries to provide students with a mix of theoretical insights and analytical skills so that they can critically assess contemporary empirical and policy issues.This assists in demonstrating the relevance and practical application of economic concepts. The structure of the assessment must develop the student's capacity to write both short one page summaries and longer research essays on topics that both extend and apply the concepts taught in lectures. Contemporary policy applications are a particular focus of his week to week assessment of students. At the Honours level, he has taught Labour Economics and Research Methodology.

The University of Newcastle, Australia