MEDAL: Melbourne Environmental Data Analytics Lab

Designing effective economic policy for the decarbonisation of energy, transportation, and manufacturing and the protection of forest and water systems

We are a lab hosted at the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. We run a reading group, a series of seminars and workshops and host international visitors. We are currently coordinating two research and policy symposia to be held in December 2026 and in December 2027. Our research lies in two areas:

1. Harnessing behavioural responses for social good

We use randomized control trials (RCTs) and real-time information systems facilitated by new technologies, consumer web platforms and apps.

Electricity

Price dispersion and retail choice
Winners and losers from retail competition
Incentives to smooth peak demand

Transport

Cost of road congestion
Charging station maintenance and availability
Price incentives to better allocate chargers to users

Water

Using home water tanks to provide environmental services, a collaboration with the Waterway Ecosystem Research Group

2. New tools to fill data gaps in industrializing countries

We develop new data: trade partner relationships to merge firm-level datasets across international boundaries and air circulation models and AI-processed satellite imagery to measure industrial activity, power generation, air quality, and land use.