Professor Roula Inglesi-Lotz is a leading economist at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Economics. She began her academic journey at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece, before earning her MCom in Economics cum laude at UP. She completed her PhD in 2011, presenting a benchmark-and-trade approach aimed at improving electricity intensity in South Africa.
A Y1-rated researcher by South Africa’s National Research Foundation, Prof Inglesi-Lotz ranks among the continent’s most influential economists. She is consistently listed in the top 10 economics authors in Africa—and among the top three in South Africa—based on research output over the past decade. Her impressive academic portfolio includes more than 80 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals.
Her research centres on energy and environmental economics, focusing on improving energy efficiency and exploring sustainable alternatives to traditional energy consumption and production methods.
Prof Inglesi-Lotz serves as editor for Energy Policy (JEPO) and Environmental Science and Pollution Research, and sits on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy and Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy.
She is the founding president of the South African Association for Energy Economics (SAAEE), the official affiliate of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) in South Africa. Internationally, she served as IAEE’s elected Vice President for Membership and Affiliate Relations in 2021/22.
Dedicated to nurturing the next generation of scholars, Prof Inglesi-Lotz has been a member of the South African Young Academy of Sciences (SAYAS) since 2017, co-chairing the academy in 2019/20 and editing the SAYAS PhD blog. She joined the Global Young Academy in 2018 and was elected co-chair in 2021/22, representing scholars from low- and middle-income countries.
