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Reacting to the announcement, Professor Pentecost said: "I never expected to receive this latest nomination. For my contribution to economics to be noted by this august body – including the current RES President and Nobel Prize winner, Professor Sir Chris Pissarides – is recognition far beyond what I expected for what I consider just doing my job."
This latest accolade follows Professor Pentecost’s election as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2015, recognising his impact on the broader field of social science.
Professor Pentecost’s academic journey began at the former Thames Polytechnic, where he graduated in 1977 with a BA in Political Economy. He went on to earn an MA in Economics from the University of Warwick and completed his PhD at Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1984. His doctoral research focused on ‘Exchange Rate Determination and Macroeconomic Policy’.
After four years lecturing at Thames Polytechnic, he joined the Economics Division of the Bank of England as an analyst, specialising in international capital flows and exchange rates. In 1987, he moved to Loughborough University as a Lecturer, before being named as a Reader in 1996 and Professor of Economics in 2002.
During his time at Loughborough, Professor Pentecost has built a reputation for his work on international financial integration, including exchange rate policy, currency substitution, and financial contagion.
He directed the Centre for International, Financial and Economics Research (CIFER) in the 1990s and was a joint EU partner in two ACE/Phare-funded research programmes examining exchange rate policies and supply-side responses in transitioning Central and Eastern European economies.
Since 2016, Professor Pentecost has served as Co-Director of the Claremont Institute for Economic Policy Studies. His leadership roles also include six years as Chair of the Heads of University Departments of Economics Conference (CHUDE), Chair of the Economics QAA in 2016, and external consultancy work for the Government Economic Service and for the Central Bank of Namibia.