Personal profile
Personal Statement
Mairi Spowage is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, Scotland’s leading economic research institute, located in the Economics Department at the University of Strathclyde.
Her areas of expertise include economic policy, economic statistics, national accounting, public sector finances, and economic and fiscal forecasting.
Mairi leads on the Institute's work with various partners, including those in business, the public and third sector. She is regularly asked to give evidence on economic and fiscal matters at Parliamentary Committees in both Holyrood and Westminster.
Mairi has been appointed to be the Budget Adviser to the Finance and Public Administration Committee for 2021-2026. Mairi is also a Non-Executive Director of the UK Statistics Authority, is on the OBR Advisory panel, and is on the British Chambers of Commerce's Economic Advisory Council.
Mairi is leading on various projects to improve economic measurement and the use of economic insights to improve policy decisions in Scotland and beyond. She also leads the programme to encourage graduates into careers in analysis through the Economic Futures programme.
Mairi is on the Leadership team of the Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy and the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.
Previously, Mairi was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Head of National Accounts at the Scottish Government, and has over 20 years of experience working in different areas of statistics and analysis, including transport, household surveys and performance measurement.
Research Interests
Economic Policy
Economic Measurement & Statistics
National Accounts - Input-Output Analysis
Economic and Fiscal Forecasting
Public Sector Finances
External positions
Budget Adviser, Scottish Parliament
1 Sept 2021 → 1 Sept 2023
ONS Fellow, UK Statistics Authority including ONS
1 Sept 2020 → …
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
The economic impact of introducing opt-out in class actions in Scotland
Spowage, M. (Principal Investigator)
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
1/12/25 → 30/06/26
Project: Knowledge Exchange (Services/Consultancy)
-
2026 Scottish Parliament and Senedd election analysis
Sousa, J. (Principal Investigator), Congreve, E. (Co-investigator) & Spowage, M. (Co-investigator)
3/11/25 → 30/09/26
Project: Knowledge Exchange
-
Cyber and AI roles in the economy – part of CyberScotland Week – with Deloitte [Podcast] EP135
Spowage, M., Brown, A. & Meechan, K., 27 Feb 2026Research output: Digital or non-textual outputs › Podcast
Open Access -
Financing the Energy Transition 2026 – with Deloitte [Podcast] EP134
Spowage, M., Farkas-Mills, N., Hood, G. & MacDonald, S., 24 Feb 2026Research output: Digital or non-textual outputs › Podcast
Open Access
Datasets
-
Jobs supported by UK exports
Black, J. (Creator) & Spowage, M. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 22 Jun 2021
DOI: 10.15129/1d4e256c-fdd6-45bf-a008-2b27a23ffe34, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluating-the-impact-of-exports-on-uk-jobs-and-incomes
Dataset
Activities
-
Podcast: More on the 2026-27 Scottish Budget
Randolph, H. (Host), Sousa, J. (Contributor) & Spowage, M. (Contributor)
14 Jan 2026Activity: Public Engagement and Outreach › Media Participation
-
Prioritisation required to rewrite unaffordable investment plans
Sousa, J. (Recipient), Spowage, M. (Recipient), Congreve, E. (Recipient) & Crummey, C. (Recipient)
9 Jan 2026Activity: Public Engagement and Outreach › Media Participation