A/ProfChristina Nikitopoulos Sklibosios

Christina Nikitopoulos leads several projects addressing the impact of renewable energy generation on electricity prices. These aim to inform debate regarding the system’s security and reliability, and to provide context on the notion of a renewable-led energy transition. This research informs policy makers, governments, electricity generation developers and consumer groups.

She is also working on sustainable finance projects addressing the challenges of fossil fuel divesting, green bonds labelling and the effects on climate change transition risk on sovereign bond markets. This research assesses the risk and return characteristics of fossil fuels and renewables, and investigates realistic portfolio construction strategies to inform the optimal method of reduction in carbon exposure. Considering the threat climate change poses to the global economy, this research provides evidence of an increase in the significance of climate risk transition risk factors as determinants of sovereign bond markets.

Christina is a member of several research associations and centres including the Centre of Climate Risk and Resilience (CCRR), the Centre for Business and Sustainable Development (CBSD), the Financial Research Network (FIRN), and the Australian Accounting & Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ). Internationally she is a member of the Commodity and Energy Markets Association (CEMA), the Academic Female Finance Committee (AFFECT), and the International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE).

Christina has been awarded two Australian Research Council grants; one on modelling and estimation of volatility in energy markets (2010-2013) and one on risk assessment of climate change measures (2013-2017). She has been awarded a UTS Collaborative Scheme grant (2025), a UTS Strategic Research Accelerator (SRA) grant (2024-2025), a Dean's Strategic Fund Collaboration and Networking grant (2023), a CBSD Research Partnership grant (2023-2024) on green bonds. 

She collaborates with Dr Ibrahim Ibrahim (ISF, Ausgrid) and Associate Professor Andrea Triani on a UTS Collaborative Scheme grant regarding Next-Gen AI platform to enable smart home electrification. She received a Centre of Business and Sustainable Development support for 2022-2024 through the Research Partnership program for her project titled "Green bonds" with research partners Professor Gareth W. Peters (University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Statistics and Applied Probability) and Dr Kylie-Anne Richards (UTS Business School, Future Funds).

Christina has also received a Dean's Strategic Research Fund Collaboration and Networking Grant 2022 for her research project titled "Green labelling and bond markets" with her research team members, Professor Gareth W. Peters (University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Statistics and Applied Probability), Dr Eric Ofosu-Hene (De Montfort University) and Dr Kylie-Anne Richards (UTS Business School, Future Funds).

Christina is a regular reviewer in many high-quality journals in energy finance and commodity markets.

Research Interests
energy economics, energy and the environment, renewable energy generation, electricity prices, sustainable finance, commodities, interest rates modelling, model estimation, pricing and hedging derivatives, mathematical finance, volatility modelling and assessment

Research design, methods and skills
energy economics, energy and the environment, renewable energy generation, electricity prices, sustainable finance, green bonds, commodities, pricing and hedging derivatives