Michele Zarri is a senior policy analyst for electricity transmission at Ofgem

When I left school, I trained as a solicitor in Italy and worked as a legal assistant in the private sector. But I wanted a more international career and saw a master’s degree abroad as a good way to change industries. I’ve always been fascinated by energy and thought it was the right time to work in the sector – climate change is high on the political agenda in the UK, with the government pursuing aggressive renewable energy policies.



I enrolled in the University of Edinburgh’s MSc in energy and climate change in 2011. What attracted me to the course was that it incorporated the latest cutting-edge techniques. I studied full-time for one year and found the programme really enjoyable. I learned about the geoscience behind climate change and renewable technologies that can be deployed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The most valuable aspect of the master’s is the network – I am still in touch with some classmates. Many of us work in the same or similar fields and help each other solve work-related problems. An alumnus helped me land my current job as a senior policy analyst for electricity transmission at Ofgem, Britain’s independent energy regulator. She helped me understand what Ofgem was looking for and prepared me for the interview. Without the master’s degree, I would not be where I am now.

After graduation, I worked for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which promotes international action to mitigate climate change. Then I moved to the European Emissions Trading Scheme, a scheme for trading greenhouse gas emissions allowances. I began working at Ofgem in 2014. My team manages the delivery of several billion pounds of investment in offshore wind farms and electricity transmission networks. My job is to assess the cost of the infrastructure. It involves data analysis and negotiation with windfarm developers – the most challenging part of the job.

I plan to move into an economist’s role within Ofgem, focusing on competition in the retail energy market. The MSc will become less relevant in that job, but it will still be important to understand the wider sector in which I operate. The industry is driven by government support and policy – exactly what I learned on the master’s.