Emmet Kiberd

Emmet joined CLES in late 2025 and brings over 10 years’ experience in economic policy and research. His work focuses on better understanding forms of extraction in local economies and developing policies at local, regional and national levels to meet people’s needs within planetary limits. This has recently included extensive quantitative and qualitative research into topics such as land, housing, planning, local transport, and job quality in the everyday economy. Emmet previously worked at NEF, undertaking research and policy analysis across a range of topics, supporting campaigns and organising with targeted research, developing his expertise in social value measurement and evaluation, and delivering training on methodologies such as social return on investment and theory of change. Prior to this, he worked at the Ministry of Finance in Namibia. He holds an MSc in Economics. 

When asked why he chose to join CLES, Emmet said: 

“I think that the focus on money flows and ownership structures that defines CLES’s work in recent years is the best way of understanding local economies. At a time when our economy is failing to meet many of our basic needs, I believe there is huge untapped potential for local and regional government to work with their communities to transform people’s lives for the better. I am excited to be joining CLES to help develop fairer, greener and more democratic local economies.” 

Get in touch with Emmet Kiberd via email