Lauren completed her Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Economics (cum laude) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2014. In 2013 she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science in Economics and Geography and Environmental Management from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. This has allowed Lauren to be introduced to a wide variety of both environmental and resource economic issues.

Lauren has always been interested in environmental topics, and has enjoyed linking these themes to economic frameworks. Lauren used this link to explore the feasibility of legalised trade in rhino horn as a conservation strategy in South Africa, as part of her honours dissertation.

Lauren aims to continue using Resource Economics to improve the current sustainability of South Africa’s policy tools as part of her Masters dissertation. Once she has graduated, Lauren hopes to continue her work in the field of Resource Economics by contributing to a South African understanding of how the environmental should be internalised in our concept of the economy.