Alex Trew was educated at Durham University, the University of Warwick and the University of St Andrews.

Prior to joining the University of Glasgow in July 2019, he was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of St Andrews. He is a Fellow of the Higher education Academy. His research interests are broadly in Macro-labor, with particular interest in the geography and
history of the industrial revolution, the relation between demographic change and macro-history, and the determinants of long-run growth.

Alex Trew joined IZA as a Research Fellow in May 2023.