I am Eryk Walczak ( /vʌltʃʌk/ ), a Senior Research Data Scientist in the Bank of England. I completed a PhD in the Department of Experimental Psychology at University College London. Before becoming a data scientist I worked on cognitive neuroscience of language (how brain is processing speech perception and production).
You can find some of my projects on this site and on R-bloggers.
Opinions expressed here are mine and not necessarily those of my employer.
Publications / Working Papers
Economics
- Amadxarif, Z., Brookes, J., Garbarino, N., Patel, R., & Walczak, E. (2019). The language of rules: textual complexity in banking reforms. Bank of England Staff Working Paper No. 834.
- Bholat, D., Broughton, N., Ter Meer, J., & Walczak, E. (2019). Enhancing central bank communications using simple and relatable information. Journal of Monetary Economics, 108, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2019.08.007
- Bholat, D., Broughton, N., Parker, A., Ter Meer, J., & Walczak, E. (2018). Enhancing central bank communications with behavioural insights. Bank of England Staff Working Paper No. 750.
Neuroscience / Psychology
- Walczak, E. (2020). Assessing brain activity related to speech production and perception using tonal stimuli (Unpublished PhD thesis). University College London, UK.
- Walczak, E. (2018). Speech Production. In Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. Ed. Mark Aronoff. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Hardwicke, T.E., Jameel, L., Jones, M., Walczak, E.J., & Weinberg, L.M. (2014). Only Human: Scientists, Systems, and Suspect Statistics. Opticon1826 (16):25, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/opt.ch
- Walczak, E., Zhang, J., Schoof, T., Tuomainen, J., & Howell, P. (2014). Cortical inhibition of the brainstem frequency following response in falling and rising tone production. Proceedings from ISSP 2014 The 10th International Seminar on Speech Production. Cologne, Germany.
- Skatova, A., Leygue, C., Spence, A., Bedwell, B., Walczak, E., & Ferguson, E. (2012). Communal Energy Displays: The Role of Emotions in Environmental Decisions. Proceedings from Digital Futures 2012 Conference, Aberdeen, UK.
Presentations
- Using R to study banking regulations (webinar). WhyR 2020. 26 September 2020.
- The Language of Rules: Textual Complexity in Banking Reforms. ESCoE Conference on Economic Measurement 2020. 17 September 2020.
- The Language of Rules: Textual Complexity in Banking Reforms. King’s College London. 5 February 2020.
- The Language and Structure of Rules: Measuring Textual Complexity in Bank Regulation. London School of Economics (Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation). 24 September 2019
- Textual Complexity in Bank Regulation. Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C. Nontraditional Data, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing in Macroeconomics. 1-2 October 2019
- Enhancing central bank communications using simple and relatable information (video and interview), Annual Research Conference – Central Bank Communications: From Mystery to Transparency, Kyiv, Ukraine. 23-24 May 2019
- Textual complexity in bank regulation – New Analytical Tools and Techniques for Economic Policymaking, OECD, 15-16 April 2019 (see the presentation by Rajan Patel; starts at 2h39min)
- New methods and advanced analytics at the Bank of England – 8th ESRC Research Methods Festival 2018, University of Bath, 3 July 2018
- Polyglots’ Brains – Neuroscience and Language Learning. Presented at Polyglot Gathering 2014. Berlin, Germany.
Code
Media mentions / Public engagement
- PRA using AI to understand connectivity of rulebook – centralbanking.com
- BoE study finds ‘relatable’ communications boost trust and understanding – centralbanking.com
- Central Banking: When Communication is the Policy – Rebuilding Macroeconomics
- Simply is best: enhancing trust and understanding of central banks through better communications – Bank Underground
- Central banking: when communication is the policy – Behavioural Insights Team blog
- Elektrody, mózg i język chiński [English: Electrodes, brain, and Chinese language] – The Polish Observer
Contact
erykjwalczak [.AT.] gmail [.DOT.] com
