Nikolai is a PhD candidate at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Nikolai previously worked as a policy advisor at the Australian Climate Change Authority and as an energy economist at the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

Nikolai holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master of Environmental and Resource Economics from the ANU. He is a recipient of the Helen Hughes Masters prize and the Sir Roland Wilson PhD Scholarship. Nikolai is the author of a number of Oxford Institute for Energy Studies papers and numerous reports, including the Department of Industry’s Resources and Energy Quarterly.