Postdoctoral position on “Political Economy of Resource Governance” (m/f/d)

The climate needs bright minds. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) addresses crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impacts and sustainable development. It is one of the world's leading research institutions in its field and offers natural and social scientists from around the world an inspiring environment for excellent interdisciplinary research.

To strengthen its research capacity in managing the global commons in the newly established FutureLab “CERES: Political Economy for Inclusive Wealth Governance and Sustainability”, PIK is offering a

Postdoctoral position on “Political Economy of Resource Governance” (m/f/d)

(Position number: 23-2022-Postdoc-CERES)

in the field of political economy, environmental economics and development economics, with a starting date as soon as possible. The position is funded for 3 years. Remuneration is in accordance with the German public tariff scheme (TV-L Brandenburg), salary group E 13. This is a full-time position with a weekly working time of 40 hours.

Key responsibilities:

The successful candidate will be involved in a joint research project with Prof. Dr. Jan Steckel (MCC Berlin and BTU Cottbus), Prof. Dr. Matthias Kalkuhl (MCC Berlin and University of Potsdam), and Prof. Dr. Ottmar Edenhofer (MCC, PIK and TU Berlin).

It will be expected that they will:

• Engage in developing the shape of the newly founded FutureLab’s research agenda
• Contribute to the FutureLab’s work on econometrically assessing political economy frictions of resource governance, including vested interests, voting behavior or corruption
• Develop quantitative or empirical models on natural resource use and sustainable development in low- and middle-income countries
• Support in supervising doctoral students
• Publish work in leading economic or interdisciplinary journals

Requirements:

• PhD degree in environmental economics, institutional economics or development economics or in quantitative social science
• Experience with data processing software (e.g. R, Stata, Matlab or Python)
• Knowledge in latest advances of empirical economic research, including machine learning is a strong asset
• Knowledge of development economic literature related to resource management, international financial transfers, domestic transfer schemes and institutional quality is an asset

We expect:

• High interest in teamwork and collaborative research, including supervising PhD students
• High motivation to work on policy-relevant research topics related to sustainable development in a developing country context
• Willingness to support in developing the Future Lab’s research strategy
• The ability to work independently and on your own initiative
• A high level of competence in oral and written English
• Willingness to travel, including to countries outside Europe
• Structured and goal-oriented thinking
• Creativity and openness to new approaches

We offer:

• an inspiring, international and interdisciplinary work environment in a world leading research institute on Potsdam's beautiful, historic Telegrafenberg campus, a short commuting distance from Berlin
• working in a dedicated and motivated team with very supportive colleagues and a well-established international research network
• meaningful involvement in a research project of immediate policy relevance
• access to high-performance cluster computers
• flexi-time and mobile working (up to 40% of your hours)
• a collective pay scheme and associated benefits as well as a subsidized travel card

PIK values equality and diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of ethnic and social origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, care responsibilities, or age. PIK seeks to increase the share of women in scientific positions and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. In cases of equal qualification and within the given legal scope, women will be given preference. PIK also encourages applications by parents returning from parental leave.

Please apply by 23.6.2022 directly using our application form .

If you hold an international higher education qualification, please also submit the Statement of Comparability from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) with your application. In the case that you do not yet have a ZAB Statement of Comparability for your qualification, please be aware that you will need to request this if your application is successful. You can find further information on this website https://www.kmk.org/zab/central-office-for-foreign-education.html .

For further information or to discuss the position please contact Ms. Janine Platz (Janine.Platz(at)pik-potsdam.de ).

www.pik-potsdam.de