Post-Doc position to join the ERC research project 'Climate Change and Fossil Fuels (CLIFF)'

Effective climate action needs innovative, bold and cross-disciplinary thinkers

Are you looking for a challenging job in a dynamic setting? Are you interested in a job that searches for the answers to global questions in environment and development? The Governance and Inclusive Development group, Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, is looking for a post-doctoral researcher to join the 'Climate Change and Fossil Fuels (CLIFF)' research project. CLIFF is an ERC-Advanced Grant research project based at the University of Amsterdam, led by Prof. Dr. Joyeeta Gupta.

The CLIFF project was launched in November 2021 and poses the question: What is the role of big investors in leaving fossil fuels underground (LFFU), what are the North-South implications of LFFU, and what measures can be taken by whom to equitably allocate and accelerate shareholder and stakeholder responsibility in energy transformation for inclusive development. The project aspires to tackle the key and existential crisis plaguing this century - the climate emergency - by studying key actors and agents of change that can propel an inclusive transition away from fossil fuels, paying close attention to the North-South context within which fossil fuel finances have and continue to flow. In doing so, we are building on concepts of environmental, economic and political geography.

Currently, five PhD researchers have already begun conducting their respective research projects on the five key actor groups that CLIFF focuses on (pension funds, multinational corporations, philanthropic foundations, debt financiers, and low-middle income countries); together with the PI (Principal Investigator), the post-doc will both supplement and complement their research through a series of tasks and responsibilities, outlined below.

What are you going to do

You will be working as a post-doctoral researcher for 45 months.

You will be joining a team of five PhD researchers (from various backgrounds), one student assistant and the PI. Moreover, the CLIFF project has a scientific advisory committee and a policy advisory committee, which are composed of expert academics and practitioners in their respective fields, which you will both contribute to and learn from.

You will/tasks:

• Conduct both qualitative and quantitative, multidisciplinary research;
• Two of the key CLIFF project deliverables that the post-doc will be substantially responsible for are developing a unique Stranded Asset Index and establishing CLIFF's Interactive Atlas;
• The former aspires to evaluate and compute regional, national, and actor-level exposure to prospective multidimensional stranded assets, while the latter maps the financial flows, relevant fossil fuel related policies, key actors, countervailing powers and their strategies unique to each actor group;
• Both of these deliverable projects will embody both technical (e.g., index development and computation, online interface development) and qualitative components (e.g., firm understanding of stranded assets, justice implications, fossil fuel finance);
• Coordinating the activities of the PhDs and MScs in the project;
• Publishing peer-reviewed articles, in cooperation with colleagues, in appropriate high-level journals;
• Write policy reports;
• Publish material to be used in communication with other, non-academic audiences;
• Assist in the organisation of conferences, meetings and other events;
• Assist in project management;
• Take responsibility for planning and developing research methods and techniques within the framework of the research programme as described above;
• Undertake any other duties relevant to the programme of research.