POSTDOCTORAL POSITION (FORSKARE/POSTDOC) in Econometrics - BEHAVIOURAL AND ECONOMETRIC RESEARCH IN SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT
A post doctoral position in Econometrics related to Sustainable Investment at the Centre for Finance, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University is announced. The position is funded by the Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, MISTRA through the Swedish research programme ‘Behavioural Impediments to Sustainable Investment’.
The scientist will be fully integrated into both the department and MISTRA’S SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT RESEARCH INITIATIVE called ‘Towards a New Role for Institutional Investors’.
The Centre for Finance (www.handels.gu.se/cff) is a joint effort of the Department of Economics and the Department of Business Administration to concentrate their resources within the field of finance (resulting in a staff of 34 including 5 professors and 6 graduate students working on various projects related to quantitative aspects of finance). The research agenda of the Centre that directly relates to the MISTRA initiative focuses on the non-stationary, non-parametric study of financial time series and on non-parametric, adaptive methods for dimension reduction.
The Research Initiative ‘Towards a New Role for Institutional Investors’ aims to acquire knowledge that can encourage leading institutional investors to adopt sustainable investment (SI) practices. SI is defined as the promotion of sustainable development (SD) by integrating environmental and social concerns into investment policies at institutional level. The key tenet of SI is a long-term perspective on investment motivated by a real concern for the well being of future generations, fostering a responsible management of the natural (responsibility towards the environment) and human resources (social responsibility).
The Research Programme ‘Behavioural Impediments to Sustainable Investment’ focuses in particular on the integration of SI approaches into institutional investor’s portfolio management practices. As such, the SI approaches are expected to have a noticeable impact on the business strategies of companies promoting SD. The programme provides an opportunity for researchers at junior level in the social sciences to pursue their research interests and to develop expertise in new areas in the fields of psychology, economics and statistics with a particular emphasis on the areas of institutional investor portfolio management and SI investment practices.
The programme is structured in five projects that are briefly described in the sequel.
Project A will critically examine how SI is defined in the academic literature and across the investment community in order to develop an operational definition of SI.
Project B focuses on studying the quantitative multivariate relation between SI criteria and various financial measures of business performance with the end of identifying the social, environmental, and ethical aspects (or combination of aspects) that influence most of the financial performance of individual companies. The project will investigate the relation between financial profitability and SD features of individual companies and will try to understand if the existing SRI funds are the correct SI investment instrument.
Project C project focuses on determining the internal and external factors that impel and impede the implementation of SI in the investment management process.
Project D aims at studying mechanisms of dissemination of the SI practices.
Project E is aimed at proposing regulatory guidelines for the adoption and implementation of a SI policy.
QUALIFICATIONS AND ASSESSMENT GROUNDS FOR APPOINTMENT
The applicants must have a PhD in Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, or related fields.
A strong record of academic achievements and research (demonstrated by the candidate’s thesis and/or publications) is expected. She/he should poses strong quantitative skills and a proven research interest in aspects of probabilistic and statistical modeling of financial data. Familiarity with non-parametric and multivariate statistical techniques as well as with the theory and practice of time series are desirable.
A high level of independence in conducting research is required, as the successful candidate will be partly responsible for managing the research efforts specific to the project B of the programme.
Priority will be given to candidates who have completed their degree no more than five years before the application deadline.
A good command of English is essential. Good communications skills are expected, as the successful candidate will work in close contact with various financial institutions and the other researchers in the program.
JOB DESCRIPTION
The postdoctoral researcher will be employed on a fixed-term contract for project period (2006-2008) and will be active in the Centre for Finance, at the School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University for the full duration of this position.
The postdoctoral researcher main duty will be to conduct research in the area of the research project B of the programme (see Project Description above).
The postdoctoral researcher will also play an active role in the programme as a whole. She/he is expected to interact with other researchers within various projects towards the successful completion of the programme and to participate in organizing of scientific events related to the communication plan of the programme. She/he is expected to contribute actively to the dissemination of the research results of the programme.
The postdoctoral researcher is also expected to participate in department activities such as the supervision of undergraduate/graduate theses within her/his research area, seminars, conferences, etc. She/he is also expected to teach a limited number of hours in subjects related to the academic activities of the Centre.
The position offers also the possibility for close academic collaboration with the Department of Mathematical Statistics at Chalmers University of Technology.
SALARY AND BENEFITS: Successful applicant will receive salary and benefits in accordance with standard salary levels for equivalent positions that take qualifications into account.
HOW TO APPLY: Each applicant should send ONE (paper) copy of the following to the address below (make sure to include the reference number!) (1) Transcripts of certificates of graduate university courses. (2) A CV including biographical information, degrees, work experiences, list of publications, and list of honours, awards, scholarships, awarded research grants, and fellowships. (3) The doctoral dissertation and a maximum of 10 published articles in peer-reviewed journals, books, or book chapters. (4) A short statement (1-2 pages) describing the applicant’s interest in the research area and the work that he or she would like to do during the appointment. (This statement is not a commitment to conduct the outlined work, but is important evidence of the applicant’s ability to plan an appropriate scientific project). (5) Three reference letters to be sent directly to the address indicated below. The candidate should arrange for the letters to be posted by the application’s deadline. The names and addresses (including e-mail and FAX) of three referees should be included in the CV.
In addition the documents (1) to (4) should be sent electronically to the address: cff@handels.gu.se (if an electronic version of document (1) is not available, a legible digital picture or a scanned copy should be provided with the original paper version sent by normal mail to the address below).
Applications should be received no later than May 26, 2006 (the paper documents should bear the post cache with a date previous or coi
ncident with the deadline. The electronic documents should be sent before 23:59, May 26). The position will begin August 15, 2006. The appointment will be announced as soon as possible after the deadline on the webpage of the Centre for Finance.
For further information write to Catalin Starica at catalin.starica@cff.gu.se
Union representatives:
SACO Inger Wilgotson Lundh,
tel. 031-773 19 87,
OFR/S Eva Sjögren,
tel. 031-773 11 69,
SEKO Lennart Olsson,
tel. 031-773 11 73.
The application, reference number E 36 1300/06 should be addressed to:
Goteborg University Registrator Box 100 SE-405 30 Goteborg