Post-doctoral position on “Political Economy of Climate Policy” (m/f/d)

For the BMZ-funded Project TRANSFORM, PIK (location Berlin Schöneberg) is offering a

Postdoctoral or doctoral position on “Economics“ (m/f/d)

(Position number: 03-2025 Postdoc Transform)

in the field of Mechanism design for improving global public good provision, starting as soon as possible.

The position is funded until end of 2027. Remuneration is in accordance with the German public tariff scheme (TV-L Brandenburg), salary group E 13. The full-time position for the Postdoc has a weekly working time of 40 hours (100%). It can also be filled on a part-time basis. If the position is filled as a PhD position, you will receive a 75% contract. 

The position will be based in the working group “Welfare and Policy Design”, headed by Prof. Dr. Matthias Kalkuhl at Research Department “Climate Economics and Policy”. Note that the workplace for the position will be Berlin Schöneberg (EUREF Campus).

Key responsibilities

• Develop mechanisms for rewarding governments for public good provision (e.g. forest conservation, afforestation, emission reductions in transport, pandemic prevention via disease surveillance and outbreak reporting, etc.) through conditional transfers or loans
• Develop mechanisms for mobilizing funding for reward funds such as voluntary carbon markets, offset markets, or tax clubs (e.g. on aviation, maritime shipping, or luxury goods). 
• Use of empirical or machine-learning techniques for estimating baseline emissions and forest covers that are needed for the mechanisms to work
• Apply mechanisms and model responses by countries to incentives set by reward funds (e.g., induced emissions reductions or forests saved per Dollar spent)
• Support project-related tasks like preparations of policy briefs, presentations, or consultations with stakeholders

A sketch of the larger architecture for linking tax clubs and reward funds can be found here. Note that candidates are in no way expected to read this background material for the application. We provide the link here so that potential applicants with skepticism toward the usefulness of the projects can read more if they wish. In that spirit, here is a more detailed case for how the work could be useful.

Requirements

• Strong background in economics, mathematics, computer science, or related field
• For applications for the postdoc position, we are looking for candidates who hold a PhD or are close to finishing their PhD 
• For applications for the doctoral position, we are primarily looking for candidates who hold a Master’s degree or are close to finishing one. 

We expect

• Familiarity with some topics and methods in public economics, mechanism design, game theory, environmental economics, or machine learning is a plus
• Working knowledge of programming languages such as Mathematica, Matlab or Python is a plus
• High motivation to contribute to policy-relevant research
• High interest in teamwork and collaborative research

We offer

• Flexi-time and mobile working (up to 50% of your hours)
• Working in a dedicated and motivated team with very supportive colleagues and a well-established international research network
• Access to high-performance cluster computers
• Opportunity to contribute to an ambitious research agenda that aims to optimize for expected positive impact for humanity
• Attractive working space at the EUREF-Campus in Berlin Schöneberg
• A collective pay scheme and associated benefits as well as a subsidized travel card or Deutschland-Ticket Job.

PIK values equality and diversity. We encourage applications without photo. 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 12 February 2025 directly via our application form below this job advertisement on our website. The application process remains open until the position is filled.

If you hold an international higher education qualification, please also submit a certificate evaluation from the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) with your application. If you do not yet have a transcript evaluation, please note that you may have to request one if your application is successful. For further information, please visit the website: https://www.kmk.org/zab/central-office-for-foreign-education.html

For further information or to discuss the position, please contact Dr. Lennart Stern.

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