EconJobMarket®

Pre-Doctoral Program – Global Talent Common Application

Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Switzerland

The Department of Economics at the University of Zurich invites applications for pre-doc positions (1-2 years) for qualified applicants from low- and middle-income countries and/or with a refugee background (see below for details).

There are two application paths. Applicants should pursue both, they are not mutually exclusive.

• Common Application: First, qualified applicants from eligible backgrounds can apply through this common application process. This process will lead to a pool of finalists, from which professors can choose to hire pre-docs. This job posting refers to this path.
• Individual Postings: Second, many professors separately post job opportunities for their own pre-doc positions. These positions are open to all applicants, regardless of their origin or background. It is strongly recommended that interested candidates also apply directly through those postings.

What is the pre-doctoral research fellow’s role?

Pre-doctoral fellows work with a professor of the economics department to support their research, with substantive opportunities for on-the-job learning about academic research in economics. Pre-docs may be involved in all stages of research – brainstorming, literature reviews, project management, data analysis, and writing. The predoctoral position is a full-time in-person commitment (70% research, 30% on-the-job-learning).

The research fellow will become part of a vibrant community of predoctoral fellows at the department and of the wider research community at UZH. Predocs receive hands-on mentoring throughout. Previous pre-docs have worked, among others, with Professors Sandro Ambühl, Lorenzo Casaburi, Ana Costa-Ramon, David Dorn, Thomas Graeber, David Hémous, Mathias Hoffmann, Ronak Jain, Dina Pomeranz, Hans-Joachim Voth, David Yanagizawa-Drott and Ulf Zölitz.

Qualifications

The pre-doctoral positions are ideal for recent graduates who are interested in potentially going on to do a PhD in economics or a related field. We are looking for highly motivated candidates with strong quantitative, programming and analytical skills, and an interest in economic research. We particularly value curiosity, perseverance, and a demonstrated commitment to research and learning.

Specific requirements:

• Master’s or bachelor’s degree (in the last 5 years) with strong grades in economics or another quantitative social science field, including strong math skills;
• Strong knowledge of STATA, R or Python; familiarity with other statistical software or programming languages is a plus;
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Recommendation letter from 1-3 letter writers who are familiar with academic research (professor, research supervisor, or similar).

The following qualifications are not required, but represent a plus:

• Knowledge of causal inference research methods;
• Previous experience in research, e.g. as a research assistant or a research manager;
• Top of the class, high GRE Quant score, completed MITx MicroMasters courses;
• Proven ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines

Eligibility

This common application is open to applicants who meet any of the following criteria

• Having grown up in a low- or lower-middle income country (based on this World Bank classification).
• Having grown up in an upper-middle income country and being a first-generation university student (i.e. parents did not go to university)
• Refugee/asylum/forced migration background (having experienced flight or having had a residence status of stateless, asylum seeker, humanitarian visas, or similar).

To confirm your eligibility, please refer to the Application Checklist.

No prior work permit for Switzerland is required.

How to Apply

Please apply online here: https://www.facultyhiring.oec.uzh.ch/position/53411840. Look for “Pre-Doctoral Program – Global Talent Common Application”.

Please note that in order to submit your application through the application form, you’ll need to answer all questions and upload all documents in one go (no intermediate saving possible). Thus, please look at this Application Checklist and prepare your documents and responses in advance so that they can be copy-pasted into the application form.

For any inquiry, please contact predoc@econ.uzh.ch

Country: Switzerland

Education: Bachelor's, Master’s

Start Date (Earliest): 1. March 2026

Start Date (Latest): 1. February 2027

Length of Commitment: One or two years

Language Requirement: English

Application Deadline: Rolling applications with evaluation in batches. The next deadline is January 31, 2026.

Deadline for recommendation letters: February 7, 2026.

To apply, visit https://www.facultyhiring.oec.uzh.ch/position/53411840. (See posting for details.)

Position Title: Research Associate (Postdoctoral Scholar) in Wealth Inequality - Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality

Job ID: 32383

Compensation: $90,000/year plus an allowance for research-related expenditures, as well as an allowance for hiring research assistants from the Graduate Center’s student population. This position is generously funded by the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation.

Closing Date: November 2, 2026

CAMPUS SPECIFIC INFORMATION

The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) is the focal point for advanced teaching and research at CUNY, the nation's largest urban public university. The Graduate Center’s commitment to research and scholarship for the public good is exemplified by its more than 30 centers, institutes, and initiatives, including its Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), a 200,000 square-foot facility in upper Manhattan, designed to promote collaboration among scientists in five areas of growing importance in serving the community: nanoscience, photonics, structural biology, neuroscience, and environmental sciences.

The Graduate Center (GC) benefits from highly ambitious and diverse students and alumni—who in turn teach hundreds of thousands of undergraduates every year. Through its public programs, the Graduate Center enhances New York City’s intellectual and cultural life.

STONE CENTER

The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality conducts and promotes quantitative research using inequality as a lens on society, politics, and the economy. The core faculty, the affiliated and postdoctoral scholars, and the students working within the center share a commitment to scholarship that is data-driven, interdisciplinary, and policy-oriented, often addressing questions that are cross-nationally comparative or global in scope.

The Stone Center:

• Is home to a group of six core faculty members (senior scholars) who teach sociology, political science, and economics, and who—with graduate students and external affiliated scholars—are actively engaged in research addressing diverse aspects of socio-economic inequalities;
• Hosts the US Office of LIS, the cross-national data center in Luxembourg, with socio-economic microdata from 60+ countries;
• Organizes public programs related to inequality and collaborates with the Graduate Center’s Office of Public Programs on several large events each year.

For more information about the Stone Center visit https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/

CALL FOR ONE POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR

The Stone Center seeks to hire a Research Associate (Postdoctoral Scholar) working on wealth and/or wealth inequality, to carry out research focused on the United States, on other countries, or through cross-country comparisons. This position reports to the Stone Center Director and is a full-time two-year position beginning in August 2027.

Priority will be given to candidates conducting research in the following areas:

• Distribution of private and public wealth, wealth inequality, wealth concentration;
• Land distribution and inequality;
• Intergroup wealth disparities (e.g., by gender, race, ethnicity, migration status, subnational unit);
• Intersection of wealth inequality, climate policies, and climate crisis:
• Determinants (including public policies) and consequences of wealth concentration;
• The economics of property and ownership rights;
• Wealth taxes, real estate and property taxes, estate/inheritance/gift (EIG) taxes, and/or other policies that shape wealth accumulation and wealth transfers; behavioral responses.

The allocation of time will be approximately as follows:

• 70% - The postdoctoral scholar will have the opportunity to work individually on their own research projects related to wealth.
• 30% -The postdoctoral scholar will join the ongoing team of the GC Wealth Project. The postdoctoral scholar will contribute to the Wealth Project's work, which includes gathering, curating, and producing data and research related to wealth inequality, wealth composition, and wealth taxation, across countries and over time-the precise role will be determined mutually.
• In this role, the postdoctoral scholar will work closely with other Wealth Project team members, including one other postdoctoral scholar, and may also supervise M.A./Ph.D. student research assistants. The work includes collaboration with the GC Wealth Project teams located both in NYC and in the satellite office of the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality at Roma Tre University. The Rome Office is overseen by Salvatore Morelli, the director of the GC Wealth Project.

All full-time and part-time CUNY staff are expected to work in-person at their campus office 80% of their work time. For full-time staff, this is equivalent to 8 out of 10 days of in-person work in a two-week period (e.g., 8 days in person, 2 days remote). This hybrid work schedule is subject to change.

Minimum Qualifications:
Doctoral Degree in a related field and demonstrated research ability.

Other Qualifications:

A preferred candidate should have:

• Ph.D. degree in economics, sociology, political science, demography, public policy, or a related social science discipline

-Applicants must have completed their Ph.D. no more than seven years prior to the application date;

-Applicants must demonstrate that their Ph.D. degree will be completed by late-August 2027;

• Research portfolio that demonstrates interest in and experience with empirical, methodological, or theoretical scholarship on socio-economic inequality, with a focus on the content areas noted above;
• High level of technical skill, expertise in a range of quantitative methods, and experience with complex data sets;
• Experience with communicating research findings in a way that is relevant to the public.

Benefits:
CUNY offers a comprehensive benefits package to employees and eligible dependents based on job title and classification. Employees are also offered pension and Tax-Deferred Savings Plans. Part-time employees must meet a weekly or semester work hour criteria to be eligible for health benefits. Health benefits are also extended to retirees who meet the eligibility criteria.

How to Apply:

Go to http://cuny.jobs/ and search for Job ID 32383.

Please click on “Apply Now” below which links to the registration screen. If you are a new user, you must register to apply. If you already have a user ID, please use your existing ID. The following are all required:

1. Curriculum vitae.

2. Statement of interest, not to exceed 1,500 words. The statement of interest should:

-Summarize your qualifications, and describe your past work related to wealth inequality.

-Include a brief description of the projects that you hope/expect to carry out during the two-year period.

-Indicate whether you have a Ph.D. degree and the month and year in which you attained your Ph.D. degree.

-If you do not have a Ph.D. degree at the time of application, please indicate the month and year by which you will have a Ph.D. degree.

3. One writing sample. Please do not submit multiple writing samples.

4. Contact details for three (3) professional references, including their name, title, organization, telephone number, and email address. Letters of recommendation are not required with the initial application.

Please upload all documents in PDF format as one file.

The search committee will complete an initial round of screening. Candidates selected for interviews will be asked to provide three letters of recommendation. All interviews will be conducted remotely via Zoom.

Scholars studying facets of economic inequality may choose to apply for a different Stone Center postdoctoral scholar position, referenced here as Job ID 32384. Candidates whose research experience is appropriate for both positions are welcome to apply to both.

A J-1 visa may be offered to eligible individuals.

Equal Employment Opportunity:
CUNY encourages people with disabilities, minorities, veterans and women to apply. At CUNY, Italian Americans are also included among our protected groups. Applicants and employees will not be discriminated against on the basis of any legally protected category, including sexual orientation or gender identity. EEO/AA/Vet/Disability Employer.

To apply, visit https://cuny.jobs/new-york-ny/research-associate-postdoctoral-scholar-in-wealth-inequality-stone-center-on-socio-economic-inequality/29A6651DB981474CAB1E3360C7C0E2BE/job/. (See posting for details.)

UCLouvain invites applications for a full-time PhD position in Economics at the Louvain Institute of Data Analysis and Modeling in Economics and Statistics (LIDAM), CORE, in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Research project

The project, Design of auction-based support schemes for renewable energy in Europe, studies renewable energy auctions using auction theory and industrial organization. The exact orientation is flexible, and the candidate will develop their doctoral research project during the first year. Possible directions include:

1. De-risking green investment: how public support affects private insurance, technology choices and incentives to control costs.
2. Multi-technology auctions: how auctions can balance competition, technology portfolios, systemic risk and European strategic autonomy.
3. Local content requirements: how non-price award criteria affect competition and strategic trade.
4. Pre-qualification requirements and completion bonds: how these instruments affect project abandonment, innovation and competition.

Research environment

The successful candidate will join the LIDAM Energy Group at CORE. The position is based in Louvain-la-Neuve and starts in autumn 2026, no later than January 2027.

Requirements

Applicants should have:

• a two-year research master's degree (120 ECTS) in Economics, obtained with distinction; or a master's degree in another field complemented by at least one year of graduate-level courses in economics;
• solid graduate-level training in microeconomic theory, including industrial organization, and game theory; and
• proficiency in English.

Funding eligibility condition: under UCLouvain's doctoral-scholarship regulation, the scholarship holder may not have reached the age of 30 at the start of the first grant period. The limit is raised by one year for each maternity, paternity or adoption before the start of the doctorate, and exceptions may be approved by the rector.

Conditions

The FSR doctoral scholarship initially covers 24 months, with a possible 24-month extension subject to the funding conditions and satisfactory progress. It currently provides about EUR 2,400 net per month and is exempt from income tax.

Application

Applications must be submitted in English as a single PDF file containing:

• a one-page statement of intent outlining the proposed research and showing how the applicant meets the required qualifications;
• a curriculum vitae;
• Bachelor's and Master's transcripts and available degree certificates;
• one writing sample, such as a Master's thesis or research paper;
• available language certificates and standardized test scores; and
• the names and contact details of at least two academic referees.

The application deadline is 21 September 2026.

Questions about the position may be sent to Bert Willems at bert.willems@uclouvain.be.

To apply, visit https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/Nbx4HmviLp. (See posting for details.)

The International Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC), Marburg University, DFG Research Training Group (RTG) 3159 “Gender and Gendering in Contexts of International Criminal Law”, is currently accepting applications for ten

Doctoral Researchers/PhD

The positions are offered for a period of 4 years, until 31 January 2031. The starting date is 1 February 2027. The position is part-time (75% of regular working hours) with salary and benefits commensurate with a public service position in the state of Hesse, Germany (TV-H E 13, 75%).

The RTG explores the multifaceted interactions between conceptions of gender and international criminal law from an interdisciplinary perspective. It is focused on the question of how gender and gendering shape international criminal law, as well as its legal, institutional, and societal conditions of application, function, and impact. The RTG's doctoral researchers are offered a unique opportunity to write their dissertation in an inspiring, interdisciplinary, and international environment and to develop their own independent research profile.

Tasks:

• Realization of a doctoral degree on a topic within the RTG's research program
• Research assistance in the research program of the RTG
• Active on-site participation in the RTG's activities (mandatory attendance at the RTG's core program)

The position is limited to a time period deemed adequate for the completion of a doctoral degree. As part of the assigned duties, there will be ample opportunity to conduct the independent scientific research necessary for the completion of a doctorate. The limitation complies to Section 2(1) of the German Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act (WissZeitVG).

Profile:

• Above-average completed university degree (Master, state exam or equivalent) in a discipline relevant to the RTG, in particular peace and conflict studies, gender studies, history, modern German literature, political science, law, sociology, theology or economics
• Prior knowledge of the RTG's core research area, in particular international (criminal) law, transitional justice, and/or gender studies, is advantageous
• English language proficiency at least at C1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
• German language skills, or willingness to learn German, would be an asset
• Team spirit, strong commitment to academic excellence and interdisciplinary cooperation

Disposition to own scientific qualification is expected.

We offer:

• A doctorate in an inspiring, international, and interdisciplinary environment
• Structured doctoral supervision through an individually composed Thesis Advisory Committee
• An individual qualification and supervision program tailored to you and your doctoral project
• A collegial, family-friendly, and LGBTIQ+-inclusive research environment
• Qualification, advice, and support through the Marburg University Research Academy, the International Office, the Family Service, and the offices for Higher Education Didactics of the University of Marburg

Application documents (German or English):

• Outline of the planned doctoral project (max. 10 pages including work and time schedule and bibliography) based on an innovative research question in line with the RTG's topic and research program and suitable for interdisciplinary collaboration
• Writing sample (max. 25 pages, for instance, table of contents and chapters from Master's thesis, seminar or research paper, article, blog entry)
• Letter of motivation
• Certificates of qualification, CV, and, if applicable, evidence of academic activities
• Transcript of records
• Proof of language proficiency (at least English C1)
• One academic letter of recommendation OR first examiner's report of the Master's thesis

To apply, visit https://stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/f37343375cb05fd5e8609989f887e9dace0b27be0. (See posting for details.)

Research Assistant Position in Dynamic Microsimulation

Research Assistant to work on dynamic microsimulation. Initial contract of 6 months, extendable, with the possibility of applying to a PhD program (potentially through an Industrial Doctorate).

This position will be developed within the framework of SUSTAINWELL project, and continue in the LIFe project. Both projects focus on the impact of population ageing on private and public intergenerational transfers and the sustainability of the welfare state.

Initial salary: €1,258.43 per month, 30 hours per week, with the possibility of increasing the salary and workload depending on performance.

Tasks include: data processing, cleaning, and analysis; literature reviews and the preparation and synthesis of research reports; and collaboration within a committed research team.

Profile: Master’s degree in Economics. Strong background in Economic Analysis, including Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Microeconometrics, Macroeconometrics, and Public Economics. Programming skills and experience in the use of AI are valued.

Application Process

Apply at: https://extractes.fbg.ub.edu/extractes/frameofertes.jsp

Additionally, please send an e-mail to: aalsinak@ub.edu

Only applications that include all the information listed below will be considered.

Subject: “Dynamic Microsimulation of Intergenerational Transfers”

E-mail text: Include the average grade obtained in both the Bachelor's and Master's degrees.

Attachments:

• Bachelor’s and Master’s transcripts.
• Motivation letter (maximum 500 words, PDF format) indicating:
• Past experience (including experience with dynamic microsimulation and the use of AI tools);
• Interest in the research areas covered by the project;
• Interest in pursuing either a standard PhD or an Industrial Doctorate;
• Why you would be an excellent candidate;
• What you expect to enjoy most and least about the position.

To apply, visit https://extractes.fbg.ub.edu/extractes/frameofertes.jsp. (See posting for details.)