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.)

We are seeking a full-time Pre-Doctoral Fellow to contribute to a research project developing an AI-driven global food security forecasting system. The project links high-resolution environmental data to subnational crop yields using machine learning, with the goal of leveraging these real-time data to predict unfolding food security issues. The fellow will be involved in data cleaning, model development, data dashboard construction, and academic and policy writing. The candidate will work under the supervision of Peter Huybers (Earth and Planetary Sciences) and Wolfram Schlenker (Harvard Kennedy School).

Fellows are expected to work full-time, in-person at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and are encouraged to attend seminars and classes at Harvard while being a fellow. Fellows will receive competitive salary and benefits. International applicants are welcome to apply.

Applicants should hold or plan to receive an undergraduate degree by the summer of 2026.

Competitive candidates will have:

• A strong quantitative background in economics, math, statistics, and/or computer science
• Experience with programming, data science, and geospatial analysis (especially R, Stata, Julia, MATLAB, or Python)
• An enthusiasm for empirical research
• An ability to work independently and with attention to detail
• Effective communication skills and an ability to work in a collaborative interdisciplinary environment

The position is initially for one year, with the option for renewal.

The Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE - Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe - (www.safe-frankfurt.de) promotes scientific research, transfer work to the public and independent policy advice on all aspects relating to the structure and functioning of the financial system. It aims to contribute to strengthening a sustainable and resilient financial system that drives innovation and serves the needs of the economy and citizens. Researchers from the fields of economics, law, and political science collaborate at SAFE.

SAFE is seeking to fill the position of a

Research Data Infrastructure Specialist (f/m/d) (50–100% / up to TV-H13 / fixed term of 2 years)

starting at the earliest possible date.

We are looking for a motivated professional to help develop and operate our research data infrastructure, including data repositories, data pipelines, and related services. This role is particularly suited for candidates with experience in academic research who are interested in focusing more on building, improving, and maintaining data and software systems.

Your tasks

• Develop, maintain, and further enhance an institutional research data repository (Harvard Dataverse)
• Migrate existing data sets from a legacy system to the new infrastructure
• Integrate and manage DOI minting via DataCite
• Design and implement services, workflows, and automations around the repository (e.g., APIs, data pipelines, tools)
• Contribute to the design and evolution of data models and scalable data production pipelines (e.g., transforming, structuring, and linking heterogeneous data sources while ensuring data quality and provenance)
• Analyze usage statistics and derive improvements
• Coordinate closely with internal and external partners (especially the Hochschulrechenzentrum of Goethe University)
• Support and advise researchers on research data management and Open Science.

Your profile

• University degree in a relevant field (e.g., computer science, economics, data science, or related disciplines)
• Experience working with data, ideally in a research context
• Solid programming skills (especially Python) and experience with databases (e.g., PostgreSQL)
• Experience working with APIs and integrating them into existing systems, or a willingness to acquire these skills
• Interest in or experience with data modeling, data integration, and processing of heterogeneous or unstructured data sources
• Ability and motivation to independently design and implement technical solutions
• Structured and self-driven working style
• Experience in an academic environment, preferably in economics or finance, is a plus
• Familiarity with repository systems (e.g., Dataverse) or metadata standards is an advantage
• Good English skills (written and spoken)
• Good German skills are an advantage.

We offer

a versatile position at the intersection of research and modern data infrastructure. You will work in a small, dedicated team with short decision-making paths and can actively shape the further development of our systems. You will be able to contribute your own ideas and independently design and implement technical solutions.

Remuneration is based on the collective agreement for the public sector of the State of Hesse (TV-H) and depends on personal qualifications and experience, up to pay grade E13. The monthly gross salary (full-time), subject to the applicable classification and level, ranges approximately between €4,800 and €6,800, based on 12.6 monthly salary payments per year. The initial contract is for two years, with the option to convert to a permanent position. In addition, we offer an attractive occupational pension scheme through the German public sector pension fund (VBL).

SAFE seeks to increase the share of women in research and thus strongly encourages female scholars to apply. We are also committed to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities and therefore invites them in particular to apply.

Interested? We look forward to receiving your online application.

Please apply online via our career portal >> Career | Leibniz Institute SAFE (safe-frankfurt.de)
The application deadline is May 31, 2026.

Should you have any questions, please contact Dr. Dennis Gram via e-mail: gram@safe-frankfurt.de

To apply, visit https://safe-frankfurt.de/about-safe/career/job-offers.html. (See posting for details.)