Apply as a Postdoctoral Researcher in CEU

Application Deadline: 17 September, 2023

Central European University is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher in the “Multidimensional Intergenerational Social Mobility and Pathways to Upward Mobility in Austria” Project for the duration of two years.  In this project, we will use novel administrative data to examine the causal mechanisms that shape social mobility in Austria. With this data, we will investigate the extent to which the luck of being born into a specific family is mitigated by factors such as neighborhoods, education and training, and local labor markets.  

The positions will be based at the Department of Economics and Business at the Central European University for the duration of two years.  You will be working as an integral part of a larger research team based at Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Central European University and with the Principal Investigators Franziska Disslbacher, Alice Kügler and Petra Sauer, and a PhD candidate. There is a a competitive yearly gross salary of 60,926.60 EUR. 

Roles/Responsibilities

• Conduct innovative and high-quality research on intergenerational social mobility and its underlying mechanisms.  
• Have a central role in all aspects of the research process, from data construction and analysis to drafting and publishing academic papers.  
• Work with novel datasets constructed from administrative data on earnings, income, taxation and transfers, education, and firms. 
• Be part of an interdisciplinary team delivering high-impact research that is publishable in top international academic journals.  
• Present research at international conferences, with funding for travel expenses available. 
• Be involved in a wide range of project dissemination activities, including workshops, policy briefs, the production of a podcast on social mobility and an interactive project webpage. 
• Have time dedicated to advancing your own research agenda.  
• Encouraged to contribute to the overall activities of the Department more broadly and attend seminars.  
• The position does not include a teaching obligation but some involvement in teaching is possible.  
• Encouraged to gain experience in the supervision of research assistants and students.  
• The position is based in Vienna and requires regular presence at the department.  
• The position includes an affiliation with the Research Institute Economics of Inequality at WU Vienna.  
• Be an integral part of a team of researchers with expertise in the economics of inequality, labor economics, public economics, and quantitative social sciences. 
• Will hold a full-time position (40 hours per week).

Eligibility

• Completed or are close to obtaining a PhD Economics or a related field relevant for the successful conduct of quantitative research on intergenerational mobility. 
• Proven expertise and research background in one or more of the following fields: intergenerational mobility, economics of inequality, labor economics, public economics.  
• Proven skills and experience in quantitative methods (applied econometrics) which demonstrate your capacity to conduct original and rigorous research. 
• Experience working with micro-data and/or large datasets, and ideally, you have worked with administrative data such as tax data or social insurance records. 
• Evidence of the capacity to prepare excellent publications.  

Requirements

• Commitment to high-quality research. 
• Ability to work independently as well as to work collaboratively as part of a team and willingness to take responsibility for tasks.  
• Effective written and verbal communication and time and task management skills. 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and intellectual breadth. 
• Outstanding knowledge of statistical and econometrics software, such as R (preferred) or STATA. 
• Ideally you have some experience in communicating research findings to diverse and non-academic audiences. 
• Fluency in English is essential. Knowledge of German is not a requirement but an advantage. 

Application Details

• A CV. 
• A cover letter, detailing motivation for joining the project, and how the criteria set out above is met.  
• Up to two research papers that best represent applicant’s work. 
• Two reference letters or the contact details of two referees. 

The complete application package should be sent to ad*******@ce*.edu,  including the job code 2023/049 in the subject line.

For further information about this position, contact Alice Kügler (ku******@ce*.edu).