Postdoctoral position on the Governance of Low-Carbon Investments - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Job description
The postdoctoral position is part of the project “Financing industrial decarbonisation: Managing risks and uncertainties to promote green investments in energy intensive industry”, a four-year interdisciplinary research project funded by Formas, the Swedish Research Council on Sustainable Development. The project is led by Associate Professor Fredrik N. G. Andersson, Department of Economics, in collaboration with Associate Professor Jakob Skovgaard and Researcher Roger Hildingsson from the Department of Political Science and scholars from other departments at Lund University.

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to conduct 80 % research and 20 % teaching for a duration of two years. The purpose of the project is to study how risk and uncertainty affect financial markets’ willingness to invest in decarbonisation in the energy-intensive and natural resource-based industries. Specifically, the research undertaken at the Department of Political Science within the project focuses on political risks and uncertainties regarding climate investments and how policymakers perceive and address these risks.

Policy makers can enhance or mitigate these risks. A broad range of political actors from international organisations and institutions, EU institutions, and domestic political actors have increased their efforts to channel financial flows towards low-carbon investments. The project will explore the evolution of international and Swedish governance arrangements to promote financing of industrial decarbonisation. In the case of Sweden, we analyse the relationship between public actors, financial institutions, and investors. The studied actors do not only originate from different levels, but also from public and private sectors as well as from economic and environmental spheres of governance.

The postdoctoral fellow will contribute to the project empirically by collecting and analysing data regarding the various governance arrangements, and how policymakers within them have addressed the risks associated with financing low-carbon investments. Importantly, it is therefore required that the candidate has comprehensive experience with studying environmental governance arrangements. It is furthermore considered a merit if the applicant is familiar with political economy, particularly finance, and with the interaction between international, EU and national governance and/or public and private governance. The candidate is expected to have a solid track record within political science or similar disciplines, and good (qualitative and possibly also quantitative) methodological skills. The postdoc will carry out research independently and in cooperation with the other researchers in the project and is expected to contribute to the wider comparative aims of the project.

Qualifications
Eligibility for employment as a postdoctoral researcher is restricted to applicants with a PhD degree in political science or similar disciplines on a topic relevant to the project. Priority is given to applicants who have completed their PhD less than three years prior to the deadline for applying to the post. The three-year limit can be extended in cases of parental leave, sickness leave or similar circumstances occurring after the PhD defense.

Applicants who have yet to complete their PhDs are welcome to apply but should demonstrate that they will receive their PhD degree no later than on the first day of employment as postdoc.

Research skills and academic potential will be the main selection criteria, but teaching skills will also be considered. Proficiency in spoken and written English and the ability to teach in English is a requirement. The candidate must have demonstrated excellent skills in academic written English. The ability to conduct research independently and the ability to participate in research collaboration are very important considerations. The ability to conduct research based on written sources in Swedish is considered an important criterion.

The application should contain (a) a cover letter including a statement describing how the candidate is qualified to conduct the research specified above, (b) a CV, (c) one or two writing samples (approximately 6 000-10 000 words each), e.g. draft or published articles, book or dissertation chapters, ideally at least one of which should be single-authored, (d) two letters of recommendation, (e) a research proposal outlining the research to be conducted within the project (maximum 2 000 words excluding references).