The University of Amsterdam invites applications for a postdoc position at the newly founded Research Centre for Sustainable Investments and Insurance. We are looking for talented and motivated researchers with a strong interest in the centre’s research activities. For this vacancy we are specifically looking for candidates who would contribute to the project:

Quantifying the impact of ESG risk on insurance and financial portfolios

What are you going to do?
National and international regulators are increasingly requiring the insurance and pensions industry to stress test their insurance and financial portfolios for ESG risk. Focusing on nature-related ESG risk, this project will develop new integrated assessment models (IAMS), or enable existing ones, such that they can serve as a basis for nature-related ESG risk stress testing. The project will also analyse the broader policy implications of nature-related ESG risk for risk management, portfolio choice, pricing, and product development during the climate transition.

Supervisors:

Roger Laeven, UvA Full Professor of Mathematics and Economics of Risk
Rick van der Ploeg, UvA University Professor of Environmental Economics and Professor of Economics, University of Oxford

Ton van den Bremer, UvA Associate Professor of Environmental Economics and Associate Professor, TU Delft

Any research experience and expertise in this topic will be highly appreciated but is not a requirement. Candidates with a strong background in Finance, Economics, Econometrics, Actuarial Science, Statistics, (Financial) Mathematics or related fields are encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to candidates with a quantitative background.

The Research Centre for Sustainable Investments and Insurance is part of the Economics and Business (EB) faculty of the University of Amsterdam. Research at UvA EB covers the broad domain of econometrics, economics, business economics and business, and is organized in two large schools: the Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE) and the Amsterdam Business School (ABS). The research centre is a joint initiative of the Faculty Economics and Business and a.s.r.

The successful candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary team of UvA researchers, with state-of-the-art research facilities at the centre conducting fundamental research on sustainable investments and insurance in order to provide solutions for challenges faced by insurers, other financial institutions, regulators, and society. The centre studies environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk in relation to real estate, mortgages, insurance and financial portfolios, in three different research lines: 1. Quantifying ESG risk: real estate, mortgages, insurance and financial portfolios, 2. Measuring and quantifying the impact of impact investing with AI, and 3. Artificial Intelligence approaches to detecting climate alignment and greenwashing.

During the four-year position, you will conduct research and be included in the teaching of the school’s programmes (0.2 fte).

The candidate will aim to generate research that can be published in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, and will also be expected to communicate implications of the results to a broader audience of policy makers and society as a whole.

Formal requirements:

• Applicants must have, or be close to obtaining, a PhD degree in Finance, Economics, Econometrics, Actuarial Science, Statistics, (Financial) Mathematics or a related field.

Task-related requirements:

• Excellent English language skills, with experience in writing for a scientific audience;
• willingness and motivation to independently formulate research projects and carry them through to completion;
• ability to develop mathematical models and solutions to these models;
• statistical skills and command of standard software packages for analyzing quantitative data, and a willingness to develop these skills further;

Additional requirements:

• Strong motivation to pursue an international career as a leading scholar;
• strong commitment to methodological rigor and scientific integrity;
• energy and passion for researching solutions for modern challenges;
• intellectual curiosity, eagerness to learn, and openness to criticism.

The compensation package is competitive at the European level and includes several secondary benefits. Favorable tax agreements may apply to non-Dutch applicants. To know more about working at the University of Amsterdam, please check this link and this link.

The employment contract will be for 2 years with an intermediate evaluation after 12 months and a possibility to extend it for 12 or 24 months at the end of the contract (in total 3 or 4 years). The teaching load comprises 20% of a candidate’s time; teaching is in English.

The gross monthly salary will be, depending on experience, between €3,226 and € 5,292 (salary scales 10 and 11) based on 38 hours per week, with an additional end-of-year bonus (8.3%) and holiday allowance (8%). The Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) for Dutch Universities applies.

What else do we offer

• A position in which your own initiative and input is strongly valued;
• an enthusiastic and welcoming team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international work environment at the center of Amsterdam.

Faculty of Economics and Business

Education and research at UvA Economics and Business (EB) covers a wide range of fields that includes economics, data science, business administration, business analytics, accountancy, control, actuarial science, econometrics, finance and entrepreneurship. This is organised in 2 Schools: the Amsterdam Business School (ABS) and the Amsterdam School of Economics (ASE). Over 7,000 students are enrolled in our UvA Economics and Business programmes and around 500 employees provide education and support.

The vacancy is within the Quantitative Economics section of the ASE, which is responsible for teaching most quantitative economics related courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. The section produces internationally acclaimed research and covers three different research programs: Actuarial Science & Mathematical Finance, Econometrics, and Equilibrium, Expectations & Dynamics (CeNDEF).

Find more information about Economics and Business on uva.nl/eb.

Find more information about the Amsterdam School of Economics on ase.uva.nl.

Find more information about the Quantitative Economics section here.