Full-time academic position in Policy-relevant Applied Microeconomics

SBS-EM consists of a vibrant mix of people interested in economics, management, and finance. The faculty actively strives to create and maintain an intellectually stimulating environment, advancing scientific knowledge, while at the same time contributing to the development of effective practices and life-long learning for organizations. For more information about the school, please see https://sbsem.ulb.be.

Description of the Chair in Policy-relevant Applied Microeconomics

Area of research:

The successful candidate will have a strong research profile in policy-relevant applied microeconomics. Applications are welcome from all candidates whose research is characterized by a strong empirical orientation and contributes to informing public policy decisions. Particular attention will be paid to applicants whose research addresses issues affecting disadvantaged groups and demonstrates expertise in advanced causal inference methods. Experience in the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials, especially in the context of policy evaluation, will be considered a major asset. Relevant substantive areas include labour market policy, housing policy, gender policy, public finance, and anti-discrimination policy, among others. The successful candidate will be expected to develop an ambitious research agenda combining methodological rigor with policy relevance, to collaborate closely with SBS-EM and ULB faculty members in related fields, and to establish connections with public administrations in Belgium and abroad in support of this agenda. The objective is to foster research that achieves both publication in leading international journals and significant societal impact. In the future, the selected candidate is also expected to co-lead the DULBEA research centre and to further strengthen its role in producing research of high societal relevance in Belgium.

Educational and scientific goals:

The selected candidate will contribute to both research and teaching in policy-relevant applied microeconomics. Expectations will be commensurate with the candidate’s career stage. He or she will be expected to:

• develop and further expand an ambitious research agenda, while fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations, seeking competitive funding for research projects in the field, and publishing in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals;
• contribute from the outset to teaching in the Bachelor’s programme in Economics, in both English and French, and to broader teaching at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD levels in evidence-based public policy analysis, with particular emphasis on randomized controlled trials.
• interact closely with public policy stakeholders and engage with pressing societal issues in Brussels and beyond, at the national and international levels.

Courses covered at the time of recruitment:

Candidates will be expected to contribute to the School’s and the University’s core teaching programmes in public policy, applied microeconomics, causal inference, policy evaluation, and the economics of disadvantaged groups, and to supervise, on average, eight Master’s theses per year. In the long-run, candidates will be requested to teach four 5-ECTS courses or seminars (24 contact hours per course per year). In the short term, the initial teaching load will normally include the following three courses, with a fourth course to be added later in the longer term:

• ECONS307: Seminar in applied economics (BA Français)
• ECONS377: Seminar in applied economics (BA English)
• ECONS407: Applied Econometrics (MA1)
• A fourth course will be added later

Qualifications required:

PhD Degree (with doctoral thesis) in Economics.

Skills required

• Candidates should have a proven record of, or a strong pipeline toward, high-quality publications in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals. They should also demonstrate success in attracting research funding, or strong potential to do so, and be able to develop competitive grant proposals in the field.
• Experience in designing and carrying out research projects in partnership with public administrations will be highly valued, particularly where such experience contributes to frontier research, strengthens policy relevance, and fosters engagement with public policy stakeholders.
• Applicants should have at least 4 years of research experience at the time of their recruitment. Doctoral research years count towards this qualification.
• Post-doctoral experience and exchange periods outside of the applicants’ home institution (during or after their PhD) will be taken into consideration when evaluating applications.
• A good command of English at an academic level.
• Applicants who do not speak French (level B2) may be granted a period of adaptation, but they must be able to teach in French at the end of the third year following their appointment.

Interested?

For more information, please contact Ilan Tojerow (ilan.tojerow@ulb.be), Director of the DULBEA.

Your application will consist of a Curriculum Vitae (if you wish, a standard CV can be downloaded from the website: https://www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/emplois-academiques-et-scientifiques-cv-type) and a document completed using the template available at this URL address https://www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/1e-applic-form-acad-tps-plein-docx.

This template structures your application by including the following elements:

• an application letter
• a job market paper
• a maximum 7,000-character report (4 pages) presenting the applicant’s research activities and a research project, including how these will integrate into ULB’s research teams
• a maximum 7,000-character report (4 pages) on the applicant's previous teaching activities and a teaching project for the first five years in this position; these must be relevant to the faculty and to the teaching profiles for the programmes to which the applicant is to contribute
• a maximum 7,000-character report (4 pages) note on the applicant's international achievements and future projects
• the names and e-mail addresses of five referees who may be contacted by those in charge of evaluating applications. Gender balance in the five names is a plus. These referees should not have conflicts of interest because of family or emotional ties.

Incomplete applications or applications that do not use the template provided will not be examined by the selection committee.

The appointment to the academic staff of ULB is made at the “Chargé de Cours” (Associate Professor) level and it is a tenure track position. Senior candidates could be immediately tenured. The exact wage scale depends on the seniority level, which in turn depends on the total years of postdoctoral experience.

Where to go to apply?

Click here: https://jobs.ulb.be/job-invite/1992/

For any connection problems or questions about our application, consult our FAQ: e-recrut-mode-d-emploi-candidat-en-_1734942996246-pdf

N.B.: SAP complies with European and U.S. regulations and, as a result, does not allow access to its application from the following countries/regions: Crimea, Sevastopol, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) / Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), areas not controlled by the Ukrainian government in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, and Belarus.

Therefore, candidates applying from these countries – and only from these countries – can submit their CV and application to this address: rectrice@ulb.be

Equal opportunities policy

ULB's personnel management policy is geared towards diversity and equal opportunities. We recruit candidates on the basis of their skills, irrespective of age, gender, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, beliefs, disability, etc.

Would you like to be provided with reasonable accommodation in the selection procedure because of a disability, disorder, or illness? Please contact Marie Botty, the person in charge of diversity aspects for the academic and scientific staff (marie.botty@ulb.be). Be assured of the confidentiality of this information.

More details on the ULB gender and diversity policy are available at Diversity at ULB - ULB.

You will find all the regulations relating to academic careers on our site at http://www.ulb.ac.be/emploi/academique.html. The information is only available in French, so you can contact ilan.tojerow@ulb.be if you have any specific question.