Postdoctoral Research Associate

Job description

Fixed-term: The funds for these posts are available for two years in the first instance, with the possibility for extension to three years.

The Economics Group at King’s Business School, King’s College London, is seeking to appoint two Postdoctoral Research Associates to join a growing team of researchers developing understanding of productivity using large and linked firm-level datasets.

The posts are affiliated with The Productivity Institute (TPI), an ESRC-funded research institute established to investigate the drivers of productivity in the UK and elsewhere, and the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE), a research centre funded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to advance economic measurement. The post-holders will engage with the activities of, and other researchers in, the TPI and ESCoE at King’s and elsewhere, and will work closely with researchers at the ONS.

The Postdoctoral Research Associates will play a major role in the design and execution of research. Successful candidates will conduct data analysis, development of code, modelling, and take a proactive role in developing project methodology. They will work with the project team to produce co-authored journal publications and related outputs.

Successful candidates will hold a PhD (or be under one year to completion from post start date) in economics or another quantitative social science discipline. Their research interests should be in the broad area of applied economics and data analysis, with experience in productivity, growth, firm dynamics, business dynamism, production function estimation and data science all being advantageous. Candidates should have advanced data-analytical and econometric training, experience of handling large datasets and of execution and write-up of independent research projects. Experience of Stata, R or Python is essential. Existing ONS secure lab certification is an advantage.

Candidates should have the ability to work independently. They should have strong organisational skills, in order to work with data providers, project stakeholders and other team members. We also require excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to convey technical material in non-technical terms for policy and other non-academic stakeholders.

Applications should consist of: a curriculum vitae (CV) or resume; a covering letter; and a job market paper or other evidence of research. The deadline for applications is 4 January 2023.

This post will be offered on a fixed-term research contract for 2 years with the possibility for extension to 3 years.

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities

• Develop research objectives and appropriate conceptual frameworks to tackle research issues under analysis and conduct collaborative research projects led by the principal investigators; including write up of research work for presentation and publication.
• Oversee and undertake collection, cleaning, and preparation of data for analysis, including development of replicable code. This includes preparation of descriptive statistics, the use of econometric analysis and testing of models for the preparation of papers.
• Liaise with sponsors and stakeholders to report on research progress, obtain data, resolve data difficulties. Initiate and sustain links with external bodies to foster collaboration. Organise stakeholder meetings and workshops. Carry out administrative duties required by projects and project reporting.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

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