The Geneva Graduate Institute is recruiting an

Economics Ph.D. Student with a focus on International Economics and Finance, and Quantitative Methods

ACTIVITY RATE: 100% (full-time)

DURATION: 4 years, starting on 18 August 2025

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 January 2025

OVERVIEW OF THE POSITION The PhD student will write a doctoral dissertation broadly within the themes of the Impact of Sustainability Regulation on Financial Markets – funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) – under the co-supervision of Prof. Anjeza Kadilli (https://www.anjezakadilli.com/), University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, Geneva and a Professor at the Graduate Institute (see brief project description below). In addition, the student will support Prof. Kadilli as a research assistant (RA) within the framework of this project.

The student will join the PhD program of the Department of International Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute. The first year consists of coursework – mostly completed within the Swiss Program for Beginning Doctoral Students in Economics at the Study Center Gerzensee (see here) –, while the subsequent years are devoted to research.

PROFILE AND REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in economics or related quantitative field
• Interest for international and sustainable finance (link with the macroeconomics, sustainable investment)
• Interest for quantitative methods (econometrics/statistics, numerical methods, coding)
• Interest for macroeconomics (business cycles, growth, supply chains, monetary policy)
• Strong written and oral communication in English
• Strong analytical skills and solid quantitative background
• Strong coding skills (proficient in the use of R, Matlab or Python)
• High level of organization and ability to work independently towards a goal
• Ability to work in teams with other researchers

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Complete satisfactorily all coursework in the doctoral program
• Support Prof. Kadilli as an RA (literature analysis, data collection and analysis, implementation of estimation methods
  
• Conduct own research, leading to three publishable academic articles to form a PhD thesis (one to two coauthorships with Prof. Kadilli and a Professor from the Graduate Institute)
• Participate in seminar series and other academic events of the department at the Graduate Institute and at HEG Geneva

WHAT WE OFFER

• Individual mentoring and an extraordinarily high level of support by the supervisor; during first-year courses, during subsequent further specializations in international economics and finance, and quantitative methods, and during the challenging first steps in conducting own research
• High impact research for academia and other stakeholders (see project description below)
• Excellent working environment at an institution where academically rigorous yet policy-relevant research is produced
• Opportunities to interact with policymakers at international organizations (the Institute hosts the BCC program and the ICMB and has close ties to Geneva-based organizations like UN, WTO, World Bank, ILO, etc.)
• Funding for travel for conference presentations
• Possibility to obtain mobility grants to spend time at an institution abroad (see here)
• Your working place will be at the Graduate Institute and at the HEG Geneva

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT The aim of this research project is to investigate the impact of sustainability regulation on financial markets. As permanent shocks, sustainability regulations are expected to induce structural changes in various characteristics of financial time series, in particular in return and volatility as the measures most considered by investors. Sustainability regulations are also likely to induce structural breaks in the impact of traditional factors such as economic activity and inflation on return and volatility. As the main asset classes, equities and bonds are the most exposed to these shocks. The ability of regulation to induce structural changes is likely to vary across countries. The project will include three academic articles publishable / published in high-level journals in the field and three white papers to reach a wider audience.

PROF. KADILLI’S RESEARCH AGENDA Prof. Kadilli is Assistant Professor of Finance at HEG Geneva. She is an econometrician, financial economist and macroeconomist. Her main research interests are macroeconomics, finance and investment with a quantitative, risk, international and sustainable perspective. She is currently working on various projects investigating extreme events in bond markets, the link between macroeconomics and sustainable investment, the design of carbon mitigation instruments for emerging markets, innovation in the banking sector, etc. Previously, she was a Senior Economist at Pictet Asset Management with expertise in the global economy and a focus on emerging markets. She holds a PhD in Econometrics from the University of Geneva. In her thesis, she developed and applied models to quantify co-movements and structural changes in international financial markets. For more information, please visit her website: https://www.anjezakadilli.com/.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE Applications for this position should be submitted via the regular applications procedure for the PhD in Economics (see here), whereby applicants should reference this particular position and the project in the application form, motivational letter and thesis proposal. The application deadline is 15 January 2025. Interviews (online or in-person) with candidates shortlisted for the position will take place soon after the evaluation of the application packages. For further information and informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Kadilli directly at anjeza.kadilli@hesge.ch. No application will be processed or read if it does not go through our recruitment portal as requested.