Vacancy for a PhD-position in Finance - Faculty of Economics and Business

(ref. BAP-2020-921)

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), campus Brussels is located in the center of Brussels in a lively international neighbourhood. The Faculty of Economics and Business is one of Belgium’s leading institution offering business and management programmes in Dutch and in English. Our programmes and our research successfully integrate business applications and academic theory. The Finance research group (Campus Brussels) is looking for a doctoral researcher to conduct empirical or theoretical research in the area of banking and financial economics.

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Project

• You conduct high-quality academic research in cooperation with your supervisors. The research agenda you pursue should be oriented towards important policy issues in financial markets such as financial stability, regulation of the banking sector, economic implications of novel investment models, the role of technological innovation, or the challenges of climate change
• You work towards composing and defending a PhD-thesis by the end of the 4th year. A dissertation in Finance typically consists of multiple research papers in your narrow field, which are suitable for publications in high-end academic journals.
• You actively participate in international conferences and workshops with the aim of dissemination of your research agenda. You pursue visiting Ph.D. scholar opportunities abroad at top-tier universities and/or research internships in policy organizations such as central banks (with the help of your supervisors).
• You complete the formal PhD-program in Business Economics of the Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, including a course programme for your research group  (see https://feb.kuleuven.be/research/PhD/businesseconomics/Business).
• You actively engage with the university’s research life,such as participating on seminars, Ph.D. workshops, conferences, etc.
• You provide limited assistance in teaching (for example teach small groups of students in a seminar/practice session format)  and in the supervision of master theses.

Profile

• You have obtained a Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Engineering, Applied Economics or a related discipline. Solid background in Finance is a plus, but not a prerequisite. 
• You have a solid understanding of applied quantitative research methods and econometrics. Experience with statistical software packages and progamming skills are considered a plus.
• You have affinity and/or prior experience with conducting academic research.
• You have obtained excellent results in your prior studies. Students holding Research Master degrees are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Fluency in spoken and written English and good presentation skills are a prerequisite.

Offer

We offer employment as a full-time doctoral researcher starting between March 2021 and September 2021,for a period of 4 years (pending positive annual evaluations). The successful candidate will work under the joint supervision of Prof. Tarik Roukny and Prof.Tamas Vadasz on policy-oriented finance research, while developing his or her own agenda as an independent researcher. 

Interested?

To apply, you will need to meet the formal criteria for Ph.D. students at KULeuven (https://feb.kuleuven.be/research/PhD/businesseconomics/admission_application). In addition to your CV, copies of diploma certificates and transcripts, GRE/GMAT scores and proof of language proficiency, please attach the following documents to your application:

Research proposal (Maximum 2000 words): Please develop a research proposal which reflects why you are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Finance and a career in academic research and how you relate to the areas of research of the supervisors. This proposal need not be perfect at this stage nor do we expect you to stick to it. However, we do expect you to provide us an insight into your experience, skills and your research interest, as well as your current ability to formulate a research question which might make a useful contribution to the field.

Letters of recommendations: Two academic reference letters mailed by the referee directly to tamas.vadasz@kuleuven.be and tarik.roukny@kuleuven.be

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Tarik Roukny, tel.: +32 16 32 65 11, mail: tarik.roukny@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. Tamas Vadasz, tel.: +32 2 608 14 32, mail: tamas.vadasz@kuleuven.be.

You can apply for this job no later than February 28, 2021 via the online application tool

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.