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Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP)

The postdoc position will be based at the CSP, a recently founded research and teaching unit of the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich, see www.csp.uzh.ch. CSP is the first university unit globally that is focused on the nexus of sustainable finance and private wealth.

Research at the CSP falls into three areas. The first two areas draw on quantitative data to address economic questions of how to measure impact and how to construct sustainable portfolios. The third area draws on qualitative data to address more sociological questions about how some ultra-wealthy individuals and families engage in sustainable finance. The postdoc would work in the third area on a project that explores the potentials and pitfalls of how wealthy private investors organize for social and environmental sustainability.

The potentials and pitfalls of how wealthy private investors organize for sustainability

Over the last 20 years, an increasing number of ultra-wealthy individuals and families have become interested in sustainable finance. More recently, such owners of significant private wealth have started to create organizations, such as toniic, Synergos and The ImPact, to co-invest, share deals, exchange ideas about sustainability and to create pressure on banks and other financial institutions.

The goal of this research project is to explore the interests and barriers of wealthy private investors and how they organize for sustainability. For example, the postdoc may explore how pressure for sustainability that comes from inherited wealth differs from pressure for sustainability that comes from actors with less economic power, such as social movements. Or the postdoc may analyze how these wealthy private investors make sense of tensions between increasing wealth accumulation and sustainability.

To explore such questions, the postdoc can draw on the unique data access of the CSP. Specifically, the postdoc will be able to do interviews and conduct surveys and experiments with ultra-wealthy individuals and to conduct observations within their gatherings and organizations.

Job requirements

Successful applicants are about to finish or have recently finished a PhD in organization theory, organizational behavior, economic sociology, or a related field. They know how to collect and analyze qualitative data and have started to write publications targeted at management journals. Knowledge of sustainable finance and/or corporate social responsibility is a definite plus. Knowledge of German is not required.

Job description

The postdoc position starts with a one-year contract and will, upon positive evaluation, be extended twice by 2 years (totaling 5 years). The position is a research position. The postdoc will have 60% of his/her time to work on the project; 30% of his/her time for research that may not be related to the CSP (e.g., publishing papers from the dissertation); 10% of the time will be devoted to teaching, executive education, research, and administration within the CSP. An 80% contract would also be possible. The position would start in late 2017 or early 2018. The postdoc will receive a competitive salary and have substantial resources for research and conferences.

Application

To apply for the position, please send the following documents, optimally in one PDF file, to Andrea Frederick (andrea.frederick@bf.uzh.ch): (1) a letter of motivation, (2) your CV, (3) up to three working papers, and (4) the names of three scholars who could provide recommendation letters. The initial deadline for applications is October 15, 2017, but applications will be considered until the position is filled. For more information on the job, feel free to contact the managing director of the CSP, Falko Paetzold (falko.paetzold@bf.uzh.ch).

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