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Universität Zürich · Education

Pre-Doctoral Program – Global Talent Common Application

Verified·1 day ago
Zurich, Switzerland temporary
The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education. Put your talent and skills to work with us. Find out more about UZH as an employer! Pre-doctoral fellows work with a professor of the economics department to support their research, with substantive opportunities for on-the-job learning about academic research in economics. Pre-docs may be involved in all stages of research – brainstorming, literature reviews, project management, data analysis, and writing. The predoctoral position is a full-time in-person commitment (70% research, 30% on-the-job-learning).

The research fellow will become part of a vibrant community of predoctoral fellows at the department and of the wider research community at UZH. Predocs receive hands-on mentoring throughout. Previous pre-docs have worked, among others, with Professors Ingvild Almas, Sandro Ambühl, Lorenzo Casaburi, Ana Costa-Ramon, David Dorn, Thomas Graeber, David Hémous, Mathias Hoffmann, Ronak Jain, Dina Pomeranz, Hans-Joachim Voth, David Yanagizawa-Drott and Ulf Zölitz. Qualifications:
The pre-doctoral positions are ideal for recent graduates who are interested in potentially going on to do a PhD in economics or a related field. We are looking for highly motivated candidates with strong quantitative, programming and analytical skills, and an interest in economic research. We particularly value curiosity, perseverance, and a demonstrated commitment to research and learning.

Specific requirements:
  • Master's or bachelor's degree (in the last 5 years) with strong grades in economics or another quantitative social science field, including strong math skills
  • Strong knowledge of STATA, R or Python; familiarity with other statistical software or programming languages is a plus
  • Fluency in written and spoken English
  • Recommendation letter from 1-3 letter writers who are familiar with academic research (professor, research supervisor, or similar)
The following qualifications are not required, but represent a plus:
  • Knowledge of causal inference research methods
  • Previous experience in research, e.g. as a research assistant or a research manager
  • Top of the class, high GRE Quant score, completed MITx MicroMasters courses
  • Proven ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines

Eligibility:
This common application is open to applicants who meet any of the following criteria.
  • Having grown up in a low- or lower-middle income country (based on this World Bank classification)
  • Having grown up in an upper-middle income country and being a first-generation university student (i.e. parents did not got to university)
  • Refugee/asylum/forced migration background (having experienced flight or having had a residence status of stateless, asylum seeker, humanitarian visas, or similar).
To confirm your eligibility, please refer to the Application Checklist.
No prior work permit for Switzerland is required. Our employees benefit from a wide range of attractive offers. Find out more: https://www.uzh.ch/de/explore/work.html.