Research Fellow / Associate in Technology Management and Sustainable Development

Research Fellow/Associate - Technology Management and Sustainable Development

École Polytechnique - Chair Technology for Change

The Chair “Technology for Change” of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris – France’s leading STEM/Engineering University, combining the strength of five most reputed HE institutions: École Polytechnique (“l’X”), ENSAE, ENSTA, TelecomParis, TelecomSudParis – is opening a Research Fellow/Associate position, to help develop and structure its research and dissemination activities.

A 20+-strong team (five academics, three support officers, three postdoctoral students, six PhD students and two research assistants) led by Professor Thierry Rayna of École Polytechnique, the Chair Technology for Change aims to help bridging the gaps between technology and sustainability, by investigating how more democratic and inclusive development of technology can foster more purposeful technological solutions bearer of greater positive environmental, social, and economic impact. The Chair Technology for Change is funded through an ambitious 5-year partnership between the Institut Polytechnique and Accenture.

The Position

This Research Fellow/Associate position is a 4-year full-time fixed term position, open to PhD holders (candidates closed to completion may also be considered) in the areas of Business and Management, Economics, Engineering, Social Sciences, as well as any other relevant discipline. While not a requirement, applications from candidates with an expertise of quantitative methods applied to/combine with qualitative research, as well as those with an expertise in text analysis techniques (NLP, ML, etc.) or FS/QCA and similar methods, are particularly encouraged.

The precise roles and activities entailed the position will be defined according to the profile, expertise and experience of the successful applicant. More generally:

• The successful candidate will work as part of the team to deliver key activities and outputs for the programme. The successful candidate will also build and maintain networks, and lead on relevant engagement activities with senior policy experts and policy-makers ensuring outputs have demonstrable impact and inform decision-making.
• The successful candidate will be expected to develop research in collaboration with the other researchers in the Chair, in particular by leveraging the large pool of qualitative and quantitative data (literally hundreds of interviews and surveys) available through the Chair.
• They will also propose and help define research projects in collaboration with the other researchers as well as with the businesses (large companies and multinationals, as well as start-ups), public organisations, and NGOs that are in partnership with the Chair.
• In this respect the successful candidate will play a key role in setting up and supervising the research agenda of the Chair, organising and managing the research projects, and coordinating the day-to-day animation of the research projects led by the team.
• The successful candidate will play a leading role in setting up and driving the dissemination activities of the Chair, in particular in relation to the research seminars, workshops, and dissemination events aimed at businesses, policy makers, and society at large.
• The successful candidate may, when relevant, contribute to the formulation of research proposals, write and submit research bids either as PI or Co-I and in collaborative and international networks.

There are no teaching or other administrative duties (aside from those involved in the activities described above) entailed with this position. However, there are opportunities for the successful candidate to teach classes at undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral levels in courses relevant to their expertise should they be interested to do so.

The position is based at the Campus of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris in the Greater Paris area (France). While command of the French language is not mandatory (everyone in the team speaks English), a basic or working knowledge of French (or a willingness to acquire one) is nonetheless advisable. Successful candidates will be expected to relocate to the Greater Paris region.

Yearly gross salary for this position is between €36,300–41,040 p.a.

The position will be filled as soon as a suitable candidate will be found, applications being continuously examined in the meantime. As such, there is no particular deadline for application, but candidates are strongly advised to apply as soon as possible. Expected start date would be ideally in the fall of 2022 or early 2023.

Application Process

Applications should contain:

• A CV
• A support statement/motivation letter
• Names and details of three academic referees (recommendation letters are not required at this stage, but may be supplied when available)
• Examples of research output (articles, working papers, thesis chapters...)

All applications should be sent directly by email to technology-for-change@ip-paris.fr (please indicate “Research Associate/Fellow Application” as the subject of your email).

For informal enquiries, feel free to contact Prof. Thierry Rayna (thierry.rayna@polytechnique.edu), Chair of Technology for Change.