Warehouseworker toys department tessenderlo Vacatures in Ghent

Last application date Nov 05, 2023 00 : 00

Department EB21 - Department of Economics

Contract Limited duration

Degree Master's degree in economics, business economics, or a related Master of Science degree. Having a research master's is a plus.

Occupancy rate 100%

Vacancy type Research staff

Job description

Fulltime PhD researcher in energy economics.

1. THE PROJECT

To keep the temperature increase due to climate change well below 2°C, the transition to sustainable energy requires a significant increase in renewable electricity generation, like wind and solar. Simultaneously, a radical shift in electricity consumption is necessary, with a massive rollout of electric vehicles (EVs) to decarbonize transportation. Both transitions are challenging, as solar and wind electricity generation are variable and difficult to predict, while uncoordinated charging of EVs. will stress the electricity system. However, a silver lining exists among these challenges, namely that the greater use of EVs holds the promise of making electricity demand more flexible, as there is flexibility in when to charge EVs.

The research project in which the successful candidate will be involved focuses on the flexibility of electricity demand. In collaboration with a number of non-academic partners, this project will exploit large proprietary datasets that are gradually becoming available now that the first large-scale flexibility schemes, like smart charging of electric vehicles and dynamic pricing, are becoming available.

Your research will draw from energy economics, applied microeconomics, and applied econometrics, using public and private data. The PhD projects aim for influential academic publications, while also making a contribution to advancing the development of flexible energy demand – smart charging in particular.

2. PHD SUPERVISION

You will work towards a PhD under the guidance of prof. Marten Ovaere and dr. Sam Hamels, at the Department of Economics of Ghent University (), which consists of around 30 full-time faculty, 10 post-docs, and 80 Ph.D. students. Their research covers topics in micro, macro, econometrics, labour, banking, finance, international, environmental, and energy economics. A wide range of methods are employed, both theoretical and empirical. We aim to publish our research in leading economic journals, but also have a strong focus on policy relevance and disseminating our research results to the general public.

3. WORKING AT UGENT

• We offer you a full-time position, initially offered for one year, but it could be renewed up to maximum four years upon positive evaluations.
• You will be required to take a number of advanced courses in economics (like microeconomics, econometrics, causal inference, etc.), depending on your prior training.
• Envisaged starting date : flexible, but sooner rather than later.

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