National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) invites applications for two-year postdoctoral fellowships to begin between May 1 and October 1, 2016.

The SESYNC Postdoctoral Fellowship Program brings early-career scholars to SESYNC to:
+ undertake individual research projects,
+ participate in the Socio-Environmental Immersion Program, and
+ enhance their collaborative network, computational skills, and understanding of the science–policy nexus.

Fellows will undertake research projects that advance understanding of socio-environmental systems. We encourage proposed projects that are interdisciplinary, but we also welcome applications that are primarily focused on the economics of natural resources and the environment.

SESYNC emphasizes synthesis research, an approach that accelerates knowledge production by distilling or integrating existing data, ideas, theories, and methods to draw more reliable or generalizable conclusions and to reveal novel areas of study. Synthesis often involves merging large and/or heterogeneous data sets from multiple sources, researchers, or fields of inquiry, as well as critical analysis in evaluating arguments and interpreting evidence.

A key element of successful postdoctoral fellowship applications will be the identification of specific research questions and how they will be addressed using synthesis methods. Applications should identify the sources and accessibility of existing data and the theoretical and analytical methods to be used. Prospective fellows should not propose projects that require extensive collection of new data. SESYNC offers substantial computational support and training opportunities for fellows. Therefore, successful applicants need not have experience in all of the technical aspects of their analyses.

Fellows have the opportunity to participate in a wealth of Center activities as observers or as active participants. These include synthesis teams that are analyzing novel databases and writing papers on areas as diverse as non-native pest risk and globalization, adaptive water governance, macroevolution of ecosystem services, and differing ecological vs. political time scales. Fellows will also participate in the Socio-Environmental Immersion Program. Unique among environmental postdoctoral programs, a learning component of the program will steep participants in theory foundational to understanding socio-environmental systems.

All application materials must be received by December 1, 2015. Visit http://www.sesync.org/opportunities/econ-postdoc for complete details and application instructions.

Review of applications will begin on December 1, 2015. If invited, candidates must be available for interviews at the January 2016 American Economic Association (AEA) annual meeting or for an in-person interview at SESYNC between December 15, 2015, and January 31, 2016. Awards will be announced no later than March 2016.

For more information, visit http://www.sesync.org/opportunities/econ-postdoc or email: postdoc.application@sesync.org