Maastricht University

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The Finance Department at Maastricht University has a post-doc opening to join a collaborative team of faculty and researchers. The position is focused on real estate, health and productivity. We seek a talented, motivated individual with excellent research and interpersonal skills, who wants to kick-start an academic career through this postdoc.

Given that people spend over 90 percent of their time in buildings, it seems intuitive that indoor climate affects human performance – e.g. productivity and health. But interestingly, that hypothesis has hardly been exposed to rigorous empirical testing. There is some research suggesting that workers in air-conditioned office buildings feel less productive than those in naturally ventilated offices (Allen et al., 2015), and there is some evidence regarding the health effects of adverse housing conditions (Aydin et al., 2018), but overall empirical evidence is scant.

This post-doc project sets out to investigate how the interior condition of buildings (homes, offices, retail space, etc.) affects human performance. This project is part of a broader, ongoing research effort at Maastricht University, where some of the existing research investigates indoor air quality (CO levels, fine particles, humidity, smell), temperature, light (artificial and natural, strength), noise, and view (park, sky, cars, concrete), focusing on schools and offices. The post-doc project will extend this research, analyzing human performance and indoor climate in universities, offices, and homes in the Netherlands and beyond, all through large-scale field experiments as well as through the use of existing datasets. A key element of the research will be the “Moving to Productivity” experiment, in which Maastricht University collaborates with a consortium of knowledge partners and data providers, under the banner of the Healthy Building Network.

We are looking for a post-doc with a background in economics or econometrics, and with a recognizable interest in real estate, health, education, or labor, and the skills to create, organize, and study very large datasets. The position requires that the applicant has a PhD, or an international degree deemed equivalent to a PhD, within the subject of the position or any related field described above, completed no more than one year before the last date for applications. Under special circumstances, the doctoral degree can be completed after starting the position.

This position is embedded in the broader Finance Department at Maastricht University. Within that Department, the real estate group consist of 5 PhD students and 2 Faculty. The post-doc is based on a full-time, fixed-term position of 2 years. The position offers a competitive salary in a stimulating academic environment. Starting date can be as early as March 1, 2019, but no later than September 1, 2019.

Maastricht University welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We regard gender equality and diversity as a strength and an asset.