PhD position in Decentralized Finance and Blockchain-based Financial Market Infrastructure

The University of Basel research team in energy economics invites applications for two PhD positions with a specialization on nuclear decommissioning policy.
The positions will be part of an SNSF research project entitled "Best Practices for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants” starting in May/June 2020. The project is a joint effort by the Workgroup for Infrastructure Policy at TU Berlin and the Energy Economics group at University of Basel. The project aims to aggregate best practices for decommissioning commercial nuclear power fleets by scrutinizing the approaches taken by a sample of countries (US, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, UK, Lithuania, and Japan). The project considers both economic and qualitative factors like the organization of the electricity market and the role of government in the nuclear industry, respectively.

Your position

• Enrolment in the departmental PhD program (https://wwz.unibas.ch/de/gsbe/phd/)
• You will conduct research towards a doctoral degree and assist and participate in research, teaching and administrative tasks.
• The position is funded for 4 years with an initial contract for 1 year. At the end of the first year, an assessment based on performance and a detailed research proposal is made. In case of a positive assessment the contract is expanded to 4 years.

Your profile

• A Master's degree in Economics or related disciplines
• You have a background in finance, financial economics and/or macroeconomics and a strong knowledge of Data Science, Empirical Analysis and/or Quantitative Methods
• Technical understanding of Blockchain is required
• Some exposure to Computer Science is a plus
• You are fluent in English; knowledge of German is not a requirement but an asset

• Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
• Permissionless Blockchains
• Financial Market Infrastructure (Tokenization, Exchanges and Lending Protocols)
• Blockchain Governance
• MEV & Transaction Sequencing / Transaction Ordering
• Blockchain Scaling

We offer you

With the Center for Innovative Finance and the Chair for Distributed Ledger Technologies/Fintech, the University of Basel makes a decisive contribution to the research and application of future-oriented technologies. We offer the opportunity to conduct high-quality research in a dynamic, innovative scientific working environment. Conditions of employment and salary are governed by the personnel and salary regulations of the University of Basel.

• a letter of motivation including your research interests / your preferred research focus
• your CV including references
• your diplomas with transcript of grade from the master's degree
• a sample of academic writing (e.g., master thesis, term paper, research paper)