Postdoctoral Research Associate – Australia’s Climate Economy

• Full time (Part Time negotiable), Fixed term for 3 years
• Work with a team of interdisciplinary researchers and doctoral students building a conceptual and empirical map of the emerging Climate Economy in Australia
• Academic Level A, Base Salary from $109,301 + 17% superannuation 

About the opportunity

The School of Social and Political Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the School of Geosciences in the Faculty of Science at The University of Sydney are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work on a joint project: The Climate Economy: Emerging Strategies for Australia.

This project explores Australia’s emerging Climate Economy, investigating how climate change challenges conventional economic policy paradigms and redefines political economic concepts and practices. We want to understand how the pressures of climate change are reshaping governance, investment, and policy strategies in unexpected ways. Our approach highlights the hybrid nature of this new political economic configuration, where public and private actors are taking on new roles and producing new economic geographies, financial instruments are being reimagined, and economic and sociospatial outcomes must be measured in novel ways. By mapping and evaluating Australia’s Climate Economy, we aim to provide new frameworks for understanding and democratising the economic policies that will define a climate-changed future.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will contribute to (1) mapping Australia’s climate economy; (2) investigating critical climate infrastructures, and (3) developing strategies for democratic engagement and policy impact.

Key responsibilities include:

• mapping and budgeting Australia’s Climate Economy by tracking institutional frameworks and financial flows related to climate policies and infrastructure investments
• engaging in fieldwork based on the above mapping exercise, which may include document discovery, participant observation, and interviews with policymakers, industry stakeholders, and civil society actors
• collaborating with the research team and external partners to analyse climate policy instruments and their impacts and publishing and presenting research outputs, policy briefs, and an independent review of Australia’s Climate Economy
• assist in project management, ethics approvals, and dissemination activities.

About you

• a PhD in political economy, geography, sociology, public policy or cognate discipline
• strong understanding of climate policy, economic governance, and public-private financial arrangements
• methodological skills and experience in analysing qualitative and quantitative data, analysing and communicating data spatially and analysing policy documents, financial instruments and infrastructures such as investment vehicles
• an emerging research profile with demonstrated capacity for engagement with critical social theory
• skills and experience engaging policymakers or non-government organisations in research processes (desirable but not essential)
• demonstrated project management experience and ability to work both independently and as a member of a team
• sound written, verbal communication, and interpersonal skills suitable to collaborating in an academic context.

To apply and for more information, please visit the University of Sydney Career Site.