CSIR Vacancies Pretoria – Senior Researcher: Resource Economist

Job Description:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior Researcher in Climate Services research group of Holistic Climate Change Impact Area, within the Smart Places cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for modelling the economic effects of climate change or climate change policies using economywide models (such as computable general equilibrium models or large-scale energy models) or modelling in specific sectors that are large energy consumers or significant contributors to climate change. The position Transcends boundaries of Engineering, combining environmental engineering, with non-engineering fields including architecture, economics and governance. The research contributes to a wide spectrum of engineering fields and a broad range of environmental and ecosystems services.

The position is meant to bolster CSIR’s efforts in responding the National developments priorities which clearly point to medium-to-long term investments in climate change discourse. For example, the establishment and operationalization of the Presidential Climate Change Commission, the emphasis of a Just Transition, the commitment to a net zero GHG emissions target by 2050 by the South African Cabinet. This position is based in Pretoria.

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead the Research Group on projects and initiatives that require assessments of resource economics;
• Lead the business case development, preparation and completion of proposals/deliverables for the public and corporate sector on economy wide-climate finance, just transition and modelling of costs of climate change solutions;
• Contribute to CSIR’s thought leadership on climate change, energy, climate finance, Just Transition and resource economics modelling;
• Lead the Research Group in collaborative efforts, including proposal writing, in pursuance of contract R&D in the fields of Just Transition, Energy and climate finance;
• Collaborate with CSIR’s Business Development and Commercialisation (BD&C) to position the Research Group, the Impact Area and the CSIR to be an effective role player on linkages between climate finance, energy and Just Transition;
• Mentor and formally supervise the post-graduate research of candidate-researchers and researchers within the research group.

Job Requirements:

• A Master’s degree in economics, mathematics, engineering, physics or a closely related field with at least five years’ experience with a track record of deploying macroeconomic computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to shape policies or strategies in government, consultancy, academia, industry or a financial institution;
• A Doctoral degree would be an added advantage;
• Excellent knowledge of coding and modelling in GAMS; knowledge of MPSGE is an advantage;
• Experience with the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) database
• Sound understanding of microeconomic theory;
• Familiarity with a wide range of climate-related modelling including but not limited to macroeconomic and energy-system models;
• Strong knowledge of and interest in climate policies particularly carbon pricing;
• Strong knowledge of and interest in high- and low-carbon technologies;
• Ability to present technical details to a non-technical audience in an intuitive way;
• Understanding of the energy issues / trends in SA will be a plus.
• Effective organizational as well as written and verbal communication skills;
• A recent and extensive publication record in the fields of southern African climate variability, climate change, mitigation, and adaptation;
• Demonstrable experience and success in attracting R&D funding and the successful management of research projects;
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to work closely with others in a research group;
• Must have a valid driver’s licence.

Job Details:

Company: CSIR

Vacancy Type:  Full Time

Job Location: Pretoria

Application Deadline: N/A

Apply Here

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