Postdoctoral position on « Forest insurance: identification of the determinants of the insurance behaviors in various countries ». The position is part of the project : « Ecosystem-based Adaptation and Changemaking to Shape, Protect and Maintain the Resilience of Tomorrow’s Forests » (eco2adapt project).
The overall aim of eco2adapt is to help stakeholders manage forests to optimise social and ecological resilience. The postdoc position will be in the WP6 of the project entitled : « Changemakers – people and mechanisms to create a new and resilient future for forests ».
More specifically, the postdoc will work on forest insurance. Indeed, insurance is a way to finance resilience and adaptation towards climate change. In the forestry sector, insurance can be of two types. Forest owners can take out an insurance contract with an insurer to cover themselves against damage attributable to natural hazards (financial insurance) and at the same time, the forest provides protection against natural hazards to exposed populations (natural insurance). The WP6 aims to develop an understanding of the determinants of insurance demand to explain the differences in terms of subscriptions between countries. Questionnaire will be distributed among partner EU countries and China to identify determinants, obstacles and levers of forest owners’ insurance demands, and to identify the link between the two types of insurance. This work will allow us to propose innovative insurance tools and position the role of public authorities in the insurance scheme.
Exemples of research questions:
- What are the difference in terms of forest insurance among the partners countries (in terms
of contract, insured area, etc.) ? - What are the determinants of forest insurance demand among these countries ?
- Which place for insurance as an adaptation tool ?
- What is the value of natural insurance in the different countries ?
- What is the role of risk and uncertainty preferences to explain forest insurance adoption ?
The postdoc will have to prepare the questionnaire in collaboration with all the partners (from Europe and China), to implement it, to collect data, to analyse them and to write scientific articles. The postdoc will be realized in Nancy (France) at the BETA lab (Bureau for Economic Theory and Applications) and will be supervised by Dr. Marielle Brunette. Dr Rasoul Yousefpour, from Freiburg University (Germany), will be also part of the project. The postdoc is for 2 years (renewable once, for a total of 4 years). The gross salary per month will be [€2350 – €2900] depending on the number of years of experience of the candidate.
Expected qualifications:
- PhD in economics (acquired recently) or closely related fields such as environmental
economics. - Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
- Familiarity with questionnaire implementation: realization, dissemination and data analysis
(econometrics).
Applicant’s desirable assets: - Interest in forest economy.
- Familiarity with elicitation of risk and uncertainty preferences in experimental economics.
- Familiarity with evaluation methods like “choice experiment”.
Applicants should send a letter of interest (2 pages) outlining their motivation for the position, relevantexperience and competences, a full curriculum vitae (including publications list), and the names of three references to Dr. Marielle Brunette.
