Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Oxford

Join us at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), where we are on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real-world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity's greatest challenges in four transformative areas: Health, Medical Science, Generative Biology, Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change, Managing CO2, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics.

At EIT, you will join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society.

Economics at EIT is recruiting for two outstanding, full-time Postdoctoral Research Fellows to focus on the economic implications of AI and Robotics, under the leadership of Professor Andrew J. Scott. Successful candidates will be working on a high-profile and impactful project as well as pursuing frontier research.

This is a rare opportunity to conduct rigorous economic research on AI and Robotics alongside the researchers and engineers building and using them. EIT houses frontier teams in generative biology, plant sciences, materials science, and immunology. These teams, in conjunction with a world-class AI and Robotics team, are focused on tackling some of humanity's greatest challenges.

Successful candidates will work on a research agenda drawing connections between frontier developments in AI and robotics, fundamental research in economics, and growing interest from the public, governments, and international organisations in understanding how these technologies will reshape the economy, labour markets, and institutions.

Your Role: Research will combine a broad-based focus on a range of relevant topics on the economic and social implications of AI and Robotics as well as focused deep dives on particular issues. You will interact closely with leading academics, practitioners, and policy experts and be expected to take the lead on driving research forward and coordinating with research assistants/pre-doctoral research fellows.

Expected outputs include academic research papers as well as wider forms of output reaching broader public and policy audiences. The environment is high performing with an emphasis on delivering output whilst building knowledge.

Potential Research topics include:

• What are the implications of AI and robotics for economic growth and what are the main mechanisms and constraints?
• How will AI and Robotics change the rate and direction of innovation and how will knowledge and human capital change?
• What are the implications for employment, labour markets, inequality, and social security?
• How will AI and Robotics impact organisational structure and the nature of work and what are the implications for firms and human capital?
• How will the AI transition impact different sectors, countries, and groups and what policy responses are needed?
• Will AI and Robotics lead to abundance and what implications does this have for society and humanity?
• How will AI and robotics interact with demographic changes and what are the implications for public finances?

Requirements: A PhD (or due to complete) in Economics, or a related discipline. A strong background in AI and Robotics and their economic consequences is an advantage. Evidence of intellectual excellence and the ability to work independently. Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and deal with a broad range of interested groups. A very strong technical skillset: theoretical modelling, econometric application, causal inference, experience with large datasets, Git, Python, etc. Evidence of broad intellectual interests and flexibility in tackling research problems and an interest in the broader implications of research. The ability to coordinate junior researchers and data work. A creative approach to problem-solving and the ability to project manage.

We expect the Postdoctoral Research Fellow to pursue independent high-quality research, working closely with senior colleagues in the EIT Economics Department, while fostering collaboration and opportunity for applied economics research across the wider EIT Programmes. Whilst a premium is placed on candidates with existing expertise relevant to this project, we also welcome applications from candidates with a strong motivation to pursue this agenda with evidence of strong economic thinking and technical skills that can be applied to specific research projects and more broadly.

Application Requirements: Applications are open to candidates from the UK and abroad. Any offer of employment is subject to the eligibility to work in the UK.

Required Application Materials: Two letters of reference, CV, Job Market Paper, Cover letter.

Role Duration: one-year. The Fellows will receive a full-time, one-year appointment that is renewable annually.