Research Fellow in Complex Networks

About us

UCL is a diverse global community of world-class academics, students, industry links, external partners, and alumni. Our powerful collective of individuals and institutions work together to explore new possibilities. Academic excellence is demonstrated by our 30 Nobel laureates and our top ranking in the UK for research strength. We are a global university with 14,300 employees and over 150 nationalities represented in a student body of 43,800 students. Our main location in Central London has recently been augmented by a campus on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The UCL Faculty of Engineering is the largest of its kind in the UK, ranked as the second most impactful engineering faculty in Europe and first for Research Strength in the Research Excellence Framework. Within Engineering, the UCL Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering is a multidisciplinary department renowned for innovation and excellence in research and teaching. We are ranked in the Top 50 worldwide for civil and structural engineering according to the 2021 QS World University and Subject rankings.

About the role

The Post holder will work within an interdisciplinary team at UCL, developing pioneering network-based models to understand and mitigate systemic fire-sale risks in sustainable finance, aiming to establish global leadership in climate-financial stability research and inform critical policy decisions.

The post holder will:

• Develop foundational quantitative models to analyse systemic vulnerabilities in climate finance networks, including simulating redemption cascades and identifying critical network topologies.
• Lead the development of a research centre specialising in complex systems approaches within climate finance, and drive the acquisition of major grant funding to establish this London-based initiative.
• Engage with industry and academic stakeholders, publishing research, and supporting MSc and PhD students, while contributing to UCL's broader research objectives in sustainable finance.
• Prepare and submit major research grant applications, alongside contributing to preliminary research and assisting in the supervision of students focused on relevant computational and analytical techniques.

This is a fixed-term role until 31/07/2025 in the first instance.

About you

Key requirements of the role are:

• A PhD in complex networks, spatial networks, or theoretical statistical physics
• Postdoctoral research experience in the statistical physics of complex networks, and/or random graph theory
• Postdoctoral research experience in climate finance, preferably in a quantitative area
• Experience with initiating, submitting, and being successful in grant applications in the UK.
• Experience of high-performance computing with Mathematica, with the Python API for Bloomberg Professional, and with BQL.
• Experience with topological data analysis
• Expertise in financial data collection; working and collaborating with industrial partners.

If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online or have any queries about the application process, please contact the HR team at cege- .

What we offer

Visit: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/

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