Research Associate (SGFIN-1)

The Sustainable and Green Finance Institute (SGFIN) is a new university-level research institute in the National University of Singapore (NUS), jointly supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and NUS.  SGFIN aspires to develop deep research capabilities in sustainable and green finance, provide thought leadership in the sustainability space, and shape sustainability outcomes across the financial sector and the economy at large.

This role is ideally suited for those wishing to work in academic or industry research in the financial sector, particularly in the area of sustainable, responsible, and green investing and valuation. The responsibilities of the role will include designing and developing a framework to distill various information regarding corporate sustainability efforts and performance into various metrics that can be analyzed further to support decision making in the corporate, financial, and societal spheres.

There are no teaching obligations for this position, and the candidate will have the opportunity to develop their research portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be expected to assume the following responsibilities:

• Design research projects in close collaboration with the Institute’s Directors (Prof. Sumit Agarwal / A.Prof Johan Sulaeman / A.Prof Weina Zhang) and Research Affiliates
• Take ownership and responsibility for the successful delivery of research projects, ensuring they are completed within the required deadline and allocated budget, and meeting/exceeding project specifications and targets
• Participate in pre-project activities such as identifying required resources to ensure project completion including staffing and organizational needs of the project team, and preparing high-level project plans with project timeline and resource requirements
• Development of research hypotheses
• Plan and contribute to the collection and organization of corporate financial and sustainability disclosures
• Plan and contribute to the collection and organization of information regarding government policies and regulations in the sustainability space
• Contribute to qualitative and quantitative analyses of existing frameworks, to extend existing frameworks to develop a more comprehensive framework
• Monitor progress of research projects and provide necessary interventions to ensure smooth completion of each project
• Manage and coordinate project deliverables, ensuring their quality
• Manage the collaborations with research and industry stakeholders, including providing periodic progress updates and deliverables for grant funding body or project sponsors
• Manage industry partners’ expectation by understanding their needs and providing realistic expectations and scope of each project
• Preparation of results for industry communications, presentations, and academic articles for journal publications
• Guide, mentor, and supervise research analysts on the project team
• Work closely with the rest of the SGFIN team to support SGFIN’s activities and objectives

Requirements

• Academic background in the following subjects is preferred: finance, accounting, economics, business, sustainable/green finance, sustainability management, or related disciplines. A master’s degree in one of these subjects is highly preferred
• Basic understanding of financial sector (banks and other financial institutions), financial markets, corporate financial statements, and credit risk analysis, is required.
• A thorough knowledge of the research field of sustainable economics or finance is highly preferred.
• Quantitative analytical and/or financial econometric skills, including knowledge of advanced statistical software packages, are highly desired, along with experience with empirical research methods, including developing, conducting and supporting research and data analysis of research projects.
• Proactive in problem solving.
• Good time management and planning skills with a commitment to delivery.
• Strong project management skills, with ability to manage several projects concurrently.
• Strong delivery management experience, with proven track records in managing and steering projects towards smooth execution and on time delivery.
• Adaptive to change with a positive work attitude.
• Enthusiastic team player who is self-driven, committed, and willing to take initiative.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, effective in coordinating stakeholders, fostering teamwork, and leading high performance project team.
• Excellent verbal and interpersonal communication skills, along with strong written communication skills.

Covid-19 Message

At NUS, the health and safety of our staff and students are one of our utmost priorities, and COVID-vaccination supports our commitment to ensure the safety of our community and to make NUS as safe and welcoming as possible. Many of our roles require a significant amount of physical interactions with students/staff/public members. Even for job roles that may be performed remotely, there will be instances where on-campus presence is required.

Taking into consideration the health and well-being of our staff and students and to better protect everyone in the campus, applicants are strongly encouraged to have themselves fully COVID-19 vaccinated to secure successful employment with NUS.