Full-time academic position in social finance - Faculty Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

Reference: 2025/A002

Application deadline: November 30, 2024 

Start date: 01/10/2025                                                     

Job description         

The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM) is the faculty of Economics and Management of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).  The faculty’s mission is to have a decisive and positive impact on how economic and business challenges are addressed. With a strong emphasis on quantitative methods, we produce pioneering research and educate students to become true leaders and entrepreneurs in their respective fields.

SBS-EM consists of a vibrant mix of people interested in economics, management, and finance. The faculty actively strives to create and maintain an intellectually stimulating environment, advancing scientific knowledge, while at the same time contributing to the development of effective practices and life-long learning for organizations.  For more information about the school please see https://sbsem.ulb.be. 

Description of the Chair in Social Finance

Area of research: 

The successful candidate will have a strong background in finance, broadly defined. There are no restrictions on subdisciplines, but everything else equal, preference will be given to research profiles with a focus on social finance. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with SBS-EM and ULB faculty members in the disciplines relevant for their research agenda. Members of the faculty are for instance active in the fields of microfinance, impact finance & investing, as part of either (i) finance dedicated to society or (ii) asset management and risk management, corporate finance, and corporate governance from the financial perspective. 

Educational and scientific goals:

The selected candidate will contribute to research and teaching in finance. (S)he essentially aims at

• developing and/or expanding on his/her research agenda while fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations, seeking funding for research projects in the field and publishing in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals and/or producing and publishing case studies for renowned case centers;
• contributing to education (bachelor, master and PhD education) by developing knowledge, skills and competences related to finance, covering the main fundamental themes and theories in corporate finance and investments as well as the emerging societal finance themes, providing the necessary tools and insights for “evidence-based” argumentation and research;
• interacting closely with practitioners and engaging with concrete issues of organisations internationally and in Belgium, either national or international.

Courses covered at the time of recruitment:     

Candidates will be expected to contribute to the School and University´s core courses and programs in finance, both in regular programs and in life-long learning programs, and to supervise on average 8 master theses per year in broadly speaking finance. In the long-run, candidates will be requested to teach 4 courses of 5 ECTS (with min 24 contact hours per course per year). The envisaged teaching assignment for the first year consists of

• GEST-S302 Finance de marché
• GEST-S497 Modélisation mathématique en finance
• STAG-S-601 / MEMO-S-601 Internships – Master thesis of the European Microfinance Programme (EMP) 

The chosen candidate will also be expected to co-lead the Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi) and thus foster its activities in social finance.

Required qualifications 

• Candidates for the position must hold a PhD Degree (with doctoral thesis) in Finance, (Financial) Management, or (Financial) Economics. Although a technical (quantitative and qualitative) background is an important dimension in our teaching and research, a preference will be given to candidates with a strong background on the financial matter presented above.

Required skills

• Candidates should have a proven record and/or pipeline of high-quality publications in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals and be able to write grant proposals in the field.
• A minimum of 4-year scientific career at the time of hiring is required. Doctoral research years count towards this qualification. 
• Both postdoctoral experience and exchange periods outside of the applicants’ home institution (during or after their PhD) will be considered as a plus. 
• Candidates should already have teaching experience at the University level. 
• A good command of English at an academic level.
• For non-French speaking natives who are supposed to teach in French (this depends on the specific program) a learning period of maximal three years may be granted. 

Interested?

For more information, please contact Prof. Marek Hudon (marek.hudon@ulb.be), Co-Chair of the Centre for European Microfinance Centre (CERMi) and European Microfinance Program (EMP) or Bram De Rock, vice-dean of research of the faculty, (bram.de.rock@ulb.be).

Your application will consist of a Curriculum Vitae(if you wish, a standard CV can be downloaded from the website: https: //www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/emplois-academiques-et-scientifiques-cv-type) and a document completed using the template available at this URL address https://www.ulb.be/fr/documents-officiels/1e-applic-form-acad-tps-plein-docx. This template structures your application by including the following elements:

• an application letter 
• a 7,000-character report (4 pages) presenting the applicant’s research activities and a research project, including how these will integrate into ULB’s research teams
• a teaching dossier including a 7,000-character report (4 pages) on the applicant's previous teaching activities and a teaching project for the first five years in this position; these must be relevant to the faculty and to the teaching profiles for the programmes to which the applicant is to contribute
• a note on the applicant's international achievements and projects (no more than 4 pages)
• the names and e-mail addresses of five referees (respecting the gender balance) who may be contacted by those in charge of evaluating applications.  These referees should not have conflicts of interest because of family or emotional ties.

Incomplete applications or applications that do not use the template provided will not be examined by the selection committee.

The recruiting committee will select the candidates on the basis of the following criteria: quality of the research project and scientific publications, pedagogical project with respect to teaching finance to different types of audiences and teaching experience at different levels, international experience and academic collaborations, experience in institutional relationships and networking capabilities. SBS-EM uses an extensive ranking of journals to measure research output and uses this, together with other standard research outputs, for tenure and promotion decisions.

The appointment to the academic staff of ULB is made at ”Chargé de Cours” level. As of their appointment, members of academic staff are authorised to use the honorary title of ”Professeur”.

Equal opportunities policy

ULB's personnel management policy is geared towards diversity and equal opportunities.

We recruit candidates on the basis of their skills, irrespective of age, gender, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, beliefs, disability, etc.

Would you like to be provided with reasonable accommodation in the selection procedure because of a disability, disorder, or illness?  Please contact Marie Botty, the person in charge of diversity aspects for the academic and scientific staff (marie.botty@ulb.be). Be assured of the confidentiality of this information.

More details on the ULB gender and diversity policy are available at Diversity at ULB - ULB.

You will find all the regulations relating to academic careers on our site at http://www.ulb.ac.be/emploi/academique.html.