About the School of Economic Development

The School of Economic Development (SED) at IIHS takes a heterodox approach towards fostering sustainable and equitable economic transitions across different scales of human settlements, and prioritises enquiries from the Indian and the Global South perspectives. The research, applied research, teaching and training undertaken by the School is interdisciplinary in approach and based on the ethos that economic transitions need to be understood alongside social, political and ecological relationships. The School encourages economic enquiries that, both methodologically and conceptually, engage with space/ place, people, institutions, infrastructure, and scale.

The School’s core focus areas are:

Job Description

The School of Economic Development (SED) at IIHS is seeking applications from candidates for senior research associate/ consultant/ senior consultant positions to build a portfolio of research and practice projects on the following themes:

The SED’s work across these themes takes an interdisciplinary and heterodox approach, and is focused on the social, institutional and spatial aspects of economic and urban change. It also spans different methodological traditions, ranging from qualitative and ethnographic, to quantitative and geo-spatial.

The School is looking for candidates with relevant professional experience in any of these or closely related themes, ideally in either research organisations, think tanks, university departments, policy research institutions, consulting firms, the private sector, NGOs, worker organisations, or any other relevant institutions. These positions will work closely with the Associate Deans and other members of the SED as well as collaborate with members from other Schools and Labs on specific projects.

These could be either regular positions or 11- month contractual engagements, renewable on mutual consent, with the potential to turn into regular positions over time.

Activities and Tasks

Depending on their prior number of years of work experience, the incumbent will get involved with building out the research and practice projects within SED across the following set of tasks.

Responsibilities would include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Project delivery and project management:
  • Working with SED members to deliver ongoing research and practice projects of the School on the relevant themes (Urban and Regional Economic Development; Land, Real Estate and Finance; and Urban Employment and Livelihoods);
  • Undertaking primary and secondary research using a variety of methods (key informant interviews, field observation, focus group discussions, primary surveys, secondary data analysis, etc.); we place particular emphasis on candidates with prior rigorous and ethically conducted fieldwork;
  • Carrying out analysis of field and secondary data as required for the project, synthesising and presenting findings and analysis;
  • Undertaking policy and plan review and analysis, literature review, and other relevant analysis as required;
  • Preparing presentations, writing briefs, papers and reports;
  • Managing external stakeholders and partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders: academic partners, NGOs and community-based organisations, survey agencies, government clients, donors, private sector actors etc.;
  • Participating in and contributing to meetings with research partners or practice clients and partners, as required.

• Grant writing and project development:
  • At the senior associate level, the candidate will be involved in identifying appropriate opportunities for grant and project development aligned with themes and priorities of the School; at the senior consultant level, the candidate will be writing proposals and building out a set of project opportunities aligned with the objectives of the School;
  • Preparing grants and assisting with the analysis and preparation for grant applications; liaising with the internal teams, the SED School Manager, Finance and Legal teams as needed for grant application.

• Research and teaching:
  • Contributing to the teaching of the SED across Master’s and PhD levels (based on the qualifications of the applicant) on relevant themes; this could include Core courses, Elective courses, Methods courses, Practica or field-based immersions, based on the applicant’s prior experience and training;
  • Publishing in both research journals and public-facing writing such as op-eds, policy briefs and reports;
  • Undertaking outreach activities as needed for the School.

Structure and Reporting

The senior research associate/ consultant/ senior consultant will report to the Associate Dean – School of Economic Development (SED) at IIHS and will be required to collaborate effectively with a diverse group of internal teams and external individuals/ organisations, and students.

Person Specification

The applicant should have:

• A Master’s degree or a PhD in a relevant field including but not limited to Economics/ Planning/ Public Policy/ Development Studies/ Geography/ Management, across the Social Sciences and Humanities, or a related field;
• 4 to 15 years of relevant professional experience, preferably in either research or consulting, in the urban or economic development sector; while experience within any one (or more) of the predefined themes (Urban and Regional Economic Development; Land, Real Estate and Finance; Urban Employment and Livelihoods) is preferred, applicants with experience in closely related themes will also be considered;
• Experience of working in inter-disciplinary teams, preferably across practice and research;
• Strong writing, analytical and numerical skills;
• A high level of organisational capability, including the ability to establish and maintain effective systems, procedures and processes and manage competing demands and deadlines without compromising quality;
• A high level of communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to consult and collaborate with inter-disciplinary and diverse teams; analyse and present information and produce well researched high-quality reports, submissions, and other documents, negotiate complex issues and manage change;
• Effective working knowledge of at least one Indian language in addition to English.

This could be either a regular position or a 11- month contractual engagement, renewable on mutual consent, with the potential to turn into a regular position over time. This offer is on an exclusive basis, which implies that other professional assignments (whether compensated or not) that bear a potential conflict of interest with IIHS cannot be undertaken.

The search will remain open until the position is filled.

Location

This position is based in Bengaluru and may entail travel to other locations in India.

Review and Assessment

The role and performance of the incumbent shall be subject to normal review and assessment systems at IIHS.

Diversity Policy

IIHS is an equal opportunity employer that encourages women, people with disabilities and those from economically and socially excluded communities with the requisite skills and qualifications to apply for positions.