The University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is looking to hire one or more 2-year post docs in the intersection of economic and environmental ethics. Economic ethics is the application of moral or political philosophy to critical issues in business organizations or the economic system. Environmental ethics is the application of moral or political philosophy to critical issues in the relationship between humans and non-human environmental systems. The research area should be understood broadly so as to include subtopics like business ethics, the political philosophy of financial markets, ethics of commodification, ethics of climate change, ethics of biodiversity, environmental philosophy and the philosophy of (environmental) economics. Any applications related to these subfields are welcome.

Potential research questions in these fields include the following:

• What moral duties, if any, do commercial firms have to mitigate climate change?
• Do consumers have a duty to invest in sustainable firms?
• Is sustainability an irreducible moral value?
• Can environmental values (such as biodiversity) be expressed in monetary terms?
• Do advantaged nations have duties to promote sustainability in vulnerable nations?
• Is the state justified in coercing financial markets towards sustainability?

The post doc will join the Financial Ethics Research Group which consists of philosophers and economists dedicated to ethical and political issues raised by the financial system (in the broadest sense). More specifically, the post doc will be connected to the research program Sustainable Finance Lab, which is a collaboration between several Swedish universities that is funded by Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency. Additional funding is due to the University of Gothenburg, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra).

Applications must be received by: May 31, 2022

More information: Job ad at University of Gothenburg

If you have questions, please contact: Professor Joakim Sandberg, project leader