Dr A Harvey
No more applications being accepted
Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
We are seeking to recruit two PhD students who are interested in economic statistics and measurement. The students will contribute to King’s College London’s partnership with the ONS funded Economics Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) www.escoe.ac.uk. ESCoE is a joint initiative between the National Institute of Economic and Social Research who will host the Centre, Cambridge, King’s College London, Nesta, Strathclyde and Warwick Business School.
One studentship will be concerned with output and productivity growth with a focus on services sectors, Project 2.1: Measuring activity in services sectors (see details below). The successful candidates’ main supervisors will be Professor Mary O’Mahony and Dr Augustin de Coulon. The second studentship will be concerned with improving the measurement of GDP at different publication horizons with a focus on nowcasting and reconciling the discrepancies in the different approaches to the measurement of GDP, Project 1.2: Measuring GDP at different publication horizons (see details below). The successful candidates’ main supervisors will be Professor Martin Weale and Professor George Kapetanios, with whom there may be the possibility of working on big data.
The students will also work with individuals in other ESCoE partner institutes such as Nicholas Oulton (LSE) and Diane Coyle (Manchester) on the productivity side and Simon Kirby (NIESR) and Ivan Petrella (WBS) on the nowcasting side. The research will contribute to and complement various ESCoE funded projects in addition to those mentioned above; details of the workprogramme are available here.
Candidates should have a quantitative Masters degree in Economics or related areas (normally with Distinction) from an internationally recognised academic institution; and be interested in developing their research interests in economics statistics and applied micro/macro econometrics.
Co-Leads: George Kapetanios (King’s), Simon Kirby (NIESR) and Ivan Petrella (WBS)
Objectives: Our overarching aim is to enhance the quality of the estimates of GDP and their subcomponents across the publishing horizon, from the preliminary release to the 'final' Blue Book measure, and further to increase the informational content available to users of ONS data.
This includes providing a procedure which adds greater structure to the rebalancing process of GDP via econometric modelling; providing guidance in how to identify and organise additional data outside of official statistics such that they can be used within predictive econometric models; building and evaluating a suite of nowcasting models which are designed to deal with large datasets; and investigating the ability to identify turning points in real time through econometric methods.
How to apply
Candidates should apply to [Email Address Removed] and provide the following documents:
1) A curriculum vitae
2) A covering letter explaining your interest and aptitude for these research projects, in particular
a) why you are attracted to this particular opportunity
b) details of your quantitative skills
c) details of your knowledge of economics, statistics and econometrics
d) descriptions of previous projects you have completed
e) how the studentship fits with your career aspirations.
The successful candidates will be required to apply formally to King’s College London Doctoral programme, at which time the following document will be required:
3) A 2000 word research proposal describing the research project you wish to carry out.
Applications should be submitted by April 28 2017.
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted with further details soon after the closing date for applications.
Funding Notes
The studentship is open to Home/EU and International/Overseas students for 3 years from October 2017, plus the possibility of extension to a fourth year, and includes:
1) Tuition fees at Home/EU rate (currently £4600).
Please note that International/Overseas students will be required to find funding to cover the difference between Home/EU fees and international fees.
2) A stipend of circa £16,296 pa for 3 years