PhD Candidate on Social Returns to Pension Investments

Welcome to Maastricht University!
How can pension fund investments contribute to a more sustainable and resilient economy? The Departments of Finance and Macro, International and Labour Economics (MILE) at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of Maastricht University offer a 4-year PhD position, starting September 1, 2026.

PhD Candidate on Social Returns to Pension Investments

• Our goal: The aim of the project is to better understand how pension fund investment strategies affect the broader economy, with a focus on infrastructure, innovation, and the green transition.
• Your colleagues: You will join an interdisciplinary supervision team spanning the Departments of Finance and MILE at SBE (Mark Sanders, Rob Bauer and Julian Ashwin).

Pension funds are among the largest institutional investors in Europe, intermediating the retirement savings of millions of workers. While pension funds typically optimize risk-adjusted financial returns on behalf of their participants, their investment decisions also generate broader economic spillovers, particularly through infrastructure and innovation investment. These spillovers create a wedge between private and social returns to European investment, a wedge whose size and policy implications remain poorly understood.

This project takes this wedge as its starting point and asks: how do pension fund portfolio decisions interact with major structural challenges facing Europe, including demographic ageing, the climate transition, and geopolitical fragmentation? By combining quantitative macroeconomic modelling with empirical estimation, the project aims to quantify the extent to which current pension fund strategies align with broader social objectives, including sustainable growth and the green transition.

What you do

Depending on your skills and interests, the project could include:

• Developing a quantitative general equilibrium model with overlapping generations to study how pension funds allocate portfolios across asset classes, and how this interacts with domestic economic spillovers through infrastructure and innovation.
• Empirically estimating key parameters governing knowledge accumulation, infrastructure spillovers, and returns to innovation using macro and sectoral data for the Netherlands and Europe.
• Analyzing how structural challenges (such as demographic ageing, climate transition risks, and geopolitical fragmentation) affect the socially optimal portfolio allocation of pension funds, and evaluating the implications for European investment and the green transition.

The project is supervised by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in macroeconomics, pension economics, and sustainable finance. The PhD student will also have the opportunity to engage with leading external partners in pension management and responsible investment.

The position also includes a teaching obligation equivalent to 0.2 FTE.

Are you ready to set the course for the years ahead? Then we’d love to meet you.

What you bring

We’re not looking for checkboxes; we’re interested in who you are and what you bring. Do you recognize yourself in this?

• You are highly motivated and have strong technical skills, and have a proven interest in economic and/or finance research.
• You completed a research master equivalent to 120 ECTS (MSc, MPhil or MRes) in Economics, Econometrics, Finance, or a related field.
• You have excellent communication and writing skills in English.
• You are preferably able to start on 1 September 2026.

What we offer

At Maastricht University, you’ll work in an international, open, and engaged environment. We offer:

• An 18-month contract with the prospect of a 2.5 year extension, based on mutual satisfaction.
• A gross monthly salary between €3.059,- and €3.881,- (based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week). 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus.
• 29 vacation days (based on full-time), four additional days off (Carnival Monday and Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day), and the possibility to accrue up to 12 extra days through compensation hours.
• Flexible working hours, a home office allowance, and the option to work partially from home.
• Freedom and responsibility to shape your work independently and develop your ideas.
• A close-knit community of colleagues to collaborate and grow with.
• A solid pension plan via ABP, company fitness schemes, and access to various university sports facilities.
• An inspiring work environment in the heart of Europe.

About the School of Business and Economics (SBE)

SBE is an international faculty for economics, business, and policy. We combine academic depth with societal engagement. Our education is small-scale and interactive. Our research focuses on themes such as sustainability, inclusion, and digital transformation. Together, we work on impactful solutions for the world of tomorrow.

Interested?

Want to know more about this position or what it’s like to work at our university? Reach out to Prof Mark Sanders via m.sanders@maastrichtuniversity.nl. You can apply directly using the button below.

Please upload:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Motivation letter
• Short research proposal which sets out how you could start to work on the topic (max 500 words)
• Grade transcripts of any previous education at Master or Bachelor level
• Names and contact details of two references (at least one of which is academic)

Apply no later than July 8, 2026 via the application button.

We look forward to getting to know you!

About Maastricht University

At Maastricht University, we collaboratively seek solutions to help move the world forward. We do this with 23,300 students and 5,400 employees across 5 regional locations, 6 faculties, and more than 70 research institutes. We encourage you to push boundaries and discover new opportunities for yourself and the world around you. Together, we can find the answers for tomorrow.

The vacancy is open for internal and external candidates. In case of equal qualifications, internal candidates will be prioritized.

At Maastricht University, we prefer to contact potential candidates directly. We therefore kindly ask that no agencies or intermediaries submit offers or approaches.

Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position.