Senior Researcher – Real Estate Climate Risk
Nice (France) or London (UK) |
Permanent (CDI) | R&D
Role
Join an innovative climate research institute dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of climate risk assessments, developing innovative methodologies. This is a position for a researcher who wants to do both: publish rigorous, peer-reviewed work and see it shape the way financial institutions actually price and manage climate risk.
At the EDHEC Climate Institute (ECI), you will be the lead architect of our climate risk methodology for real estate, a growing priority for lenders, insurers, and long-term investors navigating a rapidly changing regulatory and physical landscape. You will define how ECI approaches the real estate sector, build the analytical frameworks that underpin our tools and client deliverables, and publish the work that establishes ECI’s intellectual leadership in this space.
The ideal profile has a strong research foundation at PhD level combined with meaningful exposure to how real-world financial institutions, consultancies, or real estate operators actually use (and misuse) quantitative risk frameworks. If you have been looking for a position that bridges rigorous academic output with genuine market impact, this is it.
Responsibilities
Build ECI’s real estate climate risk methodology Design and lead the development of integrated frameworks to assess climate-related financial risk in real estate, covering both transition and physical dimensions. This means understanding the risk transmission channels from hazard or policy shock, through asset-level physical and financial vulnerability, to portfolio-level financial outcomes and translating that chain into models that are both analytically sound and operationally usable by financial institutions. The physical and transition risks shocks will be provided by other team members, so what is required is a deep understanding of how to integrate them.
Anchor methodology in real estate financial fundamentals Your framework must speak the language of real estate finance. That means grounding assessments in how climate variables, energy costs, retrofit CapEx, stranded-asset risk, insurance availability, regulatory compliance costs, flow through to valuation, LTV, PD/LGD, and broader portfolio risk metrics. Financial model literacy applied to real estate is central to this role.
Develop and adapt quantitative tools Adapt and extend models relevant to the built environment (e.g., CRREM, building archetype/stock models, LCA frameworks) with a focus on understanding the conceptual architecture behind them, the assumptions, boundary conditions, and transmission mechanisms, rather than applying them as black boxes. Integrate EPC/energy label datasets; assess coverage and quality; propose calibration and substitution strategies. Build reproducible, well-documented pipelines.
Publish and establish intellectual presence Publish in peer-reviewed scientific and finance journals. You will also contribute to conferences, policy forums, and industry workshops to develop ECI’s profile in this space.
Be the real estate expert within ECI’s broader research ecosystem Work in close collaboration with ECI’s other research teams; including climate scenarios, geo-sectoral physical risk, and regulatory intelligence; to integrate real estate perspectives into cross-cutting tools and products. You will be the go-to expert for real estate within the institute, contributing to ECI’s flagship tools and shaping how real estate risk is represented across our research agenda.
Engage with the financial industry Work directly with financial institutions, real estate operators, and regulators to align ECI’s methodologies with evolving regulatory requirements (SFDR, CSRD, EBA guidelines) and practical decision-making workflows.
What We Are Looking For
Background and training A PhD (or Master’s with equivalent research depth) in a quantitative field with strong relevance to the real estate sector and the quantification of its underlying financial risks. We are specifically interested in profiles that combine academic rigour with real-world exposure; whether through PhD research conducted in partnership with industry, post-doctoral work in an applied setting, consultancy experience alongside publication activity, or a transition from practice back into research.
Real estate financial modelling Solid understanding of how real estate assets are valued and financed: DCF and income capitalisation approaches, LTV and debt service coverage ratios, PD/LGD frameworks, and how physical or regulatory shocks transmit into these financial metrics.
Understanding of climate risk transmission in the built environment Conceptual fluency with how both transition and physical climate risks propagate through real estate assets. On the transition side: how carbon pricing, energy performance regulations, and evolving market preferences interact with operating costs, asset values, and financing conditions. On the physical side: how hazard frequency/severity translates into damage, insurance cost, and asset obsolescence. Deep prior specialisation in one dimension is fine; the capacity to reason rigorously about the other is required.
Quantitative and technical skills (recommended) Python (or equivalent) for model development and data analysis. Experience working with building-level or portfolio-level datasets (EPC registries, energy audit data, transaction/valuation data). Familiarity with retrofit economics, abatement cost curves, sequencing of measures, technical/economic feasibility assessment; is a plus. Prior work with CRREM, building archetype models, though what matters most is the ability to understand and critically evaluate the assumptions behind such tools.
Communication and collaboration Ability to write clearly for both academic and practitioner audiences; from methods papers to client-facing notes. Comfort working across disciplines (climate science, engineering, economics, data engineering, finance). Track record of, or clear appetite for, collaborative research involving external partners or industry stakeholders.
About EDHEC Climate Institute
Institutional context
Operating from campuses in Lille, Nice, Paris, London and Singapore, EDHEC Business School is ranked in the top ten European business schools. With more than 110 nationalit