Horizon Europe - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
The MSCA scheme
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) scheme aims to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research.
The Fellowships aim to enhance the potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility.
Fellowships will be offered to excellent researchers of any nationality undertaking international mobility either to or between the EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, as well as to associated Third Countries.
The standard duration of these fellowships must be between 12 and 24 months.
Details about the scheme are available on the Funding and Tenders Portal.
The deadline of the call is 11 September 2024.
MSCA at Bocconi:
Bocconi welcomes expressions of interest by postdoctoral candidates who wish to apply for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship to be hosted at our university.
The EoI period is closed for this edition of the call.
All applicants who expressed their interest through the online form will be informed of the outcome.
Selected applicants will be offered the opportunity to undertake a proposal writing training session (online session planned on July 16th).
The Bocconi Lab in European Studies (BLEST) will provide a limited number of Visiting Fellowships aimed at researchers who wish to submit a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship application (to be hosted by Bocconi University) on themes that fall within BLEST research purview (i.e. related to the EU and Europe).
This Fellowship will provide funding for travel and accommodation expenses to allow the researchers to spend some time at Bocconi in order to complete their application.
Supervisors will identify and select applicants who will be considered for this opportunity.
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You can contact grants.office@unibocconi.it for any questions on the program.
Please check the available supervisors per department from the list below:
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Miles Gietzmann | Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Risk Management | A significant number of the DeFi protocols that have been developed have been predominantly programming driven and their associated white papers have limited provision for corporate governance measures. I am looking to supervise Marie Currie Fellowships that want to investigate how the different rudimentary governance rules drive performance of the different respective protocols. For instance is liquidation more common under certain protocols. Related to this is a need to develop a structured risk management framework for competing protocols. Thus another topic is the development of DeFi risk management tools. I have a working research relationship with some DeFi traders so there would be the opportunity to get additional real world feedback |
| Wanli Zhao | ESG, Politics, and Greenwashing | ESG is a controversial issue nowadays for corporate executives, the general public, and the politicians. Politicians need to cater to their voters who are apathy to greenwashing and may be skeptical about the politician’s true despite their own ideological view on ESG. Companies feel pressure from the general public on ESG compliance while greenwashing is definitely an alternative, especially when they are able to capture the politicians to obtain regulatory leniency on greenwashing. This project aims to explore greenwashing in companies and politicians to shed light on the dynamics between politicians, voters, and companies. The project takes advantage of machine learning and big data analytics to disentangle the challenge of capturing two essential components: greenwashing in corporations and ideology towards ESG among politicians and local voters. |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Daniel Gros | research interest > | International trade, monetary policy, geoeconomics, climate policies |
| Thomas Le Barbanchon | Job search behavior and wage setting processes | Empirical Projects in labor economics. |
| Marco Ottaviani | Design of Science Funding | The project studies science funding from a positive and normative standpoint. How do current institutions for funding science work? How can these institutions be improved? |
| Mara Squicciarini | Religion, Human Capital, and Innovation in a Historical Perspective | The project aims at studying three key research questions through the lenses of quantitative economic history, focusing on 19th- century France and US. In particular, it will analyse: i) the process of expansion of mass education; ii) how discrimination affects schooling choices of religious minorities; iii) the impact of dismantling a high-quality but dissident educational institution on human capital and innovation. It collects ground-breaking micro data from archival and secondary sources and uses modern econometrics technique as well as text-analysis techniques. |
| Guido Tabellini | Behavior Political Economics: incorporating insights from behavioral economics into empirical analysis of voters’ behavior in advanced democracies | The research has to be empirical, studying either non experimental or experimental data. Examples of potentially interesting broad research topics: i) How to foster the emergence of a European (as opposed to national) social identity among European citizens. ii) Belief formation in a political context iii) Effects of political propaganda on voters’ beliefs and policy preferences. iv) Effects of social media on political behavior |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Elia Bruè | Optimal Transport and Ricci Curvature | In recent decades, it has become increasingly evident that lower bounds on the Ricci curvature can be effectively studied using optimal transport tools. These methods allow a synthetic analysis of such spaces, akin to the Alexandrov theory for spaces with sectional curvature bounded below. The primary objective of this research project is to elucidate the implications of lower bounds on the Ricci curvature and other geometric constraints on the geometry and topology of the ambient space. The project will manly focus on exploring the phenomenon of collapsing, the actions of Lie groups of isometries, and low-dimensional rigidities. This investigation will utilize the toolkit provided by the synthetic approach, recent advances in solving the Milnor conjecture, and progress on understanding the topological structure of low-dimensional spaces with Ricci curvature bounded below. |
| Antonio De Rosa | Measure theoretic solutions of geometric problems in the calculus of variations. | Several problems in the calculus of variations can be tackled by means of geometric measure theory. Solutions to geometric variational problems can be often easily found in appropriate weak measure theoretic classes. However, these measure theoretic relaxations of the original geometric problems pose the question of whether weak solutions are (almost) classical solutions. The project aims to study structural properties of measure theoretic solutions of several geometric variational problems, including (but not limited to) the classical Plateau problem, the isoperimetric problem and the optimal branched transport. |
| Tangren Feng | research interests > | Economic Theory: Game Theory, Mechanism Design, Social Choice, Information Economics. |
| Hugo Lavenant | Curves and maps valued in the space of probability distributions | Variational models involving curves and maps valued in the space of probability distributions are of great importance to analyze measure-valued data and can also be used as a tool to convexify problem of calculus of variations. The project aims at understanding which type of functionals one should define on the space of measure-valued maps (such as generalizations of the action, of the Dirichlet energy, and their entropic counterpart), how to discretize them, and how one can minimize the discretized counterpart in an efficient way. These questions have a strong connection with optimal transport and its geometry. |
| Simone Padoan | Variational Bayesian inference for conditional extremes | Current Bayesian approaches to conditional extreme value inference cannot, however, deal with massive data in practice. The project aim to develop a variational Bayesian approach able to handle massive extreme value data, including a large number of covariates. Variational Bayesian methods have enjoyed considerable success for their ability to handle complex statistical models in a reasonable amount of time by finding the best model approximating the true posterior density within a tractable class of distributions. They have been used for extreme value inference, but only in the univariate and unconditional setting. Our approach will be developed when the data are merely large observation and the target intractable posterior density has Generalized Pareto (GP) marginal distributions. |
| Alessandro Pigati | Physical energies in geometric measure theory | In the context of the calculus of variations, it is notoriously difficult to study directly natural geometric functionals such as the isotropic and anisotropic area of geometric shapes. Roughly speaking, to construct general critical points, there is a complicated tradeoff between compactness of the class of shapes where we set the variational problem and regularity of its members, even of the critical ones. Starting with the successful Allen-Cahn model of phase transitions, several effective approximations of geometric functionals have been proposed. This project aims at exploring new families of approximations inspired by physical energies, both local and non-local ones, in the isotropic and anisotropic settings. |
| Giuseppe Savaré | Flows of probability measures and their variational approximation | It is well known that gradient flows of (displacement) convex functionals in the Kantorovich-Wasserstein spaces of probability measures can be well approximated by the Jordan-Kinderlehrer-Otto (JKO) method of Minimizing Movements. This method provides both convergence estimates and valuable structural information on the limit solutions. The project aims to study more general classes of evolutions of measures (also including the unbalanced case), for which the JKO method is no longer available, but which are nevertheless expected to have good stability properties with respect to the initial data. The correct formulation of the implicit Euler method in these cases as well as the study of its convergence are among the main goals of the project. For further references: https://gsavare.github.io |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Brunella Bruno | The Effects of Bank Disclosure on Climate and Environmental Risks | This project aims to explore the impact of banks' increased disclosure concerning Climate and Environmental (C&E) issues. Financial markets face substantial informational challenges regarding climate change. Effectively pricing climate-related risks necessitates the collection and availability of comprehensive data on these risks and their distribution among agents. Investors seeking to support the transition to a low-carbon economy require detailed insights into firms' current and projected emissions, climate transition commitments, and investments in environmentally friendly products and technologies. Similarly, banks are expected to disclose their exposure to climate-related and environmental risks, along with the managerial practices implemented to address these risks. Since 2017, disclosure requirements in financial and non-financial reporting for banks have increased remarkably. While regulatory bodies have strongly advocated for increased disclosure to enhance financial stability, the quality of actual disclosure remains lacking, with significant discrepancies in what is reported and how it is reported across banks (ECB, 2022). Moreover, the impact of increasing C&E reporting standards on market participants remains largely unexplored. Against this background, this project aims to answer three related questions: Does heightened disclosure of C&E risks and managerial practices, which is cumbersome for banks in several dimensions, genuinely reduce bank opacity (measured through analysts’ forecasts)? Second, since increased disclosure may imply that certain banks are better positioned that other, does the cost of funding change across banks to account for it? And finally, does it translate into a reshaping of the loan portfolio mix from more carbon-intensive to less carbon-intensive sectors, as expected by banking authorities for banks to promote climate transition? |
| Anna Omarini | Digital transformation in banks: from tech advantages to managing tech-driven risks | The digital transformation of the financial system in its various components is underway and affects almost all profiles: governance, business model and risk management. Banks are increasingly collaborating with non-banks and technology firms to deliver products and services across different parts of the banking value chain. These partnerships can improve banks' operational efficiency, expand their product offerings and distribution channels, and strengthen customer relationships. Many of these partnerships are facilitated by the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which allow third parties access to banks' internal systems and infrastructure. The topic of cyber risks, in particular, is under the attention of policy makers, regulators and supervisory authorities (G7, Eurosystem within the Single Supervisory Mechanism, etc.). The opportunities linked to new technologies and the management of related risks are two sides of the same coin. Intermediaries capable of finding a balance between these two components will be able to obtain a significant competitive advantage from a more extensive use of technological advantage. From the first point of view, the ability to manage technological risk is increasingly a strategic factor; consequently, it is necessary for internal control systems to be effective in managing the major IT risks linked to the wider use of technological advantage. It is essential that intermediaries adopt unitary visions and prudent strategies in order to manage the risks emerging from relationships with suppliers who are relatively "new" to the banking world, yet have quickly become indispensable. The goal of the project is to assess both the macro-structural approaches and the one at the bank's level to assess and manage any operational and reputational risks related to the tech-driven banking. |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Marta Maria Cartabia | research interests > | Constitutional Law; Constitutional adjudication; Rule of Law; Disability rights; Freedom of Religion |
| Elena Gramano | Competition law and collective rights under EU law | The project shall conduct a comparative analysis among different legal systems (in particular: USA, and some Member States of the EU) in order to compare and potentially understand the existence of shared models of regulation of the exercise of collective rights by workers and by self-employed workers, on the one hand, and competition on the market, on the other. |
| Hao Jiang | Contract theory and European contract law | A lot has been written in recent years on moral, political and economic theories of common law contracts in North America. Such theories either seek to explain contract law doctrines or present an ideal theoretical framework for contract law. Yet very little has been done towards contract theories in civil law in continental Europe. I would like to work with a contract theorist who is interested in developing a theory of European contract law (broadly construed). |
| Davide Paris | European Multilevel Constituionalism | I am interested in projects concerning the interaction between domestic constitutional law, the European Convention on Human Rights and EU Law, as well as fundamental rights protection in Europe. |
| Eleanor Spaventa | research interests > | EU Constitutional law; EU Fundamental Rights; Common Foreign and Security Policy; EU internal market and Union citizenship; EU Institutional law. |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Dovev Lavie | A Prosocial Digital Platform for Economic Exchange | This novel project proposes a solution to the societal grand challenges of economic inequality and overconsumption of natural resources. It posits that these interrelated problems are rooted in design flaws of our economic system. Contrary to established remedies such as regulation, legislation, and antitrust enforcement, among other policies for reforming the current economic system, the project advocates a new economic system, namely the cooperative economy. This system, designed as a digital platform ecosystem, can overcome some caveats of the current system which facilitates and reinforces opportunistic behavior. The project does not take such behavior for granted, but instead alludes to research in behavioral economics that uncovers heterogeneity in individuals’ inclinations for prosociality. The theory suggests pragmatic means to instigate and reinforce prosocial behavior while driving out opportunistic behavior in economic exchange. Accordingly, the cooperative economy prioritizes societal values over profit making and utility maximization, which can help cope with the aforementioned grand challenges. Novel design principles include community-centered exchange and differential pricing whereby high-income consumers subsidize low-income consumers. The system also imposes limits on consumption and vendors’ profit, with excess profit redistributed to consumers. The underlying logic is that prosocial behavior pays off emotionally despite its associated economic costs. The project involves theory development, design of software algorithms that emulate the economic system, computer simulation, and a comprehensive field experiment that tests the feasibility and stability of the system in a community, while identifying boundary conditions. The analysis can help optimize system parameters and facilitate future implementation of the cooperative economy. The project contributes to interdisciplinary research on societal grand challenges, prosociality, and cooperation. The MSCA position is for a young researcher in computer science or related fields, with skills in systems analysis, design and programming (Python). The researcher will be involved in tasks such as systems analysis, hardware and communication system design, programing of administrator, vendor, and consumer modules, interface with payment solutions, testing of the software, designing and running simulations in the course of product development, coordination with outside software companies that may be involved in the development, and technical support during the field experiment. The researcher will also be involved in the literature review, analysis of findings, and writeup of academic papers. The assignments can be adjusted based on the background and skills of the candidate. |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Joachim Vosgerau | research interests > | Consumer Behavior, Consumer Cognition, Judgment and Decision Making, Behavioral Insights for Public Policy |
| Qiaoni Shi | The AI-Driven Revolution: How AI Disrupts the Evolution of Innovation | Measuring the impact of AI on the evolution of innovation is crucial for strategic planning and policy making. It enables organizations and policymakers to anticipate changes and adapt accordingly, optimizing innovation strategies, driving economic growth, and creating informed policies that balance technological advancement with ethical considerations. The major challenge lies in quantifying the nuanced and widespread effects of AI on innovation. This research proposes a solution by employing advanced machine learning and natural language processing techniques to measure and understand innovation trends. By providing a method to quantify the influence of AI on the evolution of innovation, we believe this project will deepen our understanding of how AI disrupts innovation and offer insights into the future evolution of innovation. This research will provide practical frameworks for industry and government, ultimately helping to harness AI's potential for societal benefit. |
| Kai Zhu | The Promise and Pitfalls of Generative AI for Peer Production in Social-Technical Systems | The proposed research explores the transformative potential and critical challenges of generative AI in collaborative environments. By examining concrete applications such as Human-AI collaboration for enhancing Wikipedia using foundation models and Duolingo's AI-driven lesson creation, the study examines how these technologies may boost productivity while potentially perpetuating existing biases. Utilizing large-scale data analysis of structured data and unstructured text, this research aims to uncover strategies for leveraging AI's benefits while addressing its inherent risks, ensuring responsible integration into social-technical systems. |
| Supervisor | Title of the project | Description |
| Massimo Anelli | The impact of technological change on job amenities | Interested in quantifying the non-wage components of collective bargaining contracts in Europe. |
| Nicoletta Balbo | Attitudes towards individuals with disability across Europe | This project aims at measuring attitudes towards individuals with disability across Europe. By measuring the perceived number of individuals with disability, attitudes, perceptions and feelings towards disability in the population across different European countries, we can gain fundamental knowledge about how inclusion of individuals with disability can be promoted by breaking down prejudices and stereotypes. The project also aims at uncovering determinants of such prejudices and stereotypes at the individual-level (e.g., socio-economic status, exposure to disability), at the community/meso-level (e.g., religious and political communities, neighborhood), and at the macro-level (e.g., country school system, welfare, and culture). |
| Grace Ballor | research interests > | contemporary history, European history, historical political economy, international organizations, European Union, European integration and cooperation, business history, history of economic thought, global governance |
| Andrea Colli | Globalization and Geopolitics, today and yesterday | Globalization waves are closely connected with geopolitical orders. In a stable framework, characterised by the prevalence of an hegemon power, integration increases, under many perspectives. Vice versa, when assertiveness prevails, trade and other forms of integration are curtailed. In this perspective, the idea that trade and integration are fundamental to keep peace is reversed: it is geopolitics that makes trade. The project compares two globalization waves (that of the second half of the Nineteenth century and the present), investigating the above mentioned relationship between geopolitics and global integration. |
| Maria Cucciniello | Eye tracking and public policy | The project will leverage an innovative eye-tracking approach to conduct large-scale out-of-lab research, aimed at informing policymakers on critical challenges such as global warming and vaccine uptake. By understanding what captures people's attention and how they process and react to information in real-world settings with high external validity, the project will provide crucial insights for developing effective strategies and interventions that help addressing these pressing issues and drive meaningful change.This interdisciplinary project will involve collaboration across fields, spanning from social sciences to optometry, computer science and legal studies, bringing together experts interested in understanding how human behavior and decision-making processes inform policy design and implementation across various domains. |
| Vincenzo Galasso | persuasion and motivated reasoning | Studying persuasion and motivated reasoning using information treatments in survey experiments with open-ended questions and field experiments |
| Alessia Melegaro | Studying human behaviours with respect to infectious diseases | This project aims at exploring the dynamics of human behavior on infections’ spread, through the lens of social sciences, integrating risk perceptions on diseases and vaccines, (mis)information campaigns, social peers influence and digitalisation. The project will use a combination of quali and quantitative approaches, including the use of digital records to study the interplay between health communications, risk perception and health-related behaviours in different contexts. |
| Greta Nasi | The impact of techonogical change on job amenities | Interested in quantifying the non-wage components of collective bargaining contracts in Europe. |
| Paola Profeta | Gender gaps in the economy, society and politics | Gender gaps/ economic and political Analysis. The fellow will be included in the activities of the Axa Research Lab on Gender Equality |
Testimonials
Andrea Morrison
GOTaM Cities - Geography Of Talents in Metropolitan Cities
"The MSC fellowship at Bocconi gave me the opportunity to deepen my research interests, expand my collaboration network and overall boost my career prospect. Bocconi proved to be the ideal place to develop all this, I got great support and felt part of a global community of excellent researcher."
Lavinia Piemontese
FIBRE - FIrm Behavior in Rough Environments
"Thanks to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, I had the chance to relocate to my home country and join a great research unit (CLEAN) within the vibrant community of Bocconi. Besides substantially improving my research network, this fellowship allowed me to travel and acquire many useful resources. My academic career will definitely benefit from these 24 precious months!"
Gábor Scheiring
How is Populism and Health Associated in Europe (PHASE)?
"The MSC Fellowship is about opportunities. Opportunity to expand my research, invest in training, get coaching, visit conferences, and leave an imprint. And at Bocconi, I received all the academic and administrative support I needed to realize these opportunities. These past two years have been an absolute game-changer."
Dennis Verhoeven
DIV_INV - Knowledge Diversity Building by Inventors
"The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship has allowed me to pursue a project close to my heart in the vibrant academic environment of Bocconi."