Research Associate– Effluents Trading

Research Associate Position – Effluents Trading

Organization: J-PAL South Asia at IFMR

Project Title: Market-based instruments for Effluents

Country: India

State: Surat, Gujarat

Start Date: August 2025

Length of Commitment: 18 months

Education: Bachelor's/Master’s in Economics, Engineering, Environmental Economics, Environmental Engineering, or related fields

J-PAL is a global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. The Research team at J-PAL South Asia at the Institute of Financial management and Research (IFMR) forges relationships with implementers on the ground, designs randomized evaluations and survey instruments, carries out data collection, statistical analysis and data publishing and provides evidence to answer key questions on social policy and social development.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) seeks qualified applicants for positions as Research Associate for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change sector. J-PAL’s Environment, Energy, & Climate Change sector measures the real-world impacts of energy and environmental policies, particularly on energy access, pollution reduction, and climate change mitigation and resilience.

Project Description:

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) project is a collaborative exercise between the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, J-PAL South Asia at IFMR and Energy Policy Institute of Chicago (EPIC) to implement and evaluate a market-based mechanism for Particulate Matter in India. With the success of the market for air pollution, the Government of Gujarat has decided to test and evaluate a market for industrial effluents. Effluents Market is being piloted in Surat, Gujarat and is a collaborative effort between the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, South Gujarat Textile Association, Common Effluent Treatment Plants, and researchers from J-PAL South Asia and EPIC. The position offers an opportunity to gain first-hand research experience, including field operations and interaction with Centre and State officials, industry associations, in an organization undertaking cutting-edge development research.

This research team is headed by Prof. Michael Greenstone (University of Chicago), Prof. Rohini Pande (Yale University), Prof. Nicholas Ryan (Yale University), and Prof. Anant Sudarshan (University of Warwick).

Roles and Responsibilities:

The RA will work closely with academic researchers and other field staff to perform a variety tasks including, but not limited to:

● Overseeing implementation of the evaluation in accordance with the research design, in association with our partner organization.

● Maintaining relationships with partner organizations including government and industry associations.

● Assisting with changes to market design and evaluation of the data collected.

● Understanding the workings of CETPs and industrial waste water treatment.

● Collaborate with IT and data vendors to understand data transmission and storage processes and design an online trading portal.

● Organize and maintain large effluent datasets as well as acquire new ones and design data structure frameworks to integrate datasets.

● Monitoring and analysing the Market Data and understanding the trading behaviour of participating industries under the project

● Supervising data collection and data-entry and ensuring data quality and productivity.

● Designing survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative research, running pilot exercise, refining study design and surveying instruments.

● Managing field teams: Recruit, train, and supervise both field-based and data operations teams consisting of project assistants, field managers, field-based surveyors, data entry operators and other field and office staff.

● Assisting with data cleaning, preliminary data analysis, and preparation of documents and presentations for dissemination.

● Reporting to PIs and supervisors on all the above-mentioned activities.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

Required:

● A Bachelor’s degree in Economics (or related field) or Engineering.

● At least 1 year of work experience.

● Prior experience with field data collection is desired, but not necessary.

● Familiarity with impact evaluations and randomized controlled trials is required.

● Excellent management and organizational skills along with strong quantitative skills.

● Fluency in Hindi and English and strong communication skills are required.

● Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player

● Willingness to live in Surat and travel extensively to study areas.

● Intermediate or advanced knowledge of STATA or other data analysis tools.

Desired:

● Master’s degree in economics, environmental economics, engineering, environmental engineering, or related disciplines is preferred

● Working knowledge of industry waste water systems and CETPs.

● Work experience in environmental sciences/ engineering will be an advantage.

● Familiarity with effluent flow meters and pollutant measuring devices is desired.

● Proficiency in STATA (or other tools such as R, SPSS etc.) is desired.

● Demonstrated ability to manage high-level relationships with partner organizations.

● Experience living in a developing country and/or liaising with government officials is a strongly desired but not necessary.

● High level of attention to detail.

Note on Work Authorizations:

Candidates must have work authorization to work in India. This covers citizens of India, Nepal or Bhutan, Persons of Indian origin (PIO), and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI).