Do you want to be a student consultant in a once in a lifetime project? Are you interested in development economics, climate change policies, and sustainable finance? Then the International Research Project (IRP) 2022 is for you!
Do you want to know more about the project and the application process? Keep reading to find out more!
On November 29 2021, last year's IRP committee presented the results of the 2021 research they had been conducting in Aruba to investigate the situation of Venezuelan migrants in the island. Yet, since the beginning of the academic year, our new committee has already been working really hard on next year’s International Research Project.
Next year’s International Research Project will focus on Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. The goal is to attract and stimulate environmentally innovative Dutch companies to invest in these specific African countries. Shane, an active member of this year’s IRP committee, has given us more insights into the research that will be carried out:
“We approached TRAIDE which has been running a lot of projects on sustainable trade and investment in African countries. They proposed that we study climate change and sustainability policies in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Mozambique and then develop business cases to attract Dutch companies to use their sustainable technologies in these African countries.”
There will be three main focuses for this project:
Study climate change policies in these African countries as well as general policies that have been developed worldwide and that are of interest to the research.
Financing these projects: It is crucial to come up with ideas to find financing that allows investment in sustainable technologies for the three countries.
Build one business case per country, which will focus on specific technologies or sectors with the aim of getting such technologies working in Africa.
The research project will be divided into 2 phases. During the first phase, there will be three research groups with different responsibilities: investigating current climate policies, studying how the financing of these sustainable technologies can be done, and developing a database of Dutch parties working in this sector.
In the second phase of the project, the student consultants will be divided into three groups, and each group will focus on one country with the aim to build one business case per country.
“Hopefully, if COVID allows it, we will have our trip to one of the three countries. When we’re over there, some field research will be carried out in addition to the desk research that we will have already conducted. This will most likely focus on visiting companies, interviewing people, doing surveys, and collecting data on the business cases. Coming back from the trip there will be some additional work to do in order to analyze the data collected and to finalize the report.”
Are you still thinking about applying for this year's IRP?
“Joining IRP is an incredible opportunity to conduct practical and applied research. As students, it is often the case that we’re given a too theoretical foundation with little application. We read about these very interesting papers in development economics and sustainability where it’s really hands-on research. This is an opportunity to do this ourselves, to actually get some hands-on experience and conduct practical research. We will work together with the TRAIDE team which has a more practical and realistic view of the field. Moreover, you’ll develop plenty of other skills such as networking skills or organizational skills. Also, we’re all really enthusiastic and we all keep it fun while also working hard and achieving great things together.”
Who we are looking for...
“We’re looking for enthusiastic students who are interested in climate change and in conducting research. We’re not looking for any sort of fancy past experience! Just real interest and passion for development economics, climate change policies, sustainable finance, and entrepreneurialism.”
Do you want to be part of an amazing team of student consultants and join this real-world project with impact? The application period for student consultants for the next International Research Project has already opened! Do not miss this opportunity and apply with your CV via https://www.aeclipse.nl/recruitment-irp-2022 before December 22nd at 23:59!
If you have more questions about the project, feel free to reach out to Rita, our Commissioner of Development Economics via irpcommissioner@aeclipse.nl!
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