Project Officer

European Commission - Joint Research Centre

Organisation/Company European Commission - Joint Research Centre Department Joint Research Centre Research Field Geography » Economic geography Economics » Tourism studies Economics » Econometrics Geography » Regional geography Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Positions Postdoc Positions

Application Deadline 25 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Part-time Hours Per Week 40 Offer Starting Date 1 Feb 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) provides independent, evidence-based knowledge and science, supporting EU policies to positively impact society.

The current vacancy is in the Territorial Development Unit within the Fair and Sustainable Economy Directorate of the JRC. Our mission is to support the territorial articulation of the EU policy agenda, its external investment and global outreach. Our aim is to deliver world-class science-for-policy support to bring Europe closer to citizens and places, turning territorial diversity into value. We aim at strengthening the EU global role in putting forward place-based solutions for recovery and sustainability and localising global agendas, bringing back to Europe what we learn from outside. We build on a unique combination of knowledge, data, methods, analytical and modelling tools as well as extensive links to urban, local, rural, regional, national and international stakeholders, authorities and communities.

The successful candidate will undertake predominantly quantitative and territorial analyses and research with a focus on housing and tourism, but potentially contribute to other areas of relevance to EU regional policy and investments, such as demographic change, regional and sectoral economic trends, transport, urban and rural development.

This role demands excellent analytical and communication skills, and active collaboration with various teams within the unit, diverse units across the JRC, and several of the European Commission’s policy Directorates-General (DGs), as well as external stakeholders.

The selected candidate will:

• Contribute to on-going research and policy support projects of the unit by carrying out data collection, processing and analysis, developing and maintaining indicators, analyse trends and patterns;
• Author and co-author technical, scientific and science for policy publications;
• Collaborate with colleagues within the unit, across the JRC and other Commission services and external partners;
• Gain access and analyse large statistical and spatial data sets for the EU and neighbouring European countries;
• Present and discuss policy-relevant analyses and research findings to high-level policymakers and scientific forums;
• Suggest new research questions, opportunities for further policy-relevant analysis and potentially develop new streams of work.

This position offers a unique opportunity to provide high-quality scientific input to support the territorial dimension of EU policies, ensuring high policy impact.

The selected candidate will have the chance to collaborate with a number of Commission DGs, international organisations, national, regional and local authorities, academia and other relevant public and private actors and their intermediaries.

We seek a motivated and dynamic researcher with a strong quantitative profile, and experience socio-economic and territorial (i.e. sub-national) analysis research, data and methods.

You must demonstrate (essential):

• A Ph.D. or at least 3 years of proven experience in research and analysis in one or more of the following areas: housing, tourism, regional or urban economics, economic geography, regional and urban development, transport, demography, urban or rural studies, data science, geospatial analysis or other related fields;
• Good command of state-of-the-art methods, techniques and software for statistical data processing and analysis;
• Excellent drafting and presentation (including data visualization) skills for technical and non-technical audiences;
• A very good knowledge (C1) of English.

A combination of the following knowledge, experience and skills will be considered an advantage (desirable):

• Academic, peer-reviewed publications on relevant topics;
• Knowledge of sources of national and/or European sub-national data of relevance for analysis of socioeconomic development, housing or tourism, and experience with working with large datasets for spatial and/or statistical analysis;
• Experience with econometric or other relevant techniques (e.g., machine learning) for inference, causal inference, predic