Survey design and implementation for environmental economics research

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Application deadline: 30 June 2022

The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) at ICIMOD, East-West University (EWU), and Goa University (GU) are jointly organising a workshop on survey design and implementation for environmental economics research.

This workshop is part of the 11^th Congress of the Asian Association for Environmental and Resource Economics (AAERE) to be held on 19-20 August 2022. Applicants who have submitted abstracts and papers for AAERE will be given high priority in selection. However, interested and eligible applicants are also encouraged to participate in this workshop.

Objectives

The workshop will provide hands-on training and familiarise early career researchers with the practical and theoretical aspects of environmental economics-related research, including techniques for designing survey instruments, implementing household surveys with greater efficiency, and analysing survey data.

Organisers

Mani Nepal (Programme Coordinator, SANDEE, and Lead Economist, ICIMOD), will be the course director and Manashree Newa (Programme Associate, SANDEE-ICIMOD) will be administering the workshop.

Workshop faculty

A.K. Enamul Haque is the Professor of Economics at East West University (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Director of the Economic Research Group, Executive Director of Asian Center for Development, member of SANDEE’s Steering and Advisory Committees, and member of the South Asian Network for Environmental Law and Policy. Haque is an environmental economist with extensive research and teaching experience in climate change, agriculture, and urban issues in developing countries with a focus on South Asia and Bangladesh. Haque has MSc and PhD degrees in resource and environmental economics from the University of Guelph, Canada.

Pranab Mukhopadhyay is the Professor of Economics at the Goa Business School and the Program Director, Economics at Goa University, India. He is a fellow at SANDEE and INSEE, and the former President of INSEE (2016-18). Earlier, he worked as an environmental economist for IUCN, Nepal. Mukhopadhyay was also a consultant for ICIMOD, Foundation for Ecological Security, and GIZ India. His areas of work include global change, managing commons, nature and society, sustainable development, ecosystem services, and economic growth. Mukhopadhyay has MA and PhD degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.

Mani Nepal is the Programme Coordinator for SANDEE and the Lead Economist at ICIMOD. Earlier, he was an Associate Professor of Economics, Tribhuvan University; Visiting Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico, USA; Visiting Professor, Kathmandu University; and Adjunct Professor, Agriculture and Forestry University. He also worked as a Senior Economist at the Department of Finance and Administration, Santa Fe, New Mexico and as an Economist at the Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies. Nepal is a Fulbright scholar with an MS degree in Policy Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and PhD in Economics from the University of New Mexico, USA.

Who can apply?

To be eligible, participants must meet the following requirements:

• A master’s degree or PhD in economics with a good understanding of basic and applied econometrics and environmental economics
• Some experience in applying statistical software, such as Stata
• An interest in learning about survey methods for applied research in environmental economics, along with a reasonable internet connection
• Researchers from working areas of SANDEE and EEPSEA networks are eligible to apply
• Priority will be given to junior to mid-career university faculty and researchers from think tanks, research organisations, and government agencies
• Researchers from outside Asia are not eligible to apply
• Researchers with accepted papers to be presented at the AAERE conference will be given high priority

Approximately 40 participants will be invited to the workshop. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

There will be no registration and workshop costs for shortlisted participants.

Workshop expectations

This is a one-day intensive teaching and hands-on learning workshop (4.5 contact hours with 2-hour lunch break and other breaks). Participants are expected to have the KOBO toolbox and STATA software installed on their computers. Necessary data and reading materials will be provided before the workshop. The workshop is being organised online to encourage wider participation across several countries in Asia.

Topics covered

• Basic design principles of household survey for environmental economics
• Efficiency in implementing household surveys with minimal errors
• Survey data analysis

Application process

Interested and eligible candidates are requested to submit their application online before 30 June 2022. Shortlisted candidates will be informed towards the end of July/early August 2022.

Please fill the online form here and attach a single PDF file (no more than 3 pages altogether – one-inch margin, 12-point font) containing the following:

• A one-page cover letter indicating how this course will be useful in the applicant’s teaching and research activities; prior background in environmental economics courses; experience in household survey; and exposure to basic econometrics and statistical software
• One-page research concept note (precursor of a research proposal) on issues related to environmental and resource economics in Asia. The concept note should include a discussion of the research problem and its policy relevance; clear research question(s); an analytical framework; research gap and potential contribution of the proposed research; and empirical methods (data requirement, collection, and analysis).
• A brief CV (no more than one page) indicating age, gender, professional responsibilities/activities (current job and institutional details with address); educational qualifications (highest degree/institution/date); two most important research publications (if any); and current teaching and research responsibilities (if relevant)

If you have any difficulties submitting the form, please write to Manashree Newa at sandee@icimod.org.

We request you to pass this information along to interested colleagues and peers.

About the organising institutions

SANDEE is an initiative of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) under the Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) Regional Programme. SANDEE is a research capacity-building network that works in South Asia and the HKH region, supporting researchers from the region and institutions interested in understanding the inter-connections between economic development, the environment, and the use of natural resources through rigorous research.

East West University, rated among the top private universities of Bangladesh, is an institution promoting eastern culture and values while meaningfully blending eastern and western thoughts and innovation. EWU strives to maintain high quality in both instruction and research, and render community service through dissemination of information, organisation of training programmes and other activities.

Goa University is a young state university established in 1985 and located on the western coast of India. It has been consistently ranked in the top 100 universities in India by NIRF, Q.S., India Today, and The Week. Goa University offers programmes leading to undergraduate, master’s, MPhil and PhD degrees in various disciplines.