Predoctoral Researcher on Financial Inclusion

Call for Applications: Predoctoral Researcher Funding Contract 2026

We are offering a Predoctoral Researcher Funding Contract to work on the project titled “Financial inclusion tools to address the challenges related to accessing financial services”. This contract covers a three‑year scholarship to pursue a PhD within the Business and Territorial Competitiveness, Innovation and Sustainability program (CETIS) at the IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramon Llull (Barcelona, Spain). It includes a full‑time employment contract starting in March 2026, and full coverage of doctoral tuition fees for the three‑year period. The selected candidate will work within a multidisciplinary research environment, engaging with the Sustainability, Economics and Ethics Research Group (SEE). The doctoral thesis will be supervised by Dr. Francesc Prior Sanz from the Department of Economics and Finance and Dr. Octasiano Valerio Mendoza from the Department of Mathematics and Data Analytics.

What is the general project?

Financial Inclusion (FI) is recognized as a crucial instrument for economic advancement. This project explores barriers to FI and tools to improve access to financial services. Key obstacles include high service costs, limited branch access, misaligned risk assessments, poor financial education, and weak regulations. To address these, this project aims to examine innovative solutions like microfinance, blockchain, and the formal use of remittances. By focusing on both supply and demand challenges, the project seeks to identify effective Financial Inclusion Tools (FITs) that can combat poverty and marginalization, extending FI benefits not only to developing nations but also to transition and developed economies.

There are several factors that impede FI among low‑income segments of the population. This may be attributed more to an insufficient supply of financial services than to a lack of demand. On this account, there is an unmet demand for financial services in these low‑income segments. Providing financial services to these segments is hindered by factors such as high financial costs, inadequate distribution networks, inappropriate risk analysis mechanisms, and regulatory systems that are not well‑suited, either because they are not well designed or because the costs involved are too high.

Because of the above‑mentioned factors, unbanked customers are compelled to rely on more expensive and less efficient informal services, hindering their economic progress. Addressing the challenges regarding access to financial services requires sophisticated and innovative financial tools. These tools aim to reduce the costs of financial services, expanding distribution networks, and adopting risk methodologies suitable for developing countries. These include remittance flows, the development of new business models, the use of new decentralized technologies, improved regulatory frameworks, and more financial education. Implementing these measures would enable the provision of financial services that align with the existing demand profile in each society, thus facilitating widespread FI.

This PhD project introduces and investigates eight financial innovation tools (FITs) that may address the challenges related to accessing financial services: mobile money, non‑bank financial distribution, behavioural credit risk, workers’ remittances, adapted financial regulation, financial education, microfinance business models, and blockchain technology.

The research will pursue three core objectives: (i) to construct and analyze novel indicators of financial inclusion across regions; (ii) to assess the effectiveness of the FITs introduced and reviewed and (iii) to generate and propose new FITs that may address the challenges related to accessing financial services.

This is a highly data‑driven and interdisciplinary project that combines tools and perspectives from finance and economic sciences. Key methodological components include:

- Construction of a novel panel dataset that combines financial inclusion data with detailed geographic and socio‑economic indicators.

- Advanced econometric techniques to quantify causality and correlation.

- Experimental research on Financial Inclusion innovative cases to understand how FITs can address the challenges related to accessing financial services. Experimental case data will be obtained through partnerships with multilateral organisations working on Financial Inclusion.

Key Responsibilities

The doctoral researcher will be based at IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramon Llull (Barcelona, Spain) and will be responsible for carrying out the core research activities leading to the completion of their PhD thesis within the framework of the project “Financial inclusion tools to address the challenges related to accessing financial services”. This includes advanced data processing and analysis, indicator development, and contributions to the experimental research components of the project. The researcher is also expected to actively participate in training activities, research seminars, and collaborative initiatives led by the SEE research groups. In addition, the position may include some light teaching assistance responsibilities.

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