It sometimes can be hard to find out about opportunities while you're a PhD student, especially if you're at a smaller school. Below is a list of resources and opportunities that I found out about during my doctorate and while serving on the AERE GSE Committee. The list is very subjective; I am not affiliated with any of these programs; and not all may be active each year. The information is provided just in an attempt to share knowledge and help others!
Opportunities for Feedback and Learning:
UC Santa Barbara Occasional Workshop. Graduate students can submit a paper for egg-timer sessions.
Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop at the University of Illinois.
Camp Resources at NC State University. Summer workshop for graduate students and early-career scholars.
UC Berkeley Summer School in Environmental Economics. Run by Dr. Max Auffhammer, targeted towards students post-coursework and pre-dissertation.
Harvard Climate Pipeline Project. Bi-annual conferences provide the opportunity for early-stage researchers, including graduate students, to present and receive feedback on climate-related research.
RFF Critical Minerals Research Lab. Interdisciplinary and virtual group for students writing dissertations on topics related to critical minerals.
TWEEDS. TWEEDS is a methodology-focused conference that aims to bring together experts in data science, economics, environmental science, and public policy. There is a reduced registration for graduate students to attend.
APPAM Fall Research Conference. Students can apply with full papers or posters. Graduate students can also sign up for speed-mentoring sessions, and there are also multiple professional development panels for PhD students each year.
AERE@OSWEET. Virtual monthly forum for environmental economics graduate students to receive feedback on early-stage research.
Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Graduate Student Workshop. Tailored to PhD Candidates who will enter the job market in the upcoming Fall semester. Travel and accommodations are paid for by WEAI. PhD students present their job market paper to senior professors in an interview setting and receive feedback.
AERE Organized Sessions at Conferences. AERE organizes sessions at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conference, Allied Social Science Associations/American Economic Association (ASSA) Conference, Eastern Economics Association (EEA) Conference, Midwest Economic Association (MEA) Conference, Southern Economic Association (SEA) Conference, and Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Conference. The AERE organized sessions provide an opportunity for graduate students to present their research with fellow graduate students and professors in environmental and natural resource economics and receive feedback from experts in their field.
IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program. International summer opportunity for with work related to systems analysis. Application opens in the fall.
Opportunities for Mentorship, Internships, and Professional Development:
Resources for the Future (RFF) Summer Research Internship Program. Funded opportunity to work with mid-career and senior research environmental and natural resource economists. Open to Master’s and PhD students as well as domestic and international students.
Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP). CSWEP is one of the American Economic Association (AEA) committees. It aims to promote careers and progress for women economists. CSWEP organizes sessions at the main economics conferences in the U.S., provides mentoring breakfasts, and organizes the Summer Economics Fellows Program.
American Economic Association (AEA) Summer Economics Fellows Program. The Summer Economics Fellowship allows PhD students to spend a summer in residence at a sponsoring institution. The program allows PhD students to learn from leading economists in their field while also receiving summer funding to work on their dissertation.
AERE Graduate Student Engagement Professional Development webinars. Four per year, two per semester, learn a lot!
Opportunities for Funding:
Link Foundation Energy Fellowships. Provides two-years of full funding for graduate students in the dissertation-phase writing on topics related to energy.
USAEE Outstanding Student Paper/Poster Awards. Annual competition for graduate student research. Finalists present at the USAEE’s annual conference. Cash prizes are awarded. See also the annual USAEE virtual case competition: https://www.usaee.org/aws/USAEE/pt/sp/case_competition.
PERC Graduate Summer Fellowships. Graduate students that focus on conservation and land use economics can spend a summer on PERC's Colorado campus developing their paper.