I am a quantitative researcher working on inequality, poverty, and social policy. My research themes include inequality in education and the labour market, child poverty, and social policy. The geographic focus of my research is on Europe and Africa.

I am currently Associate Professor of Economic Sociology and Public Policy and the Head of the Bachelor’s programme in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at ESPOL, Catholic University of Lille in France. Before joining ESPOL, I was Junior Professor of Sociology of the Welfare State at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Mannheim in Germany. Between 2021 and 2025, I was a research fellow at the European University Institute (EUI), working in the project WellSIRe (Wellbeing Returns on Social Investment Recalibration) studying the potential of social investment policies to smoothen life-course transitions and reduce poverty and social inequalities in Europe. Since 2024, I am Project Director at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES) leading a project “Inequality formation through parenthood transition and family policy constellations in Europe”. In addition to academic research, I teach courses on methodology in social sciences, quantitative methods, econometrics, inequality and public policy, social policy and social protection analysis.

Before joining the EUI, I worked as a social and economic policy analyst at the Unicef Office of Research (2011-2014) and at the Economic Policy Research Institute (2015-2016) where I carried out research on the measurement and analysis of child poverty and social policy. My work also involved leading regional and national workshops on poverty measurement for UNICEF regional and country offices and local partners.

I obtained my PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI) under the supervision of Prof. Fabrizio Bernardi. I also hold a Master of Science in Public Governance and Human Development, with a specialisation in Social Protection Design, obtained at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University.

Please visit my personal website for more information about my research at www.ilzeplavgo.com.