Research Associate Position: Economics, Sociology or Political sciences, LISER/LIS, Luxembourg
The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) and the LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg (LIS)
are recruiting a joint
Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in Economics, Sociology or Political Sciences
- Ref: 26-24
- 3-year fixed-term working contract at LISER
- Full-time, 40 hours/week
- Deadline: 15 September 2026 at midnight CET
The objective of the project is to develop a new data-driven knowledge base about policies to fight inequalities and to deepen our understanding of ‘what works’ in reducing inequalities, building upon almost 40 years of household data from middle-income and rich countries collected in the LIS Data Center.
The structure of LIS data has at its core the exploitation of variations across countries and over time to describe and explore the roots of income and wealth inequality and poverty. One can look at policy variations through the same lenses: different countries pursue different policy goals with alternative policy instruments, and government turnover leads to changes in policy objectives and implementations over time within the same country. However, while there is a large literature describing patterns of inequality which takes a cross-country analysis of time variation, there is much less research on variations in policy packages (welfare policies, tax policies, labour market regulation, educational policies) and on their impact of inequality and poverty.
The (LIS)2ER initiative therefore proposes to exploit the richness of the LIS data, including the Luxembourg Consumption Study (LCS), a new harmonized consumption database currently under construction to complement the existing income (LIS) and wealth (LWS) databases, to study the effect of policy portfoliosin place in different countries and different times on inequality and poverty. The candidate should be able to develop a research agenda on this thematic area, possibly addressing topics on the future of social protection in the context of technological transformation, population change or climate change. The current structure of the LIS Database, covering a large array of countries over a long-time span allows for studying the policy stances over the following domains:
- inequality in consumption, income and wealth ;
- taxation (progressivity, income pooling, deductibility) ;
- unemployment ;
- social assistance and poverty ;
- pensions ;
- family benefits.
To complement this research agenda, the (LIS)2ER programme also hosts regular visitors to work on the LIS infrastructure on site and organize an annual conference in Luxembourg and regular research seminars.
Your role
The successful candidate will be working on the (LIS)2ER project ‑ a joint initiative of LIS and LISER aiming at fostering collaborative research projects, under supervision of senior researchers from both institutions.
In this context, the successful candidate will have the following missions:
- Develop the (LIS)2ER project described above – notably by undertaking innovative research, co-organizing events and attending to LIS-LISER visitors ;
- Develop a distinctive research program in collaboration with researchers from LIS and LISER ;
- Disseminate results through scientific publications and reports ;
- Contribute to the submission of research proposals ;
- Attend scientific conferences and workshops.
Your profile
- Ph.D. in Economics, Sociology, Political sciences or related discipline ;
- Expertise in income/wealth/consumption inequality and poverty research, as well as knowledge of cross-country policy differences (welfare policies, labour market regulation, educational policies) ;
- Extensive experience in quantitative research (possibly including policy evaluation or computational data driven methods) ;
- Fluency in English (speaking and writing), any other language is considered as an asset.
LISER and LISER particularly encourage female researchers to apply
What we offer
- A dynamic and international research environment with attractive working conditions and a stimulating work environment ;
- Personal workspace at LIS (as the project requires to work on both Institutes’ premises located on the same floor) ;
- Flexibility in the organisation of the working hours and the possibility of teleworking ;
- Competitive remuneration according to the Collective Labour Agreement in force (half of a 13th month salary, meal vouchers, etc.) ;
- Investment in career support and development (trainings, seminars, participation to international meetings and conferences) ;
- 32.5 days of annual leave for a full-time contract.
LISER and LIS are Equal Opportunity Employers