Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in Economics, Sociology or Political sciences - Ref: 26-24

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
• Work location: Belval (Luxembourg)
• Deadline: 15 September 2026 at midnight CET

(LIS)²ER initiative

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 portfolios in 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.

Application process

Please submit your complete application in English via https://jobs.liser.lu/jobs by including the following documents before 15th September 2026 :

• Curriculum vitae ;
• A short description of your research ideas in relation with the (LIS)2ER framework (2 pages max) ;
• 1 or 2 representative research papers or already published articles ;
• Copy of your PhD diploma ;
• Two reference letters (to be uploaded with the application documents or sent separately to recruitment@liser.lu).

Deadline to submit applications: 15th September 2026 at midnight CET

Would you have any work-related question, please contact Dr. Alessio FUSCO at alessio.fusco@liser.lu.

For administrative matters, please contact Mrs. Vanya KIROVA at recruitment@liser.lu

Why LISER?

LISER is a publicly funded research institute located in Luxembourg and dedicated to applied empirical research in economic, social and spatial sciences. The Institute attracts top researchers from all over the world and high-level student training is a vibrant part of the Institute’s activities. LISER staff consists of approx. 200 employees, about 60% of the staff being researchers; mainly from the fields of economics, geography and sociology. The vision of the institute is to be a socio-economic research institute internationally recognised, focused on scientific excellence and societal impact, able to contribute through multi-disciplinary and intersectoral research, in an active and inclusive way to a sustainable and inclusive society at national and international level.

LIS is a non-profit research infrastructure based in Luxembourg, internationally recognised as the world's leading provider of harmonised microdata on income, wealth and, soon, consumption. For more than four decades, LIS has provided secure access to harmonised household microdata from over 60 countries, supporting evidence-based research on inequality, poverty, living standards and social policy. Its international, multidisciplinary team works closely with national statistical offices, central banks, universities and research centres worldwide to make high-quality microdata accessible while upholding the highest standards of confidentiality, data protection and scientific integrity.

Both institutes are located on the new Belval campus in the south of Luxembourg (Cité des Sciences, Luxembourg), which hosts the University of Luxembourg and a substantial part of the country’s publicly funded research facilities, such as – in addition to LISER and LIS – the  Luxembourg institutes of Health (LIH) and of Science and Technology (LIST). Information on research in Luxembourg is accessible via the national EURAXESS platform.

LISER and LIS are Equal Opportunity Employers