Research Associate (f/m) in the fields of applied econometric & distributional analysis - Ref 25-43

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)

is recruiting a

Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in the fields of applied econometric and distributional analysis

• Ref: 25-43
• 26 months fixed-term working contract at LISER
• Full-time, 40 hours/week
• Department: Living Conditions
• Work location: Belval (Luxembourg)
• Deadline: January 15th, 2026

Project description

The perspective Research Associate will primarily contribute to the project “Universal public supply of EDucation and long-run Opportunities” (EDO), supported by the National Research Funds of Luxembourg. The goal of EDO project is to uncover causal evidence about the economic returns of education reforms that take place early and late stages of the education career in systems where education is publicly provided and access is granted universally. We measure returns on human capital of children using information about their educational career when young and their labour market performances when adult. To do so, we resort on features of education reforms to draw causal evidence about the underlying economic returns. Importantly, the design of the reforms allows to isolate their causal impact from the effects of confounders, characterizing the socio-economic context of the country where the reform takes place.

The EDO project relies on evidence from three country-case-study in Europe, the choice being guided by the timing of reforms and the extent of accessibility to the education system. The first case study is Italy, where we explore the staggered implementation of the preschool state program starting in 1968 (Scuola Materna) across cohorts and counties to identify the effect of early education expansion on human capital of affected children. The second case study is the large education reform that took place in Sweden, of which the project EDO aims at unveiling the intergenerational consequences. Our third case study is

Luxembourg, the focus being on the effects of expanding supply of primary education curricula (universally available) on basic competences and tracking choices of the treated children observed when still in education.

The project EDO aims at producing high-quality and innovative applied research that could be published on leading economics journals. The project execution will benefit from granted availability of innovative micro-dataset for the three country-case-studies that blend social security data, register data and large population surveys. The data platform that will be created for Luxembourg has a contingent value for the project, but also for future analysis of inequality in educational opportunities. This platform will be managed by EDO members in tight collaboration with the Observatoire National de l’Enfance, de la Jeunesse et de la Qualité Scolaire (OEJQS).

Your role

In this context, the successful candidate will have the following missions:

• Participate in the EDO project in collaboration with local and international partners. The successful candidate will primarily support and collaborate with the research team in the analysis of the Luxembourgish administrative dataset created and to the evaluation of the recent reform that expanded diversification in the supply of public education curricula in Luxembourg ;
• Produce excellent research outputs, which can be published in high-ranked, peer-reviewed journals. The successful candidate will be offered the possibility to develop her own contributions and will be granted access to the data infrastructure created within the EDO project ;
• Support the principal investigator with reporting and admin activities related to the project ;
• Take part in the day-to-day department-related activities (workshops, lecture series, etc.), and participate in public outreach activities like policy briefs or social media communication related to the EDO project ;
• Support LISER’s staff in the management of the annual Winter School on Inequality and Social Welfare Theory, co-organized by CESifo, LISER and University of Verona and in collaboration with a network of European academic institutions.

Your profile

• At the starting date of the project, the applicant should hold a Ph.D. in economics, applied econometrics, statistics or related quantitative disciplines ;
• Excellent quantitative skills and skills in programming (preferably Stata, but also R and/or Python). Documented experience in the implementation of machine learning techniques as well as data science methods is considered an asset ;
• Hands-on experience working with large-scale survey or administrative data ;
• Excellent writing skills, as evidenced by selected publications (or working papers) ;
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work within a team ;
• Fluency in English (both spoken and written), working knowledge of French is considered an asset.

LISER is strongly committed to diversity and inclusion, and is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of background, and particularly encourage applications from female researchers.

What we offer

• A dynamic and international research environment with attractive working conditions and a stimulating work environment;
• 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.

How to apply

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

• Curriculum vitae, detailing all academic experience ;
• Motivation letter, which features a one-page (max) statement about the research the candidate wants to develop over the next years ;
• Recent piece of research ;
• 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: January 15th, 2026

Would you have any question related to the characteristics of this job posting, please contact Dr. Francesco ANDREOLI at francesco.andreoli@liser.lu.

For administrative and logistics 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.

The institute is 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, i.e. LISER, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) cross-national data centre, 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 is an Equal Opportunity Employer