I teach quantitative research methods, poverty, inequality and the life course transitions, social protection and the welfare state. I have taught students enrolled in Bachelor's, Master’s and doctoral programmes. I have obtained a Teacher Training Certificate in 2019 from the European University Institute (EUI).
Below are the courses I have taught, with a syllabus and students’ feedback when available.
Contemporary Welfare State Change and Challenges
Lecturer at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
Duration and audience: 14 weeks, two contact hours per week, academic year 2023-2024, to Bachelor's students.
Contents: This seminar gives an overview of how welfare states have adapted in face of the new economic and social challenges and new social risks, paying particular attention to social investment policies related to ex-ante capacitation and activation. We first discuss recent welfare state developments and assess welfare state capacity to ensure individual and societal wellbeing from a theoretical and comparative perspective. We then assess the role of welfare state policies in reducing (or exacerbating) poverty and inequality related to education, work–care reconciliation, and employment. We conclude by exploring future avenues for welfare state research given the contemporary and upcoming challenges faced by our societies. The aim of this seminar is to familiarize with recent welfare state developments and to have an enhanced understanding of the role of ‘old’ and ‘new’ social policies in affecting individuals’ life course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes.
Social and Labour Market Inequalities
Lecturer at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
Duration and audience: 14 weeks, two contact hours per week, academic year 2023-2024, to Bachelor's students.
Contents: This seminar gives an overview of sociological research in social structures and inequalities in education and the labour market. First, it provides with key theories and concepts in social structures and intergenerational inequalities. Second, it discusses recent developments in studies of micro mechanisms behind educational and labour market inequalities. Third, it looks at how national contextual factors shape cross-country and over-time differences in inequality of educational opportunity, social mobility, and labour market inequalities.
Inequality in educational and employment opportunities: Social origin, gender, and the welfare state
Lecturer at the University of Salzburg, Austria.
Duration and audience: 30 contact hours, academic years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, to Bachelor's students.
Contents: This course engages with recent debates, competing theories, and empirical findings in political and social sciences in the fields of inequality, social stratification, and public policy. In Part 1, we cover the main concepts of equality of opportunity, social and gender inequality in education and the labour market, and social mobility. In Part 2, we look at the core theories and findings that explain the micro-level foundations of intergenerational transmission of (dis)advantage and gender inequality in education and employment. In Part 3, we study the role of the national context in explaining trends and cross-country variation in social stratification and gender inequality in education and employment. In Part 4, we examine the role of the welfare state in affecting inequality in life course trajectories. Part 4 provides insights into how welfare states can affect households’ work-life balance and reduce or intensify poverty and gendered inequality in employment opportunities.
Introduction in Quantitative Methods & Introduction to Data Analysis and STATA for Beginners
Teaching Assistant at the European University Institute (EUI), Italy.
Duration and audience: Sept-Dec 2017, to 1st year PhD researchers in Political and Social Sciences.
Contents: A quantitative methods course covering the following topics: hypothesis testing, multivariate regression in practice (estimation, assumptions, restrictions), OLS and Logistic regression estimation, interaction terms in OLS regression, presentation of findings and interpretation, social significance.
Students’ evaluations regarding co-teaching: Full evaluation here.
Quantitative Social Protection Analysis
Lecturer at the University of Mauritius, Mauritius.
Duration and audience: 60 contact hours, block seminar, winter semester every academic year from 2011 to 2016, to Master's students.
Contents: A quantitative methods course in social protection analysis, as part of an MSc programme in Social Protection Financing.
Course outline (Full course syllabus here):
- Basic Income Grants
- Family benefits
- Pensions
- Health Insurance
- Effectiveness of benefits on changes in poverty levels
- Monetary poverty analysis
- Proxy means testing and social cash transfers
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