Our team and Partners

Project Coordinator - Dr. Marge Unt

As a kid, I never wanted to grow up. To me, the grown-up world was not something to look for. What is this "work" they always claim to have? Why do they refuse to run around in fields and find shapes in clouds? And why do adults assume that they know it all and are still so stressed? Now, I have made this transition and have entered the world of my own family and work. However, I am still deeply interested in how youth experience becoming an adult in different contexts.

 

Project Co-coordinator - Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel

When I grew up, Germany experienced serious mass unemployment and was called the “sick man of Europe”. I saw friends suffering from unemployment and insecure jobs. But there were also success stories of friends coping with such a situation and also escaping from it. Nowadays, after a period of policy reforms, the situation is better in Germany but there are still many problems. These observations raised my interest in understanding how youths avoid getting into trouble and which policies help.

 

 

Get to know all researchers that are engaged in the project. Read the personal story of each researcher by clicking on her/his picture.

Veneta Krasteva

Veneta Krasteva

Position: Chief assistant professor/Research Assistant in EXCEPT Project

Field of study: Sociology

Research topics: Study of inequalities and education, Life course research; Social policies, Economic sociology

My father lost his job to which he had devoted over two decades of his life during the economic and political reforms in Bulgaria in 1989; I was 9 than. He was one of the many people in that period who lost their secure work, which they thought they will have till retirement. My father experienced this change very hard. Till then I didn't realize what a great and important part of adult`s life the job is. I have never felt myself unemployed – I worked part-time job during my study, right after my PhD defense I started working at the ISSK where I am still working. But that memento from the end of 90's is still living in my memories and maybe because of it, together with the responsibilities for my own family that me and my husband have, I define the unemployment as one of the most serious societal problems.

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Advisory board:

Hans-Peter Blossfeld
Caroline Dewilde
Duncan Gallie
Massimiliano Mascherini
Jale Tosun
Gianfranco Bordone
Laura Orestano
Franco Chiaramonte
Luca Chiapella
Vanessa Di Paola
Virginie Mora
Ruth Santos-Brien
Rita Bergstein

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