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.

Iris Neumann

Iris Neumann

Position: PhD Student/Research Assistant in EXCEPT Project

Field of study: Sociology

Research topics: social stratification/inequality; life course research; international comparative social research; cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis

As many people in my generation I had to face unemployment and job uncertainty in recent years. Though I have been high qualified and highly motivated after I graduated from University I had a feeling of being rejected by the labour market. After lots of applications I finally got my first position.  Although I finally could enter the labour market I had to accept it was outside my subject area and a fixed-term work contract. So I still felt insecure concerning my future.

Now I have my second position within the EXCEPT-project – fixed term again - but at least in my field of interest.  And above all with the possibility to provide answers on how we can turn the labour market situation for the better, reducing uncertainty and improving chances for my generation and the following. 

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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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