Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Employment careers as structural determinants of social inequalities in all-cause and cause-specific disability and mortality" "Christophe Vanroelen" Sociology "Belgium, like other high-income countries, witnessed rising unemployment, disability and more flexible employment trajectories. Understanding the potential effect of (flexible) employment careers on disability and mortality is the main objective of the project. The project aims at an in-depth investigation, from a longitudinal perspective, of the role of spells of unemployment, inactivity and precarious employment careers as causes of disability and mortality. Therefore we will systematically investigate the pathways between employment trajectories and disability and mortality. Also the role of disability as a potential precursor of mortality will be studied in this context. We will do so being sensitive for the intersectionality with social background characteristics – that is, the potential complex relation with gender, socioeconomic position and household composition. Research in this area is often hampered by a lack of appropriate data. The n data for this project are unique because they provide longitudinal and continuous information on employment status of workers, which can be linked to later disability and mortality. Despite the existence of good longitudinal registry data in Belgium, there is still very limited research in this area. This proposal aims to fill that gap. The data for this project will be derived from the linked census-mortality registry database and the Crossroads Bank for Social Security." "Project 7379: Increasing the employment intentions of employers with regard to persons with an occupational disability" "The employment rate of people with an occupational disability is low in Flanders, certainly in comparison with the situation in Sweden and Finland. The aim of the project is to investigate how the job of the employment broker / coach can be adapted to promote the employment intentions of the employers. Which tools and methodologies can we transform from Sweden, Finland and Ireland into the Flemish context and vice versa?" "Working while incapacitated? Re-education and employment assistance for children and adults with physical disabilities in Belgium, 1908-1958." "Pieter Verstraete" "History of Education" "This doctoral research explores how (potentially) physically disabled labourers were perceived, treated and reintegrated in society through (re-)educational, allocative and employment support initiatives in Belgium between 1908 and 1958. Three large groups are at the heart of the analysis: children and young adults with congenital impairments or illnesses, victims of work accidents, and disabled soldiers and civilians of the First and Second World War. Limited research has already been published on the rehabilitation and re-education of Great War, but detailed information about the financial and medico-social consequences of their injuries is missing. The situation of Belgian disabled civilians, children and work accident victims however remained almost completely unexplored.In the international historiography, on the contrary, rehabilitation, education and labour for individuals with divergent types of disabilities are popular topics of scholarly attention but - until today - have never been thoroughly integrated as interconnected issues within a single academic book. This research is therefore exceptional and innovative in its threefold intention 1) to study physically impaired people throughout the life course from childhood to retirement no matter the cause of their difficulties, 2) to offer a comprehensive overview of the ways in which educational policies marked the individual school lives of those in need of special medical and didactic care and 3) to pragmatically analyse in what way various compensatory measures and protective employment strategies characterised the working prospects and subsequently also the family lives of people with congenital, accidental and war impairments. As such, this PhD intertwines four important, and usually distinct academic theme areas: the history of special schooling and re-education, the history of orthopaedic devices and rehabilitation, the history of invalidity assessment and the history of disability policymaking.First of all, this dissertation uses the concept of “problematisation” by the philosopher Michel Foucault (1954-1984) to examine how persons with physical disabilities were identified as a separate category with own support needs within the wider group of vulnerable, ill and older people in our society. Then, it applies the theoretical perspective of interdependence to study how the government, medico-pedagogical experts and advocacy associations of military and civilian invalids tried to develop a suitable support policy consisting of financial measures, special schooling with medical care and employment assistance. More specifically, it relies on the theoretical frameworks of the mixed economy of welfare (1980s) and the five phases of care by the political scientist Joan Tronto (1993; 2013).Subsequently, this PhD research examines the impact of these policy decisions on the employment prospects, career choices and the working lives of people with disabilities in practice. Finally, in an epilogue, this dissertation uses the concepts of “reproblematisation” andthe “history of the present” of philosopher Michel Foucault to shed light on how the history of (in)capacity for work has influenced our current ideas about physical disability. In this way, it aims to encourage a new outlook on work and employment support measures." "VIONA: Target groups in paid employment and self-employment." "Marijke Verbruggen" "Department of Work and Organisation Studies (main work address Leuven)" "This project will examine which groups in the Flemish labor market experience lower opportunities in work (both in wage- and self-employment). Firstly, we will examine which criteria can be used to determine a person's ""opportunities in work"". We will take a broad view and look at both objective (e.g. wage and promotion opportunities) and subjective (e.g. person-job fit) criteria. Next, we will use these criteria to investigate which groups in the labor market (e.g. women, disabled workers) experience lower opportunities in work. This will be done through a literature review and analyses on existing datasets. Also the mechanims that account for the lower opportunities in work of these groups will be examined (through both a literature review and analyses of existing interview data). In a next step, we will look at the career support needs of these groups via focus groups with people from each of the identified target groups. Finally, the insights from the previous steps will be used to formulate recommendations to the career counseling sector in Flanders. Career counseling centers in Flanders receive additional subsidies for coundeling individuals from 4 specific target groups. The results from this project will allow us to, among others, evaluate whether these groups are indeed the groups in most need of career support." "Evaluation research of the new targeted employment policies in Flanders based on a reduction of social contributions to the employer" "Ludo Struyven" "Research Group Education and Labour Market" "This research aims to evaluate the so-called targeted employment policies in the Flemish Region of Belgium for the first time after its regionalization in 2014. The instrument used consists of targeted hiring subsidies for employers through a reduction in social security contributions. These are (mostly) newly recruited employees in the lowest wage categories belonging to one of the following three groups: low and middle qualified young people, older employees, and disabled people. These types of reduction of social contributions came into force on 1 July 2016 and replaced other Flemish and federal measures (including the Activa measures), which slowly extinguished. From 1 January 2017, the Flemish government also introduced a financial incentive to employers to recruit long-term job-seekers. The aim of this research is to evaluate the gross and net impact of the targeted policies on new hirings and their cost." "Is a work strategy for reducing child poverty amongst disabled children effective or a shot misfired? An empirical exploration of child poverty, childhood disability and the work-care nexus in Flanders." "Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy" "Policy strategies to reduce child poverty are nowadays inspired by social investment and generally focused on parental employment. There is substantial overlap between childhood disability and child poverty, but for families with disabled children such employment strategy might be problematic. The risk of being poor for (families of) disabled children is associated with the fact that a) participation in the labour market is difficult for parents as they need to provide care for their children; b) families with disabled children generally have a lower socioeconomic status; and c) they face more medical and other expenses. The main objective of the research proposal is 1) to investigate the interrelationships between these factors; 2) to identify the impact of the current social policy package in Flanders on labour market participation and poverty; and 3) to examine how the prevailing policy paradigm should be recalibrated to achieve better results in terms of child poverty reduction. The research will clarify unresolved questions regarding the role of the work-care balance in families with disabled children in explaining child poverty. The results will allow us a) to formulate new hypotheses on how families with disabled children from different social backgrounds and with different care needs cope with the challenge of care and work; b) to inform policy makers on how to improve existing policy measures; and c) to add to the literature on child poverty and the work-care nexus." "How can we enhance employer involvement in creating labour market opportunities for persons with an occupational disability?" "Sofie Cabus" "Research Group Education and Labour Market" "The focus of the project is on the role of the job intermediary or coach and their relationship with employers. In particular, we use good practices in order to determine which factors positively influence employers’ intentions: intention boosters! We also pay attention to the intersection of these intention boosters and gender. We then link these intention boosters to national and international tools used by job intermediaries in other European Union countries. New tools can also be developed, which delivers the transnational end product, the basis for mutual learning. Then, each partner can continue with these tools. The intended Flemish end product is an enrichment of the Supported Employment model for employer involvement.." "Is a work strategy for reducing child poverty amongst disabled children effective or a shot misfired? An empirical exploration of child poverty, childhood disability and the work-care nexus in Flanders." "Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy" "Policy strategies to reduce child poverty are nowadays inspired by social investment and generally focused on parental employment. There is substantial overlap between childhood disability and child poverty, but for families with disabled children such employment strategy might be problematic. The risk of being poor for (families of) disabled children is associated with the fact that a) participation in the labour market is difficult for parents as they need to provide care for their children; b) families with disabled children generally have a lower socioeconomic status; and c) they face more medical and other expenses. The main objective of the research proposal is 1) to investigate the interrelationships between these factors; 2) to identify the impact of the current social policy package in Flanders on labour market participation and poverty; and 3) to examine how the prevailing policy paradigm should be recalibrated to achieve better results in terms of child poverty reduction. The research will clarify unresolved questions regarding the role of the work-care balance in families with disabled children in explaining child poverty. The results will allow us a) to formulate new hypotheses on how families with disabled children from different social backgrounds and with different care needs cope with the challenge of care and work; b) to inform policy makers on how to improve existing policy measures; and c) to add to the literature on child poverty and the work-care nexus." "The effectiveness of social policy targeted at households with disabled children in Flanders: does the existing set of social policies succeed in reducing the poverty risk of disabled children?" "Sarah Marchal" "Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy" "Families with disabled children combine both direct and indirect costs that likely have a negative impact on their poverty risk. First, they face higher direct costs due to the child's medical and care needs. Second, they face higher indirect costs as they need to provide more care which jeopardises the parents' engagement in the labour market. On top of that, families with disabled children often have a lower socioeconomic status than families without disabled children, increasing their poverty risk independent of having a disabled child. Many Western welfare states have implemented a set of benefits and services for families with disabled children to mitigate these direct and indirect costs. However, we lack insight in the actual effectiveness of these social policies in reaching this objective. Therefore, this research project aims to evaluate to what extent the existing set of social policies for families with disabled children in Flanders succeeds in reducing their poverty risk by increasing family income directly or indirectly. Specifically, the project will work on three related research strands. First, we will explore the non-take-up of social support for disabled children as this phenomenon can substantially impede the actual effectiveness of social policies. Second, we will look into the direct poverty reducing effect of the existing cash allowances for families with disabled children, in particular the supplemental child benefit. Finally, the indirect impact will be investigated via the causal effect of the presence of disabled children on parental employment. The budget requested within this BOF-KP project will be used to finance a data request with the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Social Security for the extension of an existing administrative dataset. Obtaining longitudinal employment information, information from the Ministry of Education and from the tax administration, will allow us to shed light on the three research strands. We will apply quantitative methods on this unique administrative dataset." "Age discrimination in employment: the EU perspective applied in the law of the Member States?" "Petra FOUBERT" "Centre for Government and Law" "With the adoption in the year 2000 of the 'Framework Directive', discrimination in employment on various grounds, including age, has been prohibited. Notwithstanding this general legislative approach, age discrimination seems to occupy a unique position within the EU legal framework and that of its Member States. In the first place, this project aims at determining the position of age discrimination in EU law on the basis of a study of EU legislation and case law. Particular attention will also be paid to the interaction of age with other discrimination grounds, in particular disability and gender (intersectional discrimination). In the second place, this project aims at analysing whether or not there is any interference between certain Member States' perception of age discrimination (Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and the EU's perception. These Member States' visions on age discrimination will be studied, as well as the interference itself, with a view to possibly uncover an embryonic 'common law of Europe regarding age discrimination in employment'. Throughout the whole project functional comparisons with the USA - which has a longstanding tradition with respect to age discrimination in employment - will be made. By way of conclusion, all new insights will be bundled, in order to formulate a number of suggestions and to set out the boundaries of the prohibition of age discrimination, both on the EU and the Belgian levels."