Doctoral Programme

Alumni

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Adda Carla Justiniano Medina	2023	Intermarriage and the Integration of Immigrants	University of Luxembourg	Marie Valentova (LISER)
Testimony
I was immersed in a four-year journey PhD programme in LISER, within the MINLAB project (Doctoral Training Unit financed by the FNR). My overall experience was very positive. The emphasis in LISER is on innovative methodologies and interdisciplinary collaboration. I benefited from the guidance and support of committed mentors and exchanges with peers and colleagues, as well as from exchanges with leading visiting scholars. The atmosphere is collaborative, where collective growth and shared learning is nurtured. LISER has supportive resources and cutting-edge research facilities which play a pivotal role, equipping researchers with indispensable assets to enrich their studies and contribute meaningfully to their project's overarching goals. Beyond academia, the experience in LISER cultivated practical life skills. Balancing research demands, coursework, and collaborative projects and instilled a strong work ethic. Engaging with colleagues from diverse backgrounds enriched intercultural communication abilities, which are increasingly relevant in our interconnected global landscape. Looking back on these transformative years, I not only gained valuable insights into socio-economic research but also developed a foundation of resilience, adaptability, and a lasting commitment to exploring complex societal issues.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Alper Ünsal	2023	Three Essays on the General Equilibrium Effects of Human Interactions	University of Luxembourg	Bertrand Verheyden (LISER)
Testimony
I gladly spent four years at LISER as a PhD candidate in economics. I was part of the Migration, Inequalities and Labor Markets (MINLAB) doctoral training unit. During my studies, I benefited from advanced coursework at the University of Luxembourg, which is among the best young universities in the world. At both LISER and the University of Luxembourg, I had the opportunity to interact with prominent scholars and attend excellent seminars. LISER was also supportive in disseminating our research at internal and external seminars, finding doctoral summer schools, and providing soft skills training. Thanks to LISER, I successfully obtained my PhD degree while deepening my knowledge in both theoretical and applied economic research, and also enjoyed a friendly and welcoming workplace environment.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Giuseppe Grasso	2023	Essays on Skills, Labor Market Institutions and Wage Inequality	University of Luxembourg	Prof. Konstantinos Tatsiramos (University of Luxembourg & LISER)
Testimony
During my four years at LISER as a PhD student in economics, I greatly benefited from its very supportive and stimulating research environment. My PhD program – which was part of the Migration, Inequalities and Labor Markets (MINLAB) doctoral training unit, jointly managed by LISER and the University of Luxembourg – provided me with advanced coursework, research opportunities, and the guidance of leading scholars in the field. The program enabled me to develop a strong foundation in economic theory and empirical methods and to hone my analytical and research skills. Through engagement in academic discussions, seminars, workshops, and conferences, I was able to gain valuable insights into the current debates at the frontier of economics research. These interactions were essential to stimulating my creative thinking, allowing me to develop my research agenda and pursue my research interests. Furthermore, LISER played a crucial role in the dissemination of my research by providing generous logistical and financial support. Overall, I am very happy with my experience as a LISER PhD student. It has been an important process of growth that has equipped me with the necessary tools and expertise to pursue a successful career in academia and beyond.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Fanny BASTIAN	2019	Les pratiques de participation des salariés dans les entreprises socialement responsables : le cas des PME luxembourgeoises	Université de Lorraine, Nancy	Prof. Patrice Laroche (Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - CEREFIGE), Université de Lorraine, Nancy; Dr. Nicolas Poussing, LISER
Testimony
Le doctorat est une expérience des plus enrichissantes. Ce n'est pas un long fleuve tranquille mais c'est formateur à tout point de vue. Durant les années de thèse, on acquiert beaucoup de connaissances, on développe une palette de compétences en recherche mais aussi dans mon cas, des compétences pédagogiques conjointement à une multitude de compétences transversales. C'est une expérience durant laquelle j'ai pu en apprendre énormément sur moi-même. En thèse, on apprend à faire face à des difficultés, à prendre du recul, à se remettre en question et à sortir de sa zone de confort. C'est aussi enrichissant sur le plan relationnel. Le doctorat, c'est l'occasion de rencontrer des personnes d'horizons divers avec lesquelles il est intéressant de partager nos expériences et de tisser des liens. Etre au LISER, m'a permis de profiter d'un cadre multiculturel riche et j'ai eu plaisir à y rencontrer des chercheurs, des doctorants et des étudiants stagiaires avec lesquels échanger. Nicolas Poussing, mon référent au sein de l'institut, m'y a accueillie très chaleureusement et de la meilleure façon qui soit. Lorsque l'on arrive dans un nouvel environnement au sein duquel on a aucun repère, c'est quelque chose d'important et d'appréciable. Grâce à lui, j'ai facilement pu prendre mes marques et intégrer le LISER durant ma thèse. Il m'a aussi offert l'opportunité d'exploiter les données d'une enquête permettant d'alimenter les travaux empiriques de ma recherche doctorale. J'ai ainsi pu acquérir de nouvelles compétences, notamment en termes de méthodes de recherche quantitatives. Il a toujours été disponible, à l'écoute et bienveillant. Je lui en suis très reconnaissante et je l'en remercie encore. Il me semble important de souligner que ma reconnaissance va également à tout le personnel administratif, RH et à l'équipe IT qui ont grandement contribué à faciliter mon quotidien au LISER. Les années de doctorat m'ont fait aimer la recherche et m'ont fait aimer l'enseignement, ce qui va nourrir mes projets professionnels futurs. Aujourd'hui, je sors grandie de cette expérience. Elle m'a permis de m'améliorer dans de nombreux domaines mais aussi, elle m'a fait comprendre qu'on ne cesse jamais de progresser et qu'on doit prendre confiance en soi. Pour conclure, je dirais que le travail doctoral permet d'évoluer et de mûrir, tant sur le plan personnel que professionnel. Sa réussite est un accomplissement mais pas une fin en soi. Il nous permet d'aborder la suite dans un nouvel état d'esprit mais rien n'est acquis. Une thèse soutenue n'est que le début et elle constitue l'ouverture vers de nouveaux challenges.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Valentine JUDGE	2019	Apport de l'apprentissage automatique pour la modélisation et l'analyse des changements d'occupation du sol. Application au développement urbain de la zone frontalière franco-allemande	Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France	Jean-Philippe Antoni, Professor of Geography at University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France and Dr. Olivier Klein, Researcher at LISER, UDM Department
Testimony
LISER and ThéMA laboratory (Besançon, France) provided a great research environment helping me to achieve my PhD focused on land use modelling in a cross-border context (French-German border area). Those institutes helped me to open my research scope in an international and multidisciplinary environment as while giving me support to join and contribute to a number of European and International academic conferences. During my PhD I got to work with modelling technics manly used in quantitative geography (cellular automata, GIS, learning algorithm). The challenge has been to adapt such method to a border context in order to make the most of it from a thematic analysis point of view. It has been a great individual experience for me to be given the opportunity to develop knowledge in geography research field, coming from environmental engineering and earth sciences.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Laura Mae J. HERZOG	2018	Cooperation in a Common-Pool Resource Problem Setting: The Case of Micro-Pollutant Regulation in the River Rhine	University of Bern, Switzerland	Prof. Dr. Karin Ingold; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitris Christopoulos; Asst. Prof. Dr. Christophe Sohn
Testimony
I gained an in-depth knowledge on water quality management, on Social Network Analysis (SNA), on the data collection technique of surveys and interviews, on analytical thinking and mainly on conducting my own research; skills I'm applying in my current position as a postdoctoral researcher.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Karine DUPLAN	2016	To be(come) an ‘expat': women's practices of everyday space during international mobility in Luxembourg	Université Paris Sorbonne, France	Prof. Louis Dupont; Dr. Philippe Gerber
Testimony
Doing my PhD at LISER helped me in being open to other subfields of geography and in broadening my geographical knowledge beyond my own research interests. More specifically, it has been crucial by leading me in articulating quantitative and qualitative methodologies in my doctoral dissertation. It has also been strongly supportive by being part of a dynamic and inclusive research team. I loved doing my PhD at LISER, which seems to me the place to be when doing research in the field of mobility and of course when doing research on Luxembourg.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Nadja VICTOR	2016	Evaluation des déplacements piétons. Applications à la ville de Luxembourg	Université Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne, France	Prof. Thierry Joliveau; Dr. Olivier Klein
Testimony
I spent five years in the Urban Development and Mobility department of LISER where I participated to various undertaking and I obtained an AFR grant to realize my PhD with my own project (PAWLux). During this year I got used to work on studies requiring both a quantitative and qualitative approach. I also had the occasion to create and calibrate various GIS geodatabases about mobility and its environmental issues in cities by conducting spatial and statistics analysis. In the end, I produced 2 papers and 1 book chapter as first author reporting on the conceptual, methodological and empirical aspects of my research and I have submitted 7 proceedings at international academic conferences. From my training and my working experience in LISER, I am now used to work in a multidisciplinary and multilingual team. It has always brought a lot of richness in our projects and I am looking forward to work again in such an environment. I also like to think that I learned how to work independently as well as engaging in collaborative work.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Maxime FREMOND	2015	Une approche normative de l'aménagement au Luxembourg. Évaluation par la simulation	Université de Franche Comté, Besançon, France	Prof. Cécile Tannier; Prof. Pierre Frankhauser; Dr. Philippe Gerber
Testimony
La réalisation d'une thèse au LISER a été une riche source d'expériences pour moi. En bénéficiant d'un contexte de recherche et d'études appliquées de haut niveau, le tout dans un contexte international, m'a permis d'acquérir et de développer des compétences en gestion de projet ou encore en organisation d'évènements, parallèlement au travail académique. La présence de nombreux doctorants et de chercheurs issus d'horizons différents m'a servi à construire un réseau intéressant à travers l'Europe.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Iryna KYZYMA	2015	Changing patterns of income poverty in rich countries	University of Bremen, Germany	Prof. Dr. Olaf Groh-Samberg; Prof. Dr. Stefan Traub; Dr. Alessio Fusco; Dr. Philippe Van Kerm;
Testimony
During the four years of my PhD I spent around 85% of my working time in LISER which, therefore, became the main place of my professional growth from a Master student to a PhD graduate and a researcher. Looking back at those four years, I have to say that I was extremely fortunate to do my doctoral studies in LISER and there are a number of reasons why. First of all, LISER provided me with access to all datasets and research facilities necessary for successful academic work. I was provided with an office space accessible 24/7, received unlimited access to printing / copying facilities, and could use the library with the possibility of ordering any type of books and journals I needed for my work. The use of all these resources would not make sense if I were not granted with an excellent supervisory team in the face of Alessio Fusco and Philippe Van Kerm. Both of them not only provided me with the PhD supervision oriented at the achievement of strategic project goals but also with highly appreciated daily supervisory support. Being excellent experts in the field of inequality and poverty dynamics, they skillfully guided me through the process of PhD studies and contributed enormously to the development of my professional knowledge and skills. I am especially grateful to them for being always open to my research ideas and supportive on the way to their implementation. Thanks to LISER, I also could effectively disseminate my research results generated over the four years of doctoral studies. The institute supported financially all my conference travels during the 4th year of PhD, when my AFR travel allowance was finished. This, in turn, allowed me to disseminate the final research results at prestigious conferences and workshops (e.g. 9th Biannual Federal Reserve System Conference on Economic Mobility in Washington D.C., 4th SOLE/EALE World Conference in Montreal, the workshop on Social Mobility in the Americas at Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality), to expand my scientific networks and to get many new ideas for future research. It is also worth mentioning that during the years of my PhD studies there were a lot of trainings and excellent seminars organized in LISER itself. All these seminars and training activities contributed a lot to the development of my research skills and created an excellent ground for my future academic career.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Omar CHARIF	2013	Modelling and simulating individuals' mobility system: An application on Luxembourg and its greater region	Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France	Prof. Philippe Trigano; Dr. Hichem Omrani
Testimony
During the four years, I spent in LISER (CEPS) as a Doctoral Fellow, I was offered the opportunity to meet international accomplished researchers and professors from various scientific fields, to interact with them and to learn from them. I was closely mentored while given the freedom to express my creativity and I was perfectly supported by everyone in the LISER establishment including colleagues, management, IT team and human resource team. I was provided with all the required tools to accomplish my PhD and to achieve the best possible outcome from it.

Name	Year of graduation	Title of PhD thesis	University	Supervisors
Carmen Dana PETROVICI	2012	Early Retirement Culture, Active Ageing and the Life course	Prof. Dr. Jeroen K. Vermunt; Dr. Guy B.D. Moors	Prof. Dr. Olaf Groh-Samberg; Prof. Dr. Stefan Traub; Dr. Alessio Fusco; Dr. Philippe Van Kerm
Testimony
I came first time in LISER in 2003 for the IMPALLA master and that was the year in which I learned statistics day and night. Due to this master, I decided to continue with a PhD in the field at Tilburg University in collaboration with LISER. The whole team from LISER supported me when I prepared the FNR proposal and every time I need it since. I was based in The Netherlands, but I came in regularly for study visits in Luxembourg, especially during the last part of my thesis when I used PSELL database in LISER and the input and help from all the researchers in LISER was very valuable.