Arriving in Luxembourg in 2019, I am a final year doctoral candidate doing applied micro-economic research in labour economics. Born and bred in Dublin, Ireland, I have always been interested in asking questions about how inequalities between individuals are facilitated by the types of societies we live in.

More specifically, I have been fascinated by understanding the different types of transmission mechanisms for these inequalities – whether they be random bad luck, intergenerational channels, or indeed the types of areas, communities, and environments we live in.

My area of interest examines how initial labour market conditions influence individual outcomes. The motivation for this stems from the observation that some cohorts of individuals are unlucky in the timing of their graduation. For example, cohorts might graduate from education during a major recession such as the 2008 Great Recession or the Covid-19 recession.

My research question asks whether this impact can be seen on individual outcomes, not just in the short-term, but also in the long-run. This is important if we want to better understand why inequalities between different cohorts in society might exist. Some of the outcomes I examine, include labour market outcomes, health outcomes, and inter-generational outcomes. I also explore whether potential effects are particularly driven by different sub-groups of the population such as men or women, or indeed those with different education levels.  

 I see myself remaining in the research community whether it be at a university or in a research institute similar to LISER. I really enjoy research collaboration as I think it is a wonderful opportunity to exchange and discuss ideas, and in the future I hope to work more on projects which facilitate this.