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Living Conditions

Engage with research that investigates the factors influencing living standards, with a focus on income distribution, housing conditions and social inclusion, providing evidence-based insights into these crucial areas.

Urban Development and Mobility

Studies urban dynamics to identify pathways of actors to stimulate sustainable urban transitions.

Appel à Communications: Les relations industrielles dans un monde du travail en mutation

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Crossing Borders

Discover how our research into the complexities of cross-border mobility is advancing knowledge, shaping policy, benefiting society and addressing global challenges.

Health and Health Systems

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Discover LISER's initiatives, driving scientific progress and fostering meaningful collaborations with stakeholders.

Doctoral programmes

Meet a dynamic community of researchers addressing critical societal challenges through innovative and interdisciplinary studies. Our doctoral programme offers exceptional training, mentorship and opportunities to shape impactful policies and drive innovation in diverse fields.

Data Science and Simulation

The Centre of Competence for Data Science and Simulation (DSS) is a cross-departmental initiative. Our ambition is to develop infrastructure, tools and competences in in machine learning, big data, microsimulation and geoexperimentation to conduct excellent research and advise policy-makers as well as stakeholders.

Policy Lab

The LISER Policy Lab is an innovative initiative that integrates rigorous scientific research into policymaking to support decision-makers in tackling major challenges in areas like the economy, climate, health, digitalisation, housing, education, and social cohesion.

cc-EXPAR - Competence Centre in Experimental and Participatory Research

The Competence Centre in Experimental and Participatory Research (EXPAR) is a cross-departmental initiative. Our ambition is to improve awareness of and skills in experimental and participatory research methods to strengthen LISER’s position at the forefront of internationally high quality, scientifically rigorous and societally relevant research.

Captive futures: Retail investors and financial subjectivities under platform logic, by Desiree Fields (UC Berkeley)

Series: LISER Research Seminar

Captive futures: Retail investors and financial subjectivities under platform logic, by Desiree Fields (UC Berkeley)

When:

THU, 16 OCT 2025

From:

11:00 AM

To:

12:30 PM

Where:

Hybrid

Changing technological conditions are shifting conditions of possibility for retail investors in relation to financial markets as platforms and mobile apps enable individuals to invest in stocks, cryptocurrency, real estate, and other assets and financial narratives, advice, and personal finance and investment content circulate via social media. This research examines how financial subjectivities develop through investment platforms and the construction of online financial communities. We ask how retail investors navigate digital platforms to make sense of investment, define financial goals, and construct financial common sense. Using an innovative mix of computational and qualitative analysis, we extracted data from the subreddit for Fundrise (essentially a private REIT targeting retail investors), grouped conversations into topics with a structural topic model, and then analyzed the data qualitatively. This presentation advances the concept of platform financial subjectivity and argues the interaction of Fundrise and Reddit co-creates financial subjectivity: this "digital-financial terrain" (Chua, 2024) is where individuals allocate capital and enact their investment decisions (Fundrise) and engage in sharing information and debating and questioning investment decisions (Reddit).

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Desiree Fields

Associate Professor, Department of Geography, UC Berkeley

Desiree Fields is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography at University of California, Berkeley. She is an economic geographer and critical urban scholar. Her research program addresses how Wall Street and Silicon Valley are jointly transforming property relations, urbanization, and economic subjectivity. Fields is a trustee of the Urban Studies Foundation and an editor at Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space and Housing, Theory, and Society.

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