Thijs Bol (Professor, UvA) has received an ERC Consolidator Grant for his FIRMS-project (How the Workplace Structures Career Inequality). Over recent decades, economic
inequality has increased in most societies. Research shows that workplaces, or firms, play an important role in shaping these inequalities, yet we still know little about why they matter so much. This project examines how firms affect people’s career trajectories and how workplaces can have lasting effects on careers. It studies how firms create new or reinforce existing inequalities along two key axes of labor market inequality: gender and ethnicity. A central aim is to uncover the mechanisms behind these patterns, when does a workplace offer career opportunities, and when does it limit them? FIRMS is a comparative project and studies Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA. It studies the careers of millions of workers by combining high-quality longitudinal data from linked employer-employee registers with firm-level data and unique health registers. This will not just advance our knowledge of inequality, but also provide insights into how firms can mitigate i
Borja Martinović (Associate Professor, UU) has received an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2.3 mil EUR for her INTER-MIN project. Over the course of five years, and starting from September 2026, together with a postdoc and three PhD students she will study relations between various ethnic minorities in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The project will draw on sociological and social psychological literature, and methodologically rely on surveys, experiments and focus group discussions.
Roza Meuleman (Assistant Professor, RU) has been granted a NWO VIDI grant for her project SHINE: SHaping unequal futures through Inherited Networks. The issue of inequality passed down from generation to generation has long been a central topic in discussions about equal opportunities. Surprisingly, the role of parental networks in this process remains unclear. This project investigates how parents transmit their network connections to their children, which similarities there are between parents’ and children’s networks, and how inherited networks affect (adult) children’s career opportunities. By addressing these questions, the project aims to contribute to a more inclusive and accessible labour market.
