European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research

The European Centre is an UN-affiliated intergovernmental organization of applied social science and comparative empirical research. Research activities are organized in two streams: Work, Wealth and Welfare; and Health and Care.

Major specific research areas are Ageing & Generations; Health and Disability Policy; Health Economics & Indicators; Health Promotion and Prevention; Incomes, Poverty & Social Inclusion; Labour Market & Social Policy; Long-term Care & Personal Social Services; Pensions & Social Security; Tax / Benefit Policy Modelling; and Welfare Society.

The European Centre collaborates with leading international universities and social science research centres, ministries and national boards of health and welfare, the UNECE in Geneva, the WHO in Copenhagen as well as DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

The European Centre functions with the help of its National Liaison Officials who links with national governments and researchers for an effective exchange of research and policy experiences and in the cross-national project development. The European Centre has coordinated a number of EU research projects. In 2012 the UNECE, the European Commission DG Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion and the European Centre are undertaking a project ‘Active Ageing Index” (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research).

Key personnel involved in the project

Eszter Zólyomi, researcher working in Active and healthy ageing as an asset and Extending working lives
Katrin Gasior, researcherworking in Active and healthy ageing as an asset and Extending working lives
Kai Leichsenring, researcher, leader in Social support and long term care and Active and healthy ageing as an asset
Ricardo Rodrigues Researcher, working in Health and well-being and Social support and long term care
Andrea Schmidt Researcher, working in Health and well-being and Social support and long term care
Stefania Ilinca Researcher, working in Health and well-being
Katharine Schulmann Researcher, working in Social support and long term care and Health and well-being
Judith Schreiber Administrative and financial officer (Management)

Main tasks attributed to them in the project

As leader of Social support and long term care the European Centre will contribute to and coordinate the following tasks:
(a) Outlining the state-of-the-art in social support and long-term care;
(b) Analysing the role of individual life-cycle decisions in the context of public care policies;
(c) Identifying main drivers of change in delivering social support and long-term care;
(d) Building future scenarios. Furthermore, the European Centre will make sure to provide ‘building bricks’ to Active and healthy ageing as an asset, to consider particular results from Economic consequences of ageing, Extending working lives, Pension systems, savings and financial education, Built and technological environment and Enhancing active citizenship.

As partner of Active and healthy ageing as an asset the European Centre will be mainly responsible for Task 2 (Reviewing empirical evidence) and Task 4 (Mapping scenarios of active ageing) in agreement with the WP-Leader USFD / SOUTHAMPTON. As partner of Extending working lives the European Centre will contribute to all tasks in agreement with the WP-leader TUD/IfG. As partner of Health and well-being the European Centre will contribute to all tasks in agreement with the WP-leader VUMC. As partner in Dissemination and Management the European Centre will make sure to contribute to dissemination and knowledge transfer activities as well as to fulfill all administrative and reporting tasks in agreement with USFD.

Short profile of all personnel and previous relevant experience

Orsolya Lelkes is Deputy Director at Europaisches Zentrum fur Wohlfahrtspolitik und Socialforschung (Vienna). Her main fields of expertise include research on poverty across countries, tax-benefit microsimulation models, social inclusion, and subjective well-being. From 2002 to 2005 she was Head of Economic Research Division at the Ministry of Finance in Hungary, and was a country delegate to the EU Economic Policy Committee (EPC). She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics.

Kai Leichsenring is a political scientist. He has a long track record of EU research and consulting activities in the area of social and health policies focus on ageing societies and integrated long-term care for older people. He has participated in a large number of European research and consultancy projects and co-ordinated, among others, the FP5 project PROCARE and the FP7 project INTERLINKS. He has published numerous reports, articles and books, currently preparing as a co-editor (with J. Billings and H. Nies): ‘Long-term care in Europe – Improving policy and practice’, Basingstoke 2013: Palgrave.

Eszter Zólyomi is researcher and also Project Coordinator of the project MA:IMI (Mainstreaming Ageing: Indicators to Monitor Implementation). Her research activities include gender equality and the gender impact of labour market and pension policies. She has co-edited the book “Women’s Work and Pensions: What is Good, What is Best? Designing Gender-Sensitive Arrangement” in 2010.

Katrin Gasior is a researcher and also responsible for the development of data visualization solutions. Her research activities focus on social inclusion, poverty, pension policy and its reforms as well as measures to reanimate the labour market for older workers. Recent publications are: Poverty Risks of Older People in EU countries” and “Social Well-being of Disabled Older Persons”.

Ricardo Rodrigues is a researcher. His main interests are comparative research in funding and equity in long-term care for older people, user choice, market mechanisms and quality in long-term care. He has participated in various research projects funded by national and international organizations (e.g. EU FP7 Project – INTERLINKS) and has authored a number of publications in the field of long-term care.

Andrea E. Schmidt is a researcher at the Department of Health and Care and the European Centre’s coordinator of the Health and Wellbeing reseach field. Her main research interests are evaluating the success of European policies in designing equitable long-term care and health care systems; and exploring the mechanisms underlying health care professionals’ and patients’ mobility. In the context of the latter, she has been the European Centre’s coordinator of an FP7 project on cross-border care in the European Union (Evaluating Care Across Borders, 2010-2013). She is the author and co-author of a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and policy briefs.

Stefania Ilinca is a researcher in the Health and Care Unit at the European Centre. Her research interests span the areas of health and social care, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities of health and long-term care delivery to the elderly, in view of population ageing trends. In her time at the European Centre, Stefania has been involved in research on chronic diseases, long-term care and equity in access to care. She completed a PhD in health economics in 2013, with a thesis on frailty and chronic conditions in older age and care integration in developed health systems and has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited books.

Katharine Schulmann is a researcher within the Health and Care Unit of the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. Since joining the European Centre in 2013, she has been involved in national and cross-national comparative research projects in the areas of long-term care for older people, access to healthcare, and public health promotion to prevent chronic diseases. Her research interests extend to all areas of health and social care, with a view to optimizing care and the delivery of services, particularly for vulnerable groups. She received her M.Sc. degree in health policy and medical anthropology in 2012.

European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research website