LISER - LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Their core work

LISER is a Luxembourg-based public research centre specializing in socio-economic analysis — studying how social inequalities, environmental exposures, and policy decisions affect people's health, employment, and quality of life. They combine quantitative methods (including machine learning) with interdisciplinary research to evaluate the real-world impacts of climate change, urban environments, labour market shifts, and educational disparities across Europe. Their work directly informs inclusive policy design, making them a bridge between academic research and evidence-based policymaking.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

LISER's early H2020 work (2017–2019) centred on environmental health impacts — air pollution, climate change, and the socio-economic costs of cardiopulmonary disease. From 2021 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward social and labour market inequalities: gender gaps, educational access, employment quality, and inclusive policy design. This evolution shows a research institute broadening from "how environments harm people" to "how institutions and policies can reduce inequality across multiple dimensions."

LISER is moving toward data-driven inequality research with growing use of machine learning and ICT-focused methods, making them increasingly relevant for digital society and inclusive transition projects.

How they like to work

LISER balances leading and contributing — they coordinated 3 of 7 projects (notably the smaller, more focused ones like CASCARA and iCHRONOS) while joining larger consortia as a specialist partner. With 63 unique partners across 27 countries, they operate as a well-connected hub rather than a loyalty-based collaborator. This suggests an organization comfortable both setting research agendas on niche topics and plugging into broad European research networks where socio-economic expertise is needed.

LISER has built a remarkably wide network for its size — 63 unique partners across 27 countries from just 7 projects. This pan-European reach reflects their role as a sought-after socio-economic research partner with no strong geographic bias.

What sets them apart

LISER occupies a rare niche: a small, agile research centre in Luxembourg that combines rigorous socio-economic analysis with emerging data science methods. Unlike larger institutes that treat inequality as one topic among many, LISER makes it their central lens — whether studying urban health, labour markets, or digital exclusion. Their Luxembourg base also gives them a cross-border perspective uniquely suited to studying mobility, fragmentation, and policy impacts in a multilingual, multi-country context.

Highlights from their portfolio

• InGRID-2
  Largest single grant (EUR 823K) and a research infrastructure project — unusual for a socio-economic institute, showing LISER's role in building shared European data resources for inclusive growth.
• SURREAL
  Coordinated by LISER, this project combines urban environment exposure data with co-creation methods and interdisciplinary tools (sensors, virtual reality) — a distinctive methodological mix.
• UNTANGLED
  Directly addresses the socio-economic consequences of technological transformation, globalisation, and demographic change — highly relevant to current EU policy priorities on just transition.