Inserm is the only French public research organisation entirely dedicated to biological, medical and population health research. Its research laboratories are located throughout France and organised into 12 regional delegations. Inserm brings together 15,000 researchers, engineers, technicians and administrative staff with a shared objective: improving health for all through advances in knowledge of living organisms and diseases, innovative treatments and public health research.

Joining Inserm means becoming part of an institution committed to gender equality, professional equality, diversity and support for staff with disabilities, from recruitment throughout their careers. Inserm actively promotes workplace well-being and a healthy work–life balance. In 2016, Inserm received the European HR Excellence in Research award and committed to improving its researcher recruitment and evaluation practices.

The project examines how unpaid care work contributes to health inequalities in different European countries. It draws on a mixed-method, life course and cross-country approach, and combines insights from multiple disciplines (sociology, demography, economics, epidemiology). It is led by Constance Beaufils, socio-demographer and holder of a Junior Professor Chair on social inequalities in health, in collaboration with partner teams in France and abroad.

A substantial body of literature has shown that unpaid care work (such as childcare, grandparental care and eldercare) relates to individuals’ physical and mental health, and suggests that population health inequalities partly stem from its unequal distribution. Women and men, depending on their socioeconomic or migration profiles, follow life courses which are unequally marked by unpaid care work, with episodes of care that vary in duration, timing and articulation with employment.

Duties    

The recruited researcher's work will involve describing the diversity of these unpaid care work histories and how they relate to population health inequalities. In particular, the researcher will examine how the timing of different care episodes (parental, grandparental, caregiving), their accumulation over the life course, and their articulation with employment shape this relationship. Another aspect of the work will involve analysing the various forms of strain that unpaid care imposes on individuals within the domestic sphere, such as time pressure, work-family conflicts, or lack of recognition. The researcher will identify the family and social configurations in which these forms of strain are exacerbated, exposing certain groups to increased health risks. A cross-cutting aim of the analyses will be to examine how unpaid care histories and experiences vary across national contexts. These analyses will draw on statistical analyses of French, British and European longitudinal surveys (Families and Employers, SHARE, ELSA), as well as analyses of in-depth interviews, collected and designed to shed light on the statistical results. The researcher will analyse several health dimensions (biological health, chronic illness, mental health, functional health), within the limits of the available data.

Main  activities    

●    Use of longitudinal surveys (SHARE, Families and Employers, ELSA)
●    Writing and submission of scientific articles to international journals

Associated activities    

●    Dissemination of results through oral presentations at national and international conferences
●    Participation in the activities of the IRIS research unit and projects related to the chair
●    Conducting and/or analysing biographical interviews 

 

Knowledge/ Expertise    

●    Knowledge in the areas of social health inequalities, health-work relationship, and family dynamics (parenthood, unpaid domestic labour, caregiving)
●    Advanced skills in quantitative methods for analysing longitudinal and complex datasets: sequence analysis, latent class models, panel models, multilevel models
●    Familiarity with mixed methods and qualitative research methods would be an asset

Skills    

●    Statistical analysis using R
●    Writing scientific articles 
●    Oral communication 
●    Proficiency in English (written and spoken)

Aptitudes    

●    Autonomy 
●    Scientific rigour
●    Ability to work collaboratively
●    Ability to engage with other disciplines

Specific requirements or constraints    

●    Travel abroad may be required

Requiredexperience    

●    Publications in peer-reviewed international journals
●    Experience working with longitudinal data
●    Experience collaborating with teams from other countries would be an asset

Required ,Education level or diploma    

●    PhD in quantitative sociology, demography, epidemiology or economics 

Desired start date  :  January 2027

Address :   Campus Condorcet, Bâtiment recherche Sud, 5 cours des humanités, 93322 Aubervilliers