This workshop brought together 20 early-career researchers from across Europe whose work explores how inequalities develop over time in education, work, health, ageing, and care. Over two days, we heard discussed excellent lectures from Ken F. Ferraro (Purdue University), Elina Kilpi-Jakonen (University of Turku), Fabian Kratz (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Philipp M. Lersch (DIW Berlin & Humboldt University of Berlin), and Anette Eva Fasang (Humboldt University of Berlin). After each talk, participants joined small-group discussions to reflect on the concepts and connect them to their own research.
Spending time together in such a small group helped us get to know each other a little. I hope that, from now on, we will spot each other’s names in conference programs with a smile, and that the conversations started here will grow into future collaborations and projects. Hosting the so excellent speakers and young researchers was a true privilege, and I remained not just with paperwork, but also with the feeling of gratitude. Hopefully, these two days have helped all of us grow a little.
An intense morning after a three-day conference - what a commitment from all the participants! We spent half a day discussing the theoretical foundations of the cumulative (dis)advantage concept and (with Kathi Loter fron Uni Tilburg) exploring some of its methodological challenges. I was reminded how much perspectives can differ across disciplines, and how useful (and difficult!) it is to understand the different languages we use to describe similar phenomena.