I am a Full Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at the University of Southern Denmark's Department of Political Science and Public Management and the Danish Centre for Welfare Studies, and Chair of Business and Social Sciences at D-IAS, the Danish Institute for Advanced Study. I am a founding Board Member of CPOP-SAMF, the Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics at SDU's Faculty of Business and Social Sciences. I hold undergraduate degrees in economics from the University of Leuven (KUL) and graduate degrees in politics from the London School of Economics (LSE).

In 2023, I was elected as Member of Academia Europaea, The Academy of Europe. I am also a member of the Roster of Experts at Population Europe, the network of Europe's leading demographic research centres, a founding Advisory Board member of The Population Europe Policy Lab, and a member of the international board of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at Erfurt University

I have published widely in comparative political economy and political demography, focusing on public policies and social policies, aging welfare states and democracies, democracy in East Central Europe, population politics and demography, intergenerational resource transfers, and intergenerational equity, fairness and justice (SDGs 4, 10, and 16). I have been awarded a Carlsberg Foundation Monograph Fellowship for 2021-2022 to write a book on sustainable societies and intergenerational justice in public policy.

Impacts: POLICY

I aim to bridge the worlds of ideas and of policy by translating, whenever possible, my research into policy impact. I have a SagePolicyProfiles policy impact score of 188 across 100 policy documents. My research has been cited in policy reports by the World Bank, the United Nations, the OECD, the European Commission and the Norwegian and Finnish governments. 

I have spoken and consulted widely to ministries and policymaking communities, including invitations by the Obama White House (private consultation at the Office of Vice President Biden) and European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Suica, as well as addresses to forums including three European Commission Vice-Presidents, a High-Level EU Policy Summit on Responses to Sustainability, the European Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Council, an EU Joint Programming Initiative, the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the Canadian Parliament, a Population Europe and Max Planck Society Brussels High-Level Expert Meeting, the Inter-American Conference on Social Security, the IBM International Social Sector Forum, UNICEF, WHO, the United Nations Office in Vienna, the Lithuanian and Danish parliaments, the Slovak Social Ministry, the Austrian ministries of Finance and Social Affairs, and the Global Economic Symposium.

I was part of the Vienna team contracted by the European Commission (DG Employment) and UNECE to construct the first Active Aging Index, which has been adopted wide around the world. Beyond frequent keynotes and addresses to the policy-making community, I have published over 20 policy-oriented papers and policy briefs, including for the Global Economic Symposium, the Global South (2), the Bertelsmann Foundation, the European Social Observatory (3), and Population Europe (5). At SDU, I have hosted official visits of the Ambassadors to Denmark of both Poland and Belgium. 

Impacts: ACADEMIC

Over 3400 citations, H-index=31, i-10 Index=51 (Google Scholar)

I have (co-)authored 50 papers in international peer-reviewed journals including Royal Society Open Science, PLoS ONE, Policy Sciences, J European Public Policy, J Public Policy, Political Research Quarterly, J European Social Policy, J Social Policy, Political Studies, Public Administration and West European Politics, and over 50 chapters, policy briefs and research reports on political sociology and public policy. My book Divide and Pacify: Political Protests and Strategic Social Policies in Post-Communist Democracies (2006) was nominated for the Political Sociology Best Book Award by the American Sociological Association. He has also co-edited Post-Communist Welfare Pathways (2009), Aging Populations in Post-Industrial Democracies (2012) and Global Political Demography: The Politics of Population Change (2021, OA). Two new book manuscripts on sustainable democracies and intergenerational resource transfers are currently in production. I have held academic keynotes to the International Social Security Association and the European Demography Forum. My research was profiled at ERC Demography, Ethics & Public Policy

Impacts: SOCIAL

My multiple social science communication contributions to The Conversation UK (5) have attracted 81,000 cumulative readers. I have also written articles for and given interviews to newspapers and media outlets incl. BBC World Service, Belgian, Austrian and Lithuanian TV, The New York Times, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, The National Interest, The Independent, De Standaard (3), World Economic Forum (2), Dansk Politologisk Årbog (4), Der Standard, and Format.

In addition, my research was covered in 180+ press entries incl. by the Washington Post, OECD Insights, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Huffington Post, TAZ, die Welt, multiple times in die Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1 and 2 by  top economist Bruno Frey), die Zeit, die Presse, Handelszeitung, Lithuanian TV, Lithuanian News Agency, Baltic News Service, Austrian TV, Danish radio, Ny Viden (4), Mandagmorgen, Magisterbladet, Nordschleswiger Tageszeitung, Information.dk, Kristeligt Dagblad, Finans.dk , Weekendavisen and Videnskab.dk (3).