Bio

Stijn Baert was born in Lokeren, Belgium on 14 October 1983. In 2006, he became Master of Science in Computer Science Engineering ('Burgerlijk Ingenieur'), in 2008 Master of Science in Economics and in 2013 Doctor of Economic Sciences from Ghent University, Belgium. He received the 'VDK Award' in 2008 for his academic achievement in the Master of Science in Economic Sciences. Between 2008 and 2020 he worked as a teaching assistant, researcher and tenure track professor at the Department of Social Economics at Ghent University.

Since October 1, 2020, he has been working as a full-time associate professor in empirical labour economics at Ghent University. In addition, he is affiliated to University of Antwerp as a part-time professor and to Université catholique de Louvain, Global Labor Office (GLO), IMISCOE and Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) as a Research Fellow.


Teaching

p>Stijn is involved in several courses on (labor) economics and research methods at Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 he was elected 'Best Teaching Assistant' by the Master students of the faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University.


Research

His research is mainly situated in the broad field of labour economics, with a focus on (i) the transition from school to work, (ii) labour market discrimination, and (iii) work and health. He has published in reputed journals such as European Economic Review, European Sociological Review, Health Economics, Industrial Relations, ILR Review, Labour Economics, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Journal of Economic Surveys, New Media & Society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and Social Science & Medicine. In 2012 and 2013, he worked as a visiting researcher at VU University Amsterdam and at Aarhus University respectively.

For his (doctoral) research he received in 2013 the 'P&V Foundation Prize' and in 2014 both the 'Scientific Prize McKinsey & Company' and the 'Prize Charles Ullens'. In 2015 and 2016, Stijn Baert was ranked in the IDEAS worldwide top 50 of young economists (in 2016 at place 17). In 2017 he was nominated for the election of the most talented young researcher in Flanders and the Nederlands, organised by the Dutch version of the monthly journal 'New Scientist'. In 2020, IDEAS again ranks him among the 50 economists with the highest scientific impact in the world in his age group.

He serves De Economist and Plos One as an Academic Editor.


Societal impact

Stijn's research has been mentioned more than 1750 times in national and international media. His insights, for example, on the reform of the Belgian system of unemployment benefits and anti-discrimination policies, have been implemented. For his efforts in science communication and popularisation, in 2015 he was awarded the 'Academy prize for science outreach' by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. Stijn Baert was ranked 2nd in a ranking of Flemish 'thought leaders' in 2020. He is also among the 10 most influential people on LinkedIn in Belgium. Stijn Baert is one of the six independent experts who, as Flemish Relaunch Committee, assist the Flemish Government in the relaunch of the economy following the corona crisis.


Services

At Ghent University, Stijn Baert was a representative of the assistant academic staff in various committees and councils among which the Executive Board of the university. Between 2013 and 2017 he lead the European Association of Young Economists. In 2016 he co-organised the yearly conference of the European Association of Labour Economists, where he is a member of the Executive Committee.