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Social policies research
Massimiliano Mascherini
Massimiliano Mascherini is Head of the Social Policies unit at Eurofound since October 2019. He joined Eurofound in 2009 as a research manager, designing and coordinating projects on youth employment, NEETs and gender equality. In 2017, he became a senior research manager and spearheaded new research on monitoring convergence in the EU. In addition, he led the conceptualisation of the 2026 European Quality of Life Survey. In 2025, he was awarded the Brendan Walsh prize for the best paper published in Economic and Social Review. Previously, he was scientific officer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He studied at the University of Florence, where he majored in actuarial and statistical sciences and attained a PhD in Applied Statistics. In 2014, he obtained a scientific qualification as Associate Professor of Social Statistics and Demography from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. He has been visiting fellow at the University of Sydney and at Aalborg University and visiting professor at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
Topics of expertise
Massimiliano is an expert in the following topics.
Research outputs
Massimiliano is the author of the following publications.
Events, podcast and blog
Massimiliano has contributed the following events, blog posts and podcast episodes.
In-person event
Joint event
Life & work in focus: Evidence from the Western Balkans
DateFriday, 15 May 2026
LocationScience Technological Park, Podgorica, Montenegro
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This event is in the past
Hybrid event
Joint event
DRAFT Foundation Forum 2025: Europe’s social model – the key to competitive growth
Date19 – 20 November 2025
LocationDublin
This event is in the past
In-person event
External event
Informal meeting of the Social Protection Committee (SPC)
Date22 – 23 September 2025
LocationCopenhagen
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This event is in the past
In-person event
Joint event
Foundation Forum 2025: Europe’s social model – the key to competitive growth
Event recording available
Date19 – 20 November 2025
LocationDublin
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This event is in the past
25 June 2024
Podcast episode
Has Europe failed its youth?
In this episode of Eurofound Talks, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound researchers Eszter Sandor and Massimiliano Mascherini about the situation for young people in Europe, from the impacts of the economic crisis and Great Recession to the aftermath COVID-19 pandemic and voting trends in the recent European Parliament elections.They discuss how, while there have been some positive trends in employment in recent years, there are concerning issues facing young people in Europe that need to be overcome – not just for the young people in question, but also for broader economic and societal stability.
2 May 2024
Blog post
Trust in crisis: Europe’s social contract under threat
Part of the blog series: '10 reasons to Use Your Vote'.
11 December 2023
Blog post
Europe’s widening rural–urban divide may make space for far right
The state in which the EU finds itself has been described as a ‘permacrisis’, whereby the Union is confronted by challenge after challenge, and citizens are constantly having to adapt to a ‘new normal’.
8 June 2022
Blog post
Eurofound survey reveals widespread support for Ukraine
We are 100 days on from the invasion by Russia of Ukraine on 24 February, when peace in Europe was shattered. As the human tragedy began to unfold and with more than 6.8 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, escaping their country since the start of the war, European citizens have been watching developments with increasing concern. Capturing this critical moment, Eurofound carried out a survey in April 2022 asking over 40,000 people living in Europe their views on a range of issues, including the war in Ukraine.
9 May 2022
Podcast episode
Living and working in Europe: Past, present and future
This podcast focuses on our annual update on the state of ‘Living and working in Europe’. It highlights trends and changes – both positive and negative – in the way citizens across the EU work today, and serves as a guide to policymakers at EU and Member State level. Our experts detail these with useful examples and insights which might also help face into the challenges raised by the most recent results from Eurofound’s unique pan-European Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey.
16 December 2021
Podcast episode
The impact of COVID-19 on young people in the EU
New day, new data highlighting the devastating impact of COVID-19 on young people across the European Union – most recently Eurofound’s unique pan-European Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey. We know this has taken an unprecedented toll on young people particularly – their mental well-being, their independence and more broadly, inter-generational solidarity as a whole. This podcast drills down to what it means to be a young person in Europe today, their lives, work, opportunities and challenges in the European Year of Youth.
23 June 2021
Blog post
Vaccine acceptance hinges on transparent communication
Vaccine acceptance is key to the success of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns worldwide. Worryingly, over a quarter of people living in Europe are hesitant about taking a COVID-19 vaccine, and the level of hesitancy is especially high among heavy users of social media. The spread of misinformation on social media is an obstacle to reaching the goal of herd immunity against the coronavirus. Strategies to communicate clear and unbiased political and scientific information are needed to counter the effect of misinformation.
23 October 2020
Blog post
Youth in a time of COVID
The exponential growth of COVID-19 cases across Europe this autumn has quickly erased hopes that the virus had been contained and confirmed the surge of another wave of the pandemic. With Member States now implementing new restrictive measures for the second time since March in an attempt to control the virus, the COVID-19 crisis has become a health, economic and social crisis.
3 June 2020
Blog post
COVID-19 fallout takes a higher toll on women, economically and domestically
While women appear to be more resilient than men to COVID-19 in terms of health outcomes, that is not the case when it comes to the economic and social fallout. Measures taken by governments to control the spread of the virus are exacerbating gender divides in unemployment, domestic labour and financial security, all to the disadvantage of women. Meanwhile, work–life conflict is escalating as people work from home, with mothers of small children often bearing the brunt of the impact.
18 May 2020
Blog post
Is history repeating itself? The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on youth
While we now know that the idea that ‘COVID-19 only affects older people’ is fake news, the first weeks of the pandemic have shown that young people are in general more resilient than older people to the disease. But are they also more resilient to its social and economic impacts?
17 April 2018
Blog post
Long-term unemployed youth: The legacy of the crisis
In this blog, originally posted in Social Europe, Massimiliano Mascherini looks at the enduring issue of long-term unemployment among young people. Despite considerable improvement in the labour market participation of youth in recent years, the legacy of the crisis is still visible in the substantial increase in the cohort of long-term unemployed young people.
8 March 2017
Blog post
Reducing Europe’s gender employment gap
One of the common values that unites the European Union is that of equal opportunities: all citizens should have the same possibility to improve their lives and participate in the labour market regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. Ensuring equal opportunities in finding work also represents a key goal for Europe in facing the challenges posed by demographic change and achieving inclusive and sustainable growth.
Other unit members: Social policies research
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Documents
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