Research interests: Economic and political demography, comparative social policy, welfare state studies, comparative political economy.
Pieter Vanhuysse, PhD (LSE) is Full Professor of Politics and Public Policy at SDU’s Department of Political Science and Public Management and the Danish Centre for Welfare Studies, where he leads the Societies and Demographic Change research group. Pieter is also Senior Fellow of Business and Social Sciences at D-IAS, the Danish Institute for Advanced Study and is on the Roster of Experts at Population Europe. Pieter has published widely in comparative political economy and political demography, focusing on public policies, welfare states, population change, intergenerational resource transfers, sustainability and intergenerational justice, and quality education and human capital (SDGs 4, 10, and 16). He has been awarded a Carlsberg Foundation Monograph Fellowship for 2021-2022 to write a book on intergenerational justice in public policy.
Impacts: POLICY
Beyond academic citations and invited lectures on political sociology and public policy at over 40 institutes of higher learning, Pieter has 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 Dubravka Suica as well as addresses to forums including three European Commission Vice-Presidents, a High-Level Policy Summit on Responses to Sustainability, the European Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Council, 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, the Bertelsmann Foundation, the International Social Security Association, the United Nations Office in Vienna, the Lithuanian parliament, the Slovak Social Ministry, the Austrian ministries of Finance and Social Affairs, and the Global Economic Symposium. Pieter was part of the Vienna team contracted by European Commission Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to construct the first Active Aging Index, which was adopted around the world.
Impacts: ACADEMIC
Over 2700 citations, H-index=28, i-10 Index=44 (Google Scholar)
Pieter has (co-)authored over 50 publications in international peer-reviewed journals including 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. His 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 Aging Populations in Post-Industrial Democracies (2012), Post-Communist Welfare Pathways (2009), and Global Political Demography: The Politics of Population Change (2021).
Pieter's researcher profile at ERC Demography, Ethics & Public Policy
Impacts: SOCIAL
Pieter's multiple social science communication contributions to The Conversation UK (5) have attracted over 77,000 cumulative readers. Pieter has 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, his research was covered in 150+ press entries incl. by the Washington Post, OECD Insights, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Huffington Post, TAZ, die Welt, multiple times in die Neue Zürcher Zeitung (1, 2, and 3 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 and Videnskab.dk (3).
