Bio

Prof.  dr. Irmgard Borghouts- van de Pas is a professor HRM & Social Security at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.  She is Crown Member of the Social Economic Council and visiting professor in Sweden. Irmgard studied Labor Market and Social Security at Tilburg University (1998). After jobs at Municipality Utrecht, IVA Beleidsonderzoek and OSA, Institute for Labour Studies, she started working at Tilburg University in 2009. She obtained her PhD in 2012 on an international comparative study of employment security systems. In 2012-2014  Borghouts was also attached to Ecorys as principal consultant.  In 2016, she received the Annual Science Award for her research. The award was presented in Berlin, Germany. Borghouts is currently associated with the Department HR studies, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. She was member of the Independent Committee on the Future of the Disability Insurance System (OCTAS). She is board member of the Willem II Betrokken Foundation and member of the supervisory board at ETZ hospital.

Expertise

Her multidisciplinary expertise lies in the fields of employment security, labor market policy, social security and inclusive HRM. Social policy and social security are her starting point and she links this with strategic HRM issues within organizations. Two transitions are central in her work: 1) the transition from inactivity to employment with special attention for vulnerable groups (e.g. people with disability, unemployed) and 2) the transition From Work to Work for people who (threaten to) lose their jobs. Irmgard has extensive experience in acquiring, leading and implementing (international) scientific and applied research. She has been involved in many quantitative and qualitative research projects, among others commissioned by the European Commission, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. She has over 100 publications to her name and is a much sought-after speaker at home and abroad. Irmgard has been awarded nearly 1.3 million euros for scientific research.

Education: Labour market and Social security at Tilburg University. She obtained her Masters degree in 1998. Subsequently she worked for the local council Utrecht as a researcher in the field of Labour and Social Afffairs.

Between 1999-2005 she was researcher and consultant at IVA, Institute for Social Research at Tilburg University.

Between 2005 en 2009 she was a senior researcher at OSA, Institute for Labour Studies.

2009-2018 she was a senior researcher at ReflecT, Research Institute for Flexicurity, Labour Market Dynamics and Social Cohesion at Tilburg University. Fields of expertise and interests are social security, labour market policies, (prevention) of unemployment and social integration.

Between 2012 -2014 Borghouts was also attached to Ecorys Nederland as principal consultant

2018-2020 Assistant Professor Labour Market & Social Security, department Labour Law & Social Policy, Tilburg Law School

2021-  Professor HRM & Social Security.  Currently, she works at the department Private, Business & Labour Law, Tilburg Law School and at the department HRstudies, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The chair is sponsored by Instituut Gak.

Award

In november 2016 Irmgard Borghouts  won the annual Science Award of the German Stiftung Bildung und Beschäftigung for her 2012 PhD thesis, a comparative study of employment security systems in European countries. The award was presented in Berlin on November 18.

The award was presented by Prof. Bernd Reissert, Professor of Political Sciences at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. 

• Collective Labor Law
• Introduction to Social Sciences and Research Methods (LLER)
• Labour Market Institutions and Employment Dynamics
• Labour Law in Social Economic context

Click here for my courses.