Preis der Stiftung für herausragende wissenschaftliche Nachwuchsarbeiten zu Themen des sozialverträglichen Umgangs mit (drohendem) Personalabbau 2016. (annual Science Award)

Irmgard Borghouts-van de Pas, Senior Researcher at ReflecT/Tilburg Law School, has 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, 2016. The award was presented by Bernd Reissert, Professor of Political Sciences at the Berlin School of Economics and Law and Dr Heinz Hinrich Schmid, who also serve on the board of the German foundation. While the award usually goes to German research, the jury found Borghouts’ international study, cited in academic literature, to be both remarkable and relevant to Germany. The Stiftung Bildung und Beschäftigung (Foundation for Education, Training and Employment) encourages research and projects that aim to prevent mass unemployment by providing guidance to unemployed workers who are trying to find a new job – the kind of support that is in great demand in Germany, too. In her PhD thesis, Borghouts examines job-to-job transition systems in four European countries (Sweden, the United Kingdom, Austria and Spain) and she continues to explore the theme. She is currently studying the effects of job-to-job transitions in the Netherlands. This study is financially supported by Instituut GAK, a Dutch donor-advised fund that also subsidized Borghouts’ PhD project.