Barbara Gerstenberger

Felix Appler is a research support officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. His work focuses on industrial relations, minimum wages and building databases associated with these topics. Previously, he worked at the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis) and the World Bank in East Africa carrying out household surveys and research on labour markets and poverty. Felix holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Bonn.

Angelina Atanasova is a research support officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. Her current research topics include social dialogue and industrial relations, as well as disability rights. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2024, she worked as a senior policy analyst at the Applied Research and Communications Fund, a researcher at the European Social Observatory, a research associate at KU Leuven, and a policy consultant at the Open Society European Policy Institute. She holds a PhD in EU Law from KU Leuven and an MA in Public Policy from the Central European University. Her main research areas of interest include disability rights, gender equality and social inclusion.

Christine Aumayr-Pintar is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She coordinates Eurofound’s research on social dialogue and industrial relations and oversees the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC). Her primary research expertise – approached from a comparative EU-wide standpoint – centres on minimum wages, collectively negotiated pay and gender pay transparency. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2009 she was a labour markets and regional economics researcher at Joanneum Research in Austria. She earned a Master's degree in Economics and a PhD in Social Science/Economics having studied economics in Graz, Vienna and Jönköping.

Jorge Cabrita is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. He is responsible for formulating, coordinating and managing European-wide research, and promoting the dissemination of findings in the areas of working conditions and industrial relations. His main research areas of interest include working conditions and job quality, working time and work–life balance, workers’ health and well-being, gender equality and the socioeconomic impacts of the transition to a climate-neutral economy. He is currently leading research on working time developments and on social dialogue and collective bargaining during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Studies for Social Intervention and at the Research Centre on the Portuguese Economy of the Lisbon School of Economics, and as a trainer and consultant in the areas of strategic management, organisational communication, leadership and team building. He holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Socio-Organisational Systems of Economic Activity from the Lisbon School of Economics.

Victoria Cojocariu is a research officer working on social dialogue and industrial relations, and contributing to projects investigating digitalisation, work organisation and workplace practices. She is extensively involved in the representativeness studies Eurofound conducts to support European social dialogue, as well as other studies analysing collective bargaining practices and the role of social partners at national and European level. From 2025, Victoria manages the EU PolicyWatch database. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2019, Victoria was a researcher for the Centre for Public Innovation in Bucharest and for the Open Society Foundation Romania, contributing to national and international research projects in the field of migration, education, access to the labour market of third-country nationals, as well as human rights. She holds BA and MA degrees in Sociology.

Franz Eiffe is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. He is involved in projects on sustainable work, quantitative analyses and upward convergence in the EU, as well as in the preparation of the fourth European Company Survey. Before joining Eurofound in 2016, he was Head of Unit ‘Analysis’ at Statistics Austria in Vienna and project leader of ‘How is Austria? Measuring wealth and progress beyond GDP’. He holds a PhD in Economics from Vienna University of Economics (WU), where he also worked as research associate from 2005 to 2009 and lecturer until 2016.

Manuel Gómez Martín is an administrative assistant in the Working Life unit. He is mainly involved in the industrial relations area, and specifically organises procurement and meetings within related projects. He has previously worked for DG JRC in the European Commission and for private companies in London and Spain.

Peter Kerckhofs is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. His work focuses on the role of social partners in the European Semester and also on national reporting on industrial relations developments. Peter has a wide expertise in developing the methodology for representativeness studies, applying European and national representativeness criteria in the specific context of different sectors, while also accumulating an in-depth knowledge of the industrial relations landscape in various sectors. Peter has also worked on projects related to European Works Councils and European Sectoral Social Dialogue. Before joining Eurofound, he worked as a researcher for ETUI and UCL, as a political secretary for EMCEF and was scientific coordinator of the PhD School of the social sciences faculty of KU Leuven. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a Master’s degree in Political Science from KU Leuven and one in International Relations from UCL, and has a PhD in Industrial Relations from the University of Manchester.

Sophia MacGoris is surveys officer based in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She works on all three of Eurofound's surveys. Having been involved in cross-national surveys for many years, she uses her experience and her transversal role to ensure a continuity of learning and quality assurance to the highest level during the entire survey process. Prior to joining Eurofound in 1996, she worked for several years in the European Commission in Brussels in the area of science, research and development. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Social Science specialising in Social Policy.

Inès Maillart is a research support officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound since August 2025, having previously worked at the Brussels Liaison Office.

Pietro Malacalza is a research assistant in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, having previously worked in operational support. His work involves support for the Network of Eurofound Correspondents including quality control, summarising national contributions for research reports and databases, monitoring individual deliverables and coding information in qualitative research software. Before joining Eurofound, he worked as a project management consultant for the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), and also worked in various roles in the IT, aerospace and food industries. He holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Milan and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Agnès Parent-Thirion is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, tasked with the planning, development and implementation of working conditions research projects, in particular the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and its analyses. She is responsible for the EWCS 2021 extraordinary edition and for the preparation of the questionnaire for the EWCS 2024. Her research interests include working conditions, job quality, the monitoring of working conditions, work organisation, gender, the future of work and time. She has been working in the area of European comparative surveys for more than a decade, in all aspects including design, questionnaire development, fieldwork, quality control and analysis. She is a graduate in economics and management from Paris IX Dauphine and Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne universities and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin. She has recently completed online courses on artificial intelligence: inquiry-driven leadership with MIT Sloan Executive Education and ‘Les grand enjeux de la transition: re-ouvrir l'horizon, comprendre pour agir’ with the Campus de la Transition. Before joining Eurofound, she worked for a number of years in the European Commission.

Sara Riso joined Eurofound in 2006 and is currently a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. She is engaged in research projects focusing on digitalisation and working conditions. Before joining Eurofound, Sara managed research projects for large Brussels-based European associations and networks. Her academic background is in psychology, communication and languages. Her main research interest lies in exploring new workplace stressors arising from increased digitalisation of work, evolving organisational practices, and change management strategies to address the challenges posed by digitalisation in modern working environments.

Mária Sedláková is a research officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She is responsible for drafting overview reports for sectoral representativeness studies, management and quality control of national reporting on industrial relations, social dialogue and working life, and development of a project on collective bargaining beyond pay. Before joining Eurofound, she worked as a technical research officer within the Governance and Tripartism Department at the International Labour Organization in Geneva on the Social Dialogue Flagship Report 2022. She also worked as a researcher at the Central European Labour Studies Institute in Bratislava (2013–2020), focusing on social dialogue, collective bargaining, working conditions and sociology of work. Maria holds an MA in Political Science with specialisation in Comparative European Politics from Central European University.

Oscar Vargas Llave is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and manages projects on changes in the world of work and the impact on working conditions and related policies: organisation of working time, remote work, the right to disconnect, health and well-being and ageing. Before joining Eurofound in December 2009, he worked as project coordinator in the field of health and safety and was responsible for the Professional Card Scheme for the Construction Sector in Spain at the non-profit Fundación Laboral de la Construcción in Madrid. He has a background in industrial sociology (Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca), and also holds a Diploma in Social Science Research Methods from the University of Cardiff and a Master’s degree in Health and Safety from the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Tina Weber is a senior research manager in Eurofound’s Working Life unit. Her work has focused on labour shortages, the impact of hybrid work and an ‘always on’ culture and the right to disconnect, working conditions and social protection measures for self-employed workers and the impact of the twin transitions on employment, working conditions and industrial relations. She is responsible for studies assessing the representativeness of European social partner organisations. She has also carried out research on European Works Councils and the evolution of industrial relations and social dialogue in the European Union. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2019, she worked for a private research institute primarily carrying out impact assessments and evaluations of EU labour law and labour market policies. Tina holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Edinburgh which focussed on the role of national trade unions and employers’ organisations in the European social dialogue.