Biography

Francesca Zanasi is a sociologist interested in intergenerational relations and work-family reconciliation from a life course perspective. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Research obtained at Tilburg University (NL), within a joint programme with the School of Social Sciences at the University of Trento.

As part of her Ph.D., her research has centered on the relation between care responsibilities and employment among older people, taking into consideration individuals’ previous work-family history, and the institutional context. Recently, her interests have expanded to the study of health inequality in later life (CREW project, University of Florence); family arrangements of older migrants, and the consequences of parental separation on children’s education (Great Demographic Recession PRIN project, University of Bari).

Thanks to the Max Weber Fellowship, Francesca will have the possibility to reconcile the fields of research she has been working on. She will examine the link between intergenerational relations and child outcomes, specifically how the time grandparents and parents spend with grandchildren concurs with their socio-emotional and cognitive development. Particular attention will be conferred on the socio-economic differences between families in time and activities performed with (grand)children.

Expertise for Teaching and Mentoring of Ph.D. Researchers
During her doctoral studies, Francesca served as lecturer at B.A. level, teaching courses in general sociology, as well as several workshops on research skills and academic writing.