Learn more about LISER’s departments, shaping our contributions to societal and scientific challenges.

Discover research that examines key challenges in employment, economic trends and social dynamics within the labour market, offering valuable insights into these important areas.

Living Conditions

Engage with research that investigates the factors influencing living standards, with a focus on income distribution, housing conditions and social inclusion, providing evidence-based insights into these crucial areas.

Urban Development and Mobility

Studies urban dynamics to identify pathways of actors to stimulate sustainable urban transitions.

Appel à Communications: Les relations industrielles dans un monde du travail en mutation

Learn more about our cross-departmental programmes, which combine interdisciplinary expertise to tackle transversal challenges.

Crossing Borders

Discover how our research into the complexities of cross-border mobility is advancing knowledge, shaping policy, benefiting society and addressing global challenges.

Health and Health Systems

Engage with research dedicated to enhancing public health, improving healthcare accessibility, and promoting equitable and efficient health solutions at a global scale.

Discover LISER's initiatives, driving scientific progress and fostering meaningful collaborations with stakeholders.

Doctoral programmes

Meet a dynamic community of researchers addressing critical societal challenges through innovative and interdisciplinary studies. Our doctoral programme offers exceptional training, mentorship and opportunities to shape impactful policies and drive innovation in diverse fields.

Data Science and Simulation

The Centre of Competence for Data Science and Simulation (DSS) is a cross-departmental initiative. Our ambition is to develop infrastructure, tools and competences in in machine learning, big data, microsimulation and geoexperimentation to conduct excellent research and advise policy-makers as well as stakeholders.

cc-EXPAR - Competence Centre in Experimental and Participatory Research

The Competence Centre in Experimental and Participatory Research (EXPAR) is a cross-departmental initiative. Our ambition is to improve awareness of and skills in experimental and participatory research methods to strengthen LISER’s position at the forefront of internationally high quality, scientifically rigorous and societally relevant research.

Economic inequality and the health of European democracy

Bringing together researchers, citizens, and policymakers across Europe to understand and address the impact of economic inequality on democratic trust

Across Europe, trust in democratic institutions is under strain at a time of rising economic inequality. INDEMTRUST studies how economic inequality affects the way citizens trust, participate in and support democratic institutions, and how democracies can be made more resilient. It examines inequality through an intersectional and intergenerational lens, and works directly with citizens and policymakers to develop responses. The project brings together researchers from eight institutions in seven countries. It is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe and coordinated by the Central European University.

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Key facts

Programme: Horizon Europe, Cluster 2 (Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society), Democracy call (HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-08)
Coordinator: Central European University
Consortium: 8 partners across 7 countries
Duration: 36 months, from 1 October 2026
LISER role: Project partner and task leader
Funding: European Union, Horizon Europe

Objectives

INDEMTRUST examines how economic inequality and labour-market conditions affect democratic life, combining research on inequality, public policy, social trust and political participation with citizen and stakeholder engagement. The project translates this evidence into practical approaches for building more inclusive and resilient democracies.

Inequality & Labour Markets

Understand how labour-market conditions, economic inequality and public policies interact, including how both experienced and perceived inequality affect different social groups.

Democracy & Social Trust

Examine how economic inequality shapes democratic attitudes, social trust, legitimacy and political participation, identifying the factors that strengthen or weaken democratic engagement.

Co-Creation & Democratic Resilience

Co-create policy responses with citizens, local institutions and civil-society organisations, translating research evidence into practical tools and recommendations that strengthen democratic resilience.

Project involvement

Coordinator

Central European University (Vienna). Project coordinator and Principal Investigator: Martin Kahanec, with Felix Butzlaff, Evelyne Hübscher and Violetta Zentai (Shattuck Center for Human Rights, Department of Public Policy).

Visit Central European University website

LISER team

LISER takes part in INDEMTRUST as a partner and task leader. It contributes to the consortium's comparative and quantitative analysis of how economic inequality and labour-market conditions relate to democratic trust, participation and engagement, and helps translate the project's findings for policy audiences through LISER's policy-lab interface. This builds on LISER's established work on labour markets, inequality, migration and policy evaluation.

Andrea Albanese

Research Scientist

Joël Machado

Research Scientist

Salvatore Di Salvo

PhD Candidate

Key organisations powering this initiative

Marche Polytechnic University (UNIVPM) - Italy, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI) - Slovakia, Masaryk University (MUNI) - Czechia, Örebro University (ÖU) - Sweden, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI) - Germany, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) - Luxembourg, Sapienza University of Rome (Sapienza) - Italy.