Soziologie

The working group Comparative Politics and Public Policy is pleased to welcome Dr. Martin Gurín and María Paulina Arnal, who have joined the team over the past weeks.

Dr. Martin Gurín previously worked at the University of Kassel and the University of Bremen. In Bremen, he was part of the second phase of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC 1342) "Global Dynamics of Social Policy", where he collected data on paternity leave. He is looking forward to further developing this line of research during his work in Bielefeld as part of the new CRC project on work-family policy.

He holds a Master's degree in Public and Social Policy from Charles University in Prague (2017), and received his doctorate in sociology from TU Dortmund in 2025. His research focuses on the development and politics of family policy, social inequality and welfare states, intergenerational relations, ageism, and radical politics.

María Paulina Arnal, who joins the third phase of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC 1342) "Global Dynamics of Social Policy" will pursue her doctorate at Bielefeld University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Sonja Blum. She also continues as a research associate within the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie "Peace and Mobilities" project, contributing to the sub-project "Bibliotheca de, por y para las infancias en movilidad que construven estrategias de paz" (a library by, for, and with children in mobility building peace strategies).

She holds a Master's degree in Inter-American Studies from Bielefeld University, completed as a double-degree programme with the Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), and a degree in Sociology from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina), following which she worked on gender policy at the Ministry of Women, Gender Policies and Sexual Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires. Her doctoral research will examine work-family policy learning in comparative perspective.

Welcome to the team!