My teaching

I teach and guest lecture at Ghent University, mainly in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEB), and supervise graduate research on labour market discrimination, the impact of generative AI on the labour market, and related topics.

1. Courses

‘Labour Economics’ (FEB, Ghent University). Co-lecturer, since 2023-2024. [course specification]

The course is organised in three parts. Part A covers labour economics analysis based on Borjas’ standard textbook, treating labour demand, labour supply, labour market equilibrium, extensions to the basic neoclassical model, and explanations of wage differentials such as education, discrimination, compensating wage differentials, and incentive pay, with a brief look at trade unions and unemployment. Part B addresses scientific research by discussing recent articles on supply, demand, and equilibrium, with a dedicated lecture on the state of research through overview studies. Part C deals with labour market policy, including social dialogue and industrial relations in Belgium and guided self-study of the most recent annual report of the High Council for Employment. Students help shape the course content through capita selecta and elective assignments, and can opt into an excellence track.

2. Guest lectures

‘Contemporary Economic Challenges’ (FEB, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, since 2024-2025. [course specification]

The course analyses a range of contemporary economic problems so that students see the wide variety of topics to which economic reasoning can be applied, with the aim of fostering a critical attitude toward arguments used in political debate and helping students form their own views. The specific topics change from year to year and depend on the current economic situation. Examples of the challenges analysed include valuation problems on financial markets, globalisation and inequality, challenges for the Flemish labour market, energy and climate policy, demographic change and ageing, the determinants and consequences of automation, fiscal policy and public debt reduction in the EU, tax policy and employment, migration, and poverty and inequality.

‘Socio-Economic Policy’ (FEB, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, since 2024-2025. [course specification]

The course introduces students to the mechanisms, theoretical principles, and choices that matter for economic and social policy, with attention to sustainable development issues such as poverty, well-being, inclusive growth, and innovation. It is built around three theoretical parts that are made concrete through an assignment with intensive feedback. The first part covers macroeconomics and economic policy, including objectives, measurement and indicators, fiscal versus monetary policy, the labour market, and the short and long run. The second part addresses welfare state issues and social policy, covering the welfare state’s history and evolution, the economic motivation of efficiency versus social justice, and the challenges involved. The third part deals with microeconomics and individual well-being, including empirical measurement and normative judgement, along with policy issues such as equivalent income and the principles of reward, compensation, and responsibility.

‘Intersectionality and Diversity Studies’ (Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, 2022-2023 and 2025-2026. [course specification]

The central question of the course is how human differences are given a social place and how the social organisation of diversity comes about. It offers a critical and in-depth overview of the theories and debates through which diversity can be approached, using intersectionality, as developed in gender studies and black feminist theory, as a key heuristic for understanding how social positioning and identity sit at the intersection of multiple axes of oppression and privilege. The course examines dimensions of diversity such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, poverty, and disability, alongside mechanisms of exclusion such as racism, sexism, and discrimination, and mechanisms of inclusion such as superdiversity, social participation, and integration. It also considers how diversity can be studied across social and cultural domains including education, language, media, and literature.

‘Migration and Society’ (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, 2024-2025. [course specification]

The course gives students across Ghent University a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary introduction to migration studies. A first part introduces key concepts and debates, covering global patterns and trends of international migration, the governance and politics of migration, legal pathways, determinants, and superdiversity and integration, with each lecture taking a specific discipline as its starting point. A second part offers a more focused discussion of specific issues, in previous years including discrimination and racism, language and access to public services, and communication and representation, set up as dialogues between two disciplines approaching the same issue through different lenses. The specific topics change across years to reflect contemporary debates.

‘Academic Skills’ (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, 2024-2025. [course specification]

Academic Skills is a basic course in the psychology programme that introduces core competencies relevant to both future researchers and practitioners, such as writing skills and critical reflection. The course is organised in two modules: searching for and referring to scientific literature, and the critical evaluation of and writing about scientific literature. Students learn to find scientific literature using search engines, to cite it according to APA guidelines, to summarise and communicate about scientific articles and media reports in an accessible way, and to evaluate such sources critically. The course assumes the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence, which is explained during the lessons.

‘Labour and Employment’ (FEB, Ghent University). Guest lecturer, 2021-2022. [course specification]

The course covers the functions and functioning of the labour market, including labour supply, labour demand, and social bargaining in Belgium, together with a capita selecta section. It then addresses labour market policy and labour market research, with attention to labour market research in Flanders and labour market data. A final part deals with labour market vision, covering Flemish stakeholders and their views and the writing of an opinion piece. Teaching includes interactive guest lectures in which researchers and socioeconomic policy leaders present their research and vision, alongside guided self-study on recent labour market developments and key figures.

‘Economics’ (Ghent University). Guest lecturer, 2020-2021. [course specification]

The course gives students in political science and sociology an overview of the key concepts and essential lines of reasoning in economics, with the aim of helping them understand economic articles in newspapers, magazines, and policy texts. It covers welfare and market equilibrium, needs and wants, economic models, and the different schools of economic thought. It treats GDP and the role of government, growth and inequality, the business cycle and macroeconomic policy, firms, and markets, along with selected special topics. A final part introduces students to research in economics.

3. Supervision

Doctoral research of Louise Devos (Ghent University). PhD co-supervisor, since 2023.

Louise’s doctoral research is part of the Belspo BRAIN-be 2.0 project LAMIE, which measures, explains, and seeks to remedy the labour market disadvantage of citizens with a migration background in Belgium.

Doctoral research of Liam D’hert (Ghent University). PhD guidance committee member, since 2024.

Liam’s doctoral research, funded by an FWO senior research project, studies the activation of the inactive, examining thresholds and breakthroughs using AI techniques.

I also supervise master’s theses at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. I currently supervise three and supervised four more as a postdoctoral researcher. As a doctoral researcher, I co-supervised eight master’s theses.

This page was last updated on 05 June 2026.