January 16, 2024 | News | New faces at MPIDR

Welcome, Mariia Vasiakina!

Mariia Vasiakina has joined the research group Labor Demography as a Marie Curie Fellow. © MPIDR/Schulz

The Research Group Labor Demography is happy to welcome Mariia Vasiakina as a new team member. Mariia attained her PhD from the University of Insubria (Italy). Her major is related to the methods and models for economic decisions. Mariia’s research interests overlap the areas of health and labour economics along with various sociological and demographic topics. Mariia is award holder of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship Program funded by the European Commission.

When did you start into science?
I started to take the first steps in academia in 2014 during my master’s degree studies at the Friedrich Schiller University (Jena, Germany). Between 2016-2020, I was enrolled in the PhD Program in Methods and Models for Economic Decisions at the University of Insubria (Varese, Italy).

What’s your job at MPIDR and how long will you be working here?
I have recently joined the Labor Demography Research Group as an EU Researcher. I am an award holder of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship Program funded by the European Commission. For the next two years, I will be working on a project which overlaps the areas of health and labor economics and investigates the impact of risk of automation at work on health outcomes of German employees.

What is your motivation to work in this field of research?
Starting from my master’s degree studies, I have been working on the topics of socio-economic and work-related determinants of health and well-being. In general, I am interested in conducting gender-specific multidisciplinary research which tends to provide a substantial positive impact on people’s quality of life.

Why did you choose MPIDR as your new employer?
There is high proximity between my research interests and the research agenda of the MPIDR. Last but not least, the Institute provides a truly supportive and collaborative environment for research and networking.

Where are you from and what do you miss most about home?
I was born in the USSR and spent my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in Russia. While living in Germany, I will be missing supermarkets and other customer services working on Sundays.

What is your favorite and what is your least favorite part about work?
Every single step of the research process - developing a new idea, working with data, estimating models, writing articles and presenting them at conferences – is quite enjoyable for me, while dealing with journals and reviewers’ remarks can bring a certain portion of stress to my life.