Emilie Rosenstein

Emilie Rosenstein serves as an Associate Professor in the Social Work Department at the School of Social Work and Health Lausanne, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO). Her academic work centers on social policy analysis, vulnerability frameworks, and the critical issue of non-take-up of social benefits, with specialized expertise in disability systems and labor market integration dynamics.

• 2018: PhD in Sociology, University of Geneva
• 2009: Master in Sociology, University of Geneva
• 2006: Licence in Sociology, University of Geneva

Professor Rosenstein's research program investigates structural barriers within welfare systems through a life course lens, examining how policy design affects marginalized populations. Her work bridges theoretical frameworks like the Capability Approach with empirical analysis of street-level bureaucracy, disability insurance systems, and pandemic-era social policy adaptations. She consistently employs mixed-methods approaches to document how administrative practices create unintended exclusionary effects.

Recent publications (2022-2025) demonstrate evolving focus on participatory evaluation methodologies, poverty observatory development, and pandemic impacts on social citizenship. Her work reveals persistent paradoxes in universalist welfare systems, showing how activation policies simultaneously enable and constrain access to benefits. Cross-cutting themes include the tension between bureaucratic efficiency and individualized support, and the role of digitalization in exacerbating non-take-up among vulnerable groups.

Professor Rosenstein actively supervises graduate theses while leading major research initiatives including the SNSF-funded longitudinal study "Fit for Crisis? Social Policy in Times of COVID-19" (2023-2026) and the five-year project "Your health or your money?" (2025-2029) examining health money management in low-income families. Her service includes directing evaluations for regional social action associations and participating in European research consortia.

She co-founded the Observatoire des précarités (Poverty Observatory) in the Canton of Vaud and maintains active roles in the LIVES National Research Center and MaTISS research network. Her team develops innovative methodological approaches for tracking vulnerability trajectories while collaborating with social service practitioners to translate research into actionable policy improvements.