Alicia García-Sierra

Alicia García-Sierra is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research LIVES at the University of Lausanne, where she works on the EQUALOPP project examining social inequalities across generations.

Dr. García-Sierra earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Oxford-Nuffield College in 2024. Her doctoral research on intergenerational inequalities in child development received the prestigious ECSR Dissertation of the Year Prize. Prior to her doctorate, she completed a Master's in Research at the Carlos III-Juan March Institute and served as a Research and Teaching Assistant.

Her research focuses on social stratification, child development, and the transmission of (dis)advantage across generations. Using quantitative methods and causal inference techniques, she investigates how socioeconomic status and health disadvantages are perpetuated or mitigated through family dynamics and parenting behaviors. Her work bridges sociology, developmental psychology, and public policy, with particular attention to how parental responses to children's challenges vary by socioeconomic context.

Dr. García-Sierra's scholarly contributions have appeared in leading journals including European Sociological Review, Social Science Research, and Social Justice Research. Her recent work examines parental responses to children's health disadvantages, how mothers adapt to children's developmental declines, and the protective effects of parental work intensity for children living in poverty. These studies employ innovative methodologies including twin studies and longitudinal analyses to isolate causal mechanisms.

• ECSR Dissertation of the Year Prize for her thesis on intergenerational inequalities in child development

As a Postdoctoral Researcher on the EQUALOPP project, Dr. García-Sierra collaborates with an international team of scholars investigating life course inequalities. Her methodological expertise in quantitative analysis and causal inference contributes significantly to the project's research agenda examining how social policies can mitigate intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. She participates in several research working groups focused on childhood development and family dynamics.

Dr. García-Sierra is affiliated with the LIVES center at the University of Lausanne, a Swiss national research center dedicated to life course studies. Within this interdisciplinary environment, she works closely with sociologists, economists, and psychologists to advance understanding of social mobility and inequality across the lifespan.