معرفی
Paul Schoukens is a full professor and vice dean for international affairs at KU Leuven's Faculty of Law and Criminology, affiliated with the Institute for Social Law and Leuven.IRD - KU Leuven Institute for Rare Diseases. He serves as program director of OC Social Security and holds multiple leadership roles including membership on the Faculty Board, International Policy Council, and several program committees.
His research focuses on European social security coordination, unemployment insurance for non-traditional workers, and adapting welfare systems to platform economies. He investigates cross-border social protection mechanisms, adequacy of coverage for self-employed workers, and implementation of EU social policy recommendations through comparative legal analysis.
Recent publications demonstrate a concentrated effort on extending social protection to platform workers and self-employed individuals, with heavy engagement in EU policy frameworks like the European Pillar of Social Rights. His work combines conceptual innovation with practical policy solutions, primarily published in the European Journal of Social Security and presented at high-level EU forums including the Belgian presidency events.
As principal investigator, Schoukens leads eight active research projects totaling over 10 years of continuous funding, including 'Social protection in informal contexts' (2025-2029) and 'Temporary Unemployment Protection for Self-employed Persons' (2024-2028). These projects address critical gaps in social security systems through comparative analysis of EU member states, with particular emphasis on vulnerable worker categories and coordination mechanisms within the European Union.
