Zachary Van Winkle

Zachary Van Winkle is an Associate Professor in Sociology at Sciences Po Paris, affiliated with the Center for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS), and holds an Associate Fellowship in Sociology at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His research lies at the intersection of sociology and demography, with a focus on life course trajectories, family transformations, and social stratification.

His educational background includes a PhD from Humboldt University Berlin, where his dissertation on family trajectories in Europe and the US earned top honors from the European Consortium for Sociological Research and the German Demographic Society. He previously held a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Oxford until 2020. His research is supported by major grants, including an ERC Starting Grant (WIDOW, 2023–2028) and funding from the ANR, NORFACE, and Netspar.

Van Winkle’s research interests span life course sociology, family demography, wealth inequality, widowhood, in-work poverty, and the integration of genetic data into social science. He employs advanced methods such as sequence analysis and comparative demographic modeling. His work emphasizes comparative perspectives across countries and cohorts, aiming to uncover how institutional and individual factors shape life outcomes.

His recent publications, appearing in leading journals like Demography, American Journal of Sociology, and Journal of Marriage and Family, reveal consistent trends in analyzing the socioeconomic consequences of family transitions, particularly widowhood and parenthood, across the life course. He frequently collaborates with scholars such as Anette Fasang, Rob Gruijters, and Emanuela Struffolino, combining sociological theory with large-scale empirical analysis.

Among his scientific awards are the Best Doctoral Thesis Prize from both the European Consortium for Sociological Research and the German Demographic Society. He is a member of the Population Association of America, European Population Association, and Sequence Analysis Association, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Family Research, while regularly reviewing for top journals including American Sociological Review, Demography, and Social Forces.

Van Winkle supervises doctoral training at CRIS and is actively involved in international research networks. He does not appear to supervise named students in the provided text, but his leadership of the WIDOW project and participation in collaborative teams suggest a strong mentoring and advisory role. He has no listed grants beyond those mentioned, but his ERC and ANR funding indicates substantial research support.

He is affiliated with the CRIS research center, which serves as his primary academic and collaborative hub, and is embedded in a broader network of institutions including Nuffield College, Oxford, and various European research consortia.