• The research to be undertaken will revolve around job losses and the relationship with economic cycles

Judit Vall Castelló, researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) and professor of the University of Barcelona (UB), has received one of the Leonardo Grants offered yearly by the BBVA Foundation. The research for which she has received the grant revolves around job losses and their relationship to economic cycles.

Professor Vall’s research career has so far focused on the impact of social policies and pension systems on decisions in the labour market. In addition, other studies she has undertaken have also addressed the effects of measures to promote employment on workers with disabilities.

The Foundation BBVA created the Leonardo Grants in 2014 with the aim of supporting researchers and cultural creators between the ages of 30 and 45. Each project may be carried out between a duration of 6 to 18 months. In the field of Economics and Social Sciences, within which Professor Vall’s grant was awarded, four other scholarships have been awarded this year in the areas of sociology, law, psychology and political science. In this latest edition, the Leonardo Grants received 1,374 applications in total, 146 of them for Economics and Social Sciences.

In 2017, another IEB researcher, Amedeo Piolatto, already received one of the BBVA Foundation’s grants to investigate the impact of the introduction of web-based readers in the sectors that use them.