The PEMS Chair is funding two new fourth-year PhD students
Following the call for applications launched at the beginning of the year, the Chair selected the applications of Léa Dousset and Cécile Bonneau and will fund their 4th year of PhD.
Léa Dousset is writing a thesis entitled “Three essays in the economics of education - the effects of peers on educational paths”, under the supervision of Julien Grenet.
As for Cécile Bonneau, she is writing a thesis entitled “Inégalités d’accès aux filières sélectives de l’enseignement supérieur”, under the supervision of Gabrielle Fack and Julien Grenet.
Their respective research topics are linked to the Chair’s thematic areas, to which they are already making a major contribution.
They are working together on a project entitled “Competition sticks! The gender gap in top higher education science programs”, in which they are studying the under-representation of women in the most selective engineering schools. The first results of their study have been presented at a number of research seminars (PSE applied economics seminar, economics of education workshop at KU-Leuven, 39th Applied Microeconomics Days, SOFI-Stockholm University internal seminar).
Léa Dousset is also working on the project “Women under-representation in mathematics studies and careers: historical evidence from the abrogation of gender quotas”. This project is analysing the merger of the École Normale Supérieure d’Ulm and the École Normale Supérieure de Sèvres in 1986 to understand the impact of the abrogation of a gender quota on women’s applications and success in the mathematics entrance examination, and the long-term consequences of the fall in the number of women admitted to the ENS on the representation of women in teaching and research careers.
Cécile Bonneau, for her part, is working on the project “One by one or all together: how the design of application fees matters”, which aims to observe how students’ application behaviour is influenced by the fees charged for entry to the prestigious science schools. More specifically, it looks at how charging fees on a school-by-school basis as opposed to common fees for several schools leads to the exclusion of applicants who are on the verge of being exempted from paying competitive entrance exam fees.
The Education Policy and Social Mobility Chair
Chair aims to highlight the mechanisms of unequal access to education, and to identify the policies and actions likely to correct them. In particular, the objective is to improve the level of education of the most disadvantaged populations, by identifying the most effective levers.