Renske Keizer (1983) is full professor in Family Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Keizer’s primary research interest is the role that families play in strengthening, maintaining or weakening social inequalities. Her research straddles sociology, pedagogical sciences, demography, and developmental psychology. Central to her work is the application of the theory-based life course approach to the behavior and well-being of individuals, and (extended) families. She has a demonstrated track record of significant contributions to multiple fields and to policy debates, through several highly-cited publications in top-tier journals, such as Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Family Psychology, Population and Development Review, European Sociological Review, and European Journal of Population. She has received several prestigious grants, amongst which an ERC Starting Grant, a NWO VENI and a NWO VIDI award. In 2016, she was selected as one of the 25 most talented young scholars of all Dutch and Flemish universities. Since 2019 she is member of the Young Academy, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. In 2020 she won the Joannes Juda Groen Junior Prize (biannual) for excellent and innovative interdisciplinary research.

Currently, Renske Keizer is involved in two international research collaborations. As representative of the Netherlands, Renske Keizer is member of a research group investigating The Development of Inequalities in Child Educational Achievement (DICE). This international network, led by Dr. Liz Washbrook (University of Bristol) and Prof. dr. Jane Waldfogel (Columbia University) investigates from a cross-national perspective the development of social inequalities in children’s educational achievements and school performances. Other network members include, amongst others: Dr. Anne Solaz (INED), Dr. Lidia Panico (INED), Sabine Weinert (Bamberg), and Thorsten Schneider (Leipzig). In 2018 we received an Open Research Area for the Social Sciences grant to conduct our interdisciplinary international research.  

Again, as representative of the Netherlands, Renske Keizer is involved in the Nonmarital Childbearing Network: www.nonmarital.org. This international network, led by Dr. Brienna Perelli-Harris (University of Southampton) investigates the development of nonmarital childbearing and family change. Other network members include, amongst others: Dr. Wendy Sigle-Rushton (London School of Economics), Dr. Michaela Kreyenfeld (Max Planck Institute, Rostock), Dr Trude Lappegard (Statistics Norway) and Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Thompson (Stockholm University). Our Nonmarital Childbearing Network received international recognition and acknowledgement in the form of an ERC starting grant, which Brienna Perelli Harris, as principal investigator, applied for (CHILDCOHAB: project number: 263794).