Prof Robin SAMUEL

• Full Professor of Youth Studies, Department of Social Sciences
• Head, Centre for Childhood and Youth Research (CCY)
• Head, Youth Studies Research Group
• Director, Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences (Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences)

Robin Samuel’s research focuses on youth, digitality, health and well-being, sustainability, and research methods. He leads theory-driven research projects that involve the collection and analysis of large-scale datasets, applying advanced statistical techniques, and in some projects he also employs experimental designs and qualitative methods.

A selection of ongoing funded projects:

• Pathways into the Labor Market of Young People with Disabilities in Switzerland and Luxembourg: Drivers of and Barriers to Successful Transitions, 2023–2026 (PATH_CH-Lux).
• European Labour Markets Under Pressure – New Knowledge on Pathways to Include Persons in Vulnerable Situations, 2023–2026 (PATHS2INCLUDE).
• Youth Life Chances in the Digital Society, 2022–2026 (NYR25, also see NYR20).
• Youth Survey Luxembourg, 2016–2026 (YSL).
• Sustainability, Environmental Knowledge, and Social Imaginations of Climate Futures, 2024–2027.
• Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis for Social Sciences: Possibilities and Challenges, 2022–2027.

Publications are available on ORBilu.

Robin is not currently accepting new Ph.D. candidates.

Robin teaches a wide range of topics at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, including general sociology, life course and intergenerational relations, youth studies, and research methodology (mainly foundations, introductory and advanced statistics),

He is involved in program development and academic governance as a member of the steering committees for both the Bachelor in Social Sciences and Educational Sciences (BSSE) and the Master in Social Sciences and Educational Sciences (MASSES). He regularly supervises bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral theses and serves on academic committees.

A central feature of Robin’s work is the integration of empirical research with practice and policy. He and his team promote knowledge exchange through multilingual digital platforms and workshops, fostering collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. He maintains strong partnerships with ministries, observatories, and local municipalities, supporting the development of policy-relevant and impactful research, as documented here: youth-in-luxembourg.lu and jugendbericht.lu.

Robin serves on numerous steering committees of policy-relevant projects at the CCY, such as the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study.

Before joining the University of Luxembourg in 2016, Robin conducted research at the universities of Basel, Bern, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Stanford. He serves on the Board of the European Consortium for Sociological Research and is Co-Editor of Social Indicators Research

Robin holds a Lizentiat (equivalent to a Master’s degree) in Sociology, Sustainable Development, and Modern History from the University of Basel (2008), where he also earned his Ph.D. in Sociology in 2012.