Gaia Ghirardi is a sociologist working on social stratification, sociogenomics, education, and health inequalities. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the WZB Skill Formation and Labor Markets Department and the Einstein Center for Population Diversity (project: “Evaluating the Relation between Family Diversity and Educational Inequalities”). Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Statistics of the University of Bologna (2025-2026). Gaia obtained her PhD in Sociology at the European University Institute (EUI) in 2025. In her PhD dissertation, she explores how family socioeconomic conditions interact with children’s genotypes in shaping social inequalities in education and health.
Her research aims to understand how socioeconomically (dis)advantaged parents transmit educational and health (dis)advantages to their children, leveraging genetically informed designs where possible. Gaia examines how family socioeconomic resources moderate the association between children’s genotypes and key life-course outcomes, including education, mental health, and physical health. By combining sociological theory with molecular genetic data and methods, her research provides new evidence on when and for whom socioeconomic advantage compensates for, amplifies, or triggers certain genetic characteristics.
Gaia Ghirardi
Gaia Ghirardi is a sociologist working on social stratification, sociogenomics, education, and health inequalities. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the WZB Skill Formation and Labor Markets Department and the Einstein Center for Population Diversity (project: “Evaluating the Relation between Family Diversity and Educational Inequalities”). Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Statistics of the University of Bologna (2025-2026). Gaia obtained her PhD in Sociology at the European University Institute (EUI) in 2025. In her PhD dissertation, she explores how family socioeconomic conditions interact with children’s genotypes in shaping social inequalities in education and health.
Her research aims to understand how socioeconomically (dis)advantaged parents transmit educational and health (dis)advantages to their children, leveraging genetically informed designs where possible. Gaia examines how family socioeconomic resources moderate the association between children’s genotypes and key life-course outcomes, including education, mental health, and physical health. By combining sociological theory with molecular genetic data and methods, her research provides new evidence on when and for whom socioeconomic advantage compensates for, amplifies, or triggers certain genetic characteristics.