Chiara joined the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing in 2024 as a Research Fellow. Her work focuses on ageing, community-based support networks, and the role of social capital in enhancing quality of life in later life.

Before joining the Institute, Chiara held research roles at several international institutions, including UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (under the supervision of Prof. Carlota Perez), the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute, and the Law & Economics Centre at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also collaborates with the Laboratoire d’Études sur les Nouvelles formes de Travail, l’Innovation et le Changement (LENTIC) at HEC Liège. Across these roles, she has developed mixed-methods expertise on projects spanning employment, education, innovation policy, and the green economy.

Chiara completed her PhD in Economics and Law, summa cum laude, through a joint programme between the University of Bologna (Prof. Enrico Santarelli), Erasmus University Rotterdam (Prof. Michael Faure), and Universität Hamburg. Her dissertation examined the socioeconomic and historical dimensions of reskilling programmes, focusing on the construction of labour market identities and their social dynamics.

At the Institute, Chiara contributes to the Enabling Person-Centred Integrated Care Networks (EPICS) project, where she leads fieldwork across Oxfordshire using the go-along method—a qualitative approach that combines mobile interviewing with ethnographic observation. Her research investigates how older adults age (well) in (the right) place, the function of social capital—particularly secondary ties—in supporting ageing in community, and the extent to which social prescribing and link workers can respond to unmet needs.

Personal website & publications: https://sites.google.com/view/chiaranataliefocacci