Sofie Beunen

Phd researcher

Department of Linguistics

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Sofie Beunen is a Baekeland PhD fellow, conducting her research in collaboration with the Centre for Diversity and Learning and TAJO vzw. Her PhD focuses on the study-choice process of disadvantaged youth during the transition from primary to secondary education. Using a longitudinal, quasi-experimental mixed-methods design, the project aims to develop a scientifically grounded impactmodel for interventions that strengthen the study-choice process of disadvantaged students and help reduce social inequality in Flemish educational trajectories.

After obtaining her Master’s degree in Sociology, Sofie gained experience in the fields of education and diversity. As a researcher, she has previously examined what cultural participation means for people from diverse ethnic backgrounds and explored teachers’ perceptions of diversity. In applied research projects, she experimented with learning motivation among disadvantaged youth and language-oriented partnerships between schools and parents.

Email: sofie.beunen@ugent.be