Project Team

Who are we?

Science is a team effort. The CAPABLE project team worked collaboratively and intensely over a period of six years, led by Prof. Dr. Mara Yerkes. Mara is a social scientist with expertise in comparative social policy and social inequalities, in particular related to gender. She was joined by an interdisciplinary group of scholars from multiple social scientific disciplines and a dynamic group of interns and student assistants from all over Europe. The core CAPABLE team consisted of three PhD students (Carla Brega, Samuel Briones, and Mehri Zamanbin), a postdoctoral researcher (Karen van Hedel), project assistants (Robin Buning, Louise O’Meara) and multiple student assistants and interns. Want to know more about Mara, core team members, or other people who worked in the CAPABLE team? Check out the profiles below.

Mara Yerkes

Mara Yerkes was the principal investigator and project leader of the CAPABLE project. She is Full Professor of Comparative Social Policy in relation to Social Inequalities at the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences…

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Carla Brega

Carla Brega was a PhD candidate in the CAPABLE project and successfully defended her PhD thesis in January 2026. Carla completed her BSc in Sociology at the University of Chile in 2014 and her MSc in Social Sciences (Research)…

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Samuel Briones

Samuel Briones was a PhD candidate in the CAPABLE project and successfully defended his PhD thesis in March 2026. Samuel holds a BSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Chile…

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Mehri Zamanbin

Mehri Zamanbin was a PhD candidate in the CAPABLE project and will defend her PhD thesis in June 2026, which focuses on centring the experiences of marginalised and/or minoritised working carers and parents across Europe…

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Karen van Hedel

Karen van Hedel was a postdoctoral researcher in the CAPABLE project and focuses on cross-national analyses of work-life balance and (self-reported) health and well-being using…

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Robin Buning

Project assistant

Louise O’Meara

Project assistant

Alumni

Rozafa Jahaj (intern November 2021 – July 2022)

Dewi Lemmens (researcher November 2021 – April 2022)

Roosmarijn Knopper (student assistant December 2019 -June 2022)

Ana Jagodic (researcher December 2019 – January 2024)

John Wooldridge (research assistant February-April 2021)

Oksana Dorofeeva (intern September-December 2020)

Silvia Filippi (intern November 2019-April 2020)

Catalina Ganga León (intern February-May 2020)

Lydia Hiraide (research assistant February-April 2021)

Hannelore van Hoffen (student assistant March-September 2019)

Bryn Hummel (intern February-June 2020)

Katharina Meitinger (methodological expert September 2019-November 2020)

Laura Mrčela (intern February 2020 – February 2022 )

Clarissa Skinner (research assistant April-May 2019)

Annaïc van Haperen (student assistant November 2022 – August 2023)

Camila Pastor Noceda (intern February-May 2024)

María Jesús Chaparro (research assistant June 2020-October 2022)

Yujie Hu (researcher November 2021 – March 2023)

Asmahan Mahmoud (intern February-July 2024)

Erick Covilla (intern November 2023-April 2024)

Vera van Vliet (intern January-July 2025)

Daudi van Veen (researcher October 2022 – March 2023)

Noah van Berkel (student assistant March-August 2023)

Acknowledgements

The CAPABLE team is very grateful to our advisory board, including Pearl Dykstra, Bjorn Hvinden, Judith Treas, and Liz Gosme, as well as the efforts of many international partners and national experts that worked with us on the project: Barbara Hobson, Judit Takács, Anna Kurowska, Manuela Naldini, Margarita Leon, Anna Escobedo, and Hadeja Iglič as well as Clare Stovell, Marc Grau Grau, and Tracey Warren. Jana Javornik and Erik Jansen deserve a special mention for their intense and helpful collaboration on the project.