Dr Olena Nizalova
Never Stop Learning
I use econometric methods and utility maximisation framework to study how people make choices with regards to their health, work and families in ageing societies and post-Soviet countries in order to contribute to the development of sustainable ways of our comfortable life on Earth.
Short Bio
I am an Associate Professor (Reader) in Health Economics at the University of Kent, which I joined in August 2013. I received my doctoral degree in Econometrics at Michigan State University (USA) in 2006. My research interests are in the fields of labour and health economics, economics of aging, and policy evaluation. I look into the interplay between labour market, health and family obligations, be it the provision of informal care to elderly parents in the USA and Europe or the wage penalty for motherhood (Ukraine), or the impact of labour market outcomes on health and wellbeing. European Commission, Wellcome Trust, MRC, UKAid, ESRC, World Bank, Global Development Network, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ERSTE Foundation (Austria), Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (University of Michigan), the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) and the Nuffied Foundation supported my research through various projects. My current research interests focus on the sustainability of the old-age support systems in a rapidly ageing societies. Throughout my work I have kept in mind significant inequalities, by gender, ethnicity, immigration status, and those divisions continue to manifest in most of my findings, calling for greater attention to the outcomes of vulnerable population groups.