“Rigorous, ambitious, politically relevant, and methodologically innovative”: these are the words the jury used to describe the work of Kenza Elass, a postdoctoral researcher and member of CERGIC—the Center for Economic Research on Governance, Inequality, and Conflict—at  ENS de Lyon, when she won the “Young Researcher Prize.”

The award was granted by the University of Luxembourg during the 5th Workshop on Gender and Economics on May 26, 2026, for her article, “What Do Women Want in a Job?” This paper had already earned her an award in September 2025, when the Italian Society of Public Economics (SIEP) presented her with the Etta Chiuri Prize, and it also made her a finalist for the Distinguished CESifo Affiliate Award in Labor Economics in May 2026. We took this opportunity to interview her and discuss the nature of her current and future work at CERGIC.

What do this new award and these various recognitions mean to you?

An academic career, especially in its early stages, relies heavily on critical feedback and suggestions for improvement, while recognition remains rare. This is especially true in Economics, where the publication process takes a very long time.

Receiving these awards was therefore a truly proud moment. The fact that my research has practical implications and is considered useful—both for other researchers and for public policymakers—is particularly rewarding. These moments also filled me with deep gratitude toward my mentors and gave me the opportunity to thank them for their time and advice, which are invaluable to early-career researchers like me.

What does your research involve, and more specifically, the article for which you have just been distinguished?

I work on the topic of labor market inequalities and the factors that determine career choices: occupation, workplace, and employer.

This article focuses more specifically on gendered job-search behaviors, based on French administrative data, particularly from France Travail [the French public employment service]. For example, we observe that women seek jobs closer to home, accept lower wages than men, and target different occupations.

In this article, I show that an increase in child care assistance in France (the child care supplement) provides the mothers concerned with greater flexibility in their job search and improves the quality of their re-employment.

My results show, however, that this positive effect is evident only where the supply of private childcare is least constrained. These results underscore the need to combine policies aimed at reducing the cost of childcare with policies to expand the supply of childcare services.

What are the next steps?

My upcoming research focuses on how gender gaps—which are clearly evident in labor market data—are reflected in the recommendations offered by generative artificial intelligence, whether in salary suggestions or resume evaluations. More broadly, my research agenda aims to assess the full range of disruptions that the widespread deployment of generative AI could cause to existing employment and wage gaps.