Dr Marco Seegers

Biography

I am a sociologist and quantitative inequality researcher studying social inequalities at the intersection of education, labour markets, technological change and the life course. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin.

My research is motivated by questions about who gains access to new opportunities, who benefits from them and who risks being left behind. This includes, for example, access to further training and emerging technologies, and the extent to which their benefits vary by gender, organisational context and over the life course.

Methodologically, my work combines longitudinal quantitative research with computational approaches and large-scale survey and text data.

Areas of research

Adult Education & Lifelong Learning

Research on adult education and further training focuses on three interrelated dimensions: access, returns and context. Key questions include inequalities in access to learning opportunities, differences in the benefits of participation and the role of individual, organisational and institutional contexts. A central interest is how participation and its consequences accumulate over the life course.

Selected researchSeegers, M. & Ehlert, M. (2026). Gendered Returns to Further Training: Can Non-Formal Training Help Close the Gender Pay Gap? Preprint.Decker, V. & Seegers, M. (2026). Closing the Gap? The Impact of Further Training for Career Inequality between Workers with Vocational and General Education. Preprint.

Work, Skills & Technological Change

This strand examines how digital technologies and, increasingly, artificial intelligence reshape tasks, occupations and skill demands, as well as how workers and organisations respond to these changes. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Selected researchSeegers, M. & Zeyer-Gliozzo, B. (2025). Evolving Work, Evolving Skills: How Different Forms of Further Training Are Used to Adapt to Technological Change Depending on Task Complexity. Journal of Education and Work.Seegers, M. & Ehmann, K. (2024). Task-Biased Technological Change in Germany: Is It the Routine or the Manual? In: Technological Change and Labor Markets: Productivity, Job Polarization, and Inequality.

Gender Inequalities

A third strand examines how gender inequalities emerge and persist across education and employment. This perspective connects my work on adult education and lifelong learning with research on work, skills and technological change, with particular attention to how workplace structures, employment conditions and family responsibilities shape gendered opportunities and outcomes over the life course.

Selected researchSeegers, M. (2024). Geschlechtsspezifische Selektionsmechanismen non-formaler beruflicher Weiterbildung [Gender-Specific Selection Mechanisms in Non-Formal Further Training]. Barbara Budrich.Golsch, K. & Seegers, M. (2020). Perceptions of Technological Change at Work through a Gender Lens. Gender & Research.

About me

I grew up in a family of miners. To fund my studies, I worked underground in a salt mine for a year — an experience that shaped my understanding of work and inequality.

As a first-generation student, I am passionate about overcoming barriers to education. I see widening access not only as a matter of fairness, but also as essential to strengthening social participation and equal opportunities.

Outside academia, I find balance in endurance sports and music. I am an avid triathlete, drawn to the patience and persistence of swimming, cycling and running, and I sing with the Dawson Chorus in Dublin.

Public Engagement

Talk: Equality Forum 2025

Presentation and discussion on “Does Further Training Help Everyone? Benefits, Aspirations and Realities of Employer-Provided Further Training” at the Hans Böckler Foundation’s Equality Forum.

Radio: Dual Career and Further Training

German radio interview on dual-career couples and partnerships between equals, broadcast on Deutschlandfunk.

Podcast: Technological Change and Further Training

Podcast episode discussing the role of further training in technological change, featured in the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training’s podcast series Work Remains – Technology Helps.

Interested in my research or potential collaborations?

Get in touch via email or find me on LinkedIn, Google Scholar and ORCID.

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