Jeroen Smits

Social researcher with a passion for database building

Positions

Professor of Economic and Human Development at Radboud University in The Netherlands.

Founder and prime researcher of the Global Data Lab.

Director and founder of DevDat, Data for Sustainable Development.

Co-founder and president of SciRev.org.

Background

Smits studied psychology and sociology and obtained a PhD in sociology in 1996. Before joining Radboud University, he worked at Utrecht University, University of Amsterdam and the Dutch National Institute of Health and the Environment (RIVM).

His major research interests are (all forms of) inequality, development, social cohesion, climate vulnerability, database building and the development of knowledge instruments. He published over 100 studies on social issues in low and middle income countries, including educational participation, child mortality, gender issues, human development, ethnic conflict, twin births and (reproductive) health.

Smits has a passion for database building. The Database Developing World (DDW) constructed by him is one of the world’s largest databases with household level information for low and middle income countries.

On the basis of the DDW, Smits has developed a broad set of subnational development indicators for the global development community, including a sub-national version of the Human Development Index and the International Wealth Index, a widely used index for measuring the economic situation of households in poor countries.

For his data and research work on behalf of the global development community Smits has received the royal distinction of Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Previous positions

2009-2019
Associate Professor Inequality and Development at the Department of Economics, Radboud University Nijmegen.

2004-2009
Senior researcher and PI of the VIDI-project "Micro and macro-level determinants of participation in education of children in developing countries", Department of Economics, Radboud University Nijmegen.

2002-2004
Senior researcher, Department of Economics, Radboud University Nijmegen.
Project: A comparative study of operating hours, working time and employment in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom (EUCOWE).
Research sponsored as part of the Key Action Research for Improving the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base (ISKB) of the European Union.

2000-2001
Senior researcher, Department for Health Services Research (CZO), Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
Major tasks: Research on health inequality and accessibility problems in health care and the development of a risk model for the Dutch Health Inspection

1999-2000
Researcher, Scholar Department, Faculty of Economics and Econometrics (FEE), University of Amsterdam
Project: Public funding and private returns to education (PURE) in 15 European countries.
Research sponsored as part of the Targetted Socio-Economic Research (TSER) of the European Union.

1996-1998
Post-doc researcher, Urban Research Centre Utrecht (URU), Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Utrecht University
Project: Spatial and social mobility in the household career.
Research sponsored by the Priority Programme of Population Studies of the Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Scientific Research (NWO)

1990-1995
Junior researcher, Department of Sociology, Radboud University Nijmegen
Project: Educational and occupational homogamy: Large-scale comparative research on the relationship between the educational levels and occupations of spouses.
Research sponsored by the Radboud University Nijmegen