Prof. Ides Nicaise (professor at KU Leuven) has a background in economics and works since 1989 as a research manager at HIVA (Research Institute for Work and Society), a multidisciplinary research institute of the University of Leuven (Flemish Louvain). He further specialised in social policy, more precisely the relationships between education, labour market policy and social inclusion (in rich as well as developing countries). At the Department of Education Sciences of his university, he teaches the subjects ‘economics of education’, ‘lifelong learning and equal opportunities’ and ‘education and society’. Besides his professional activities, he is chairing the Belgian Resource Centre for the Fight against Poverty