Observatory for Working and Living Conditions

A monitoring centre that links several areas of knowledge – arts, philosophy, sciences – in order to study work, health, education, housing, the social state, social security, and population dynamics. The Observatory for Working and Living Conditions brings together researchers from the NOVA University Lisbon, the Higher Technical Institute, the University of Paris, and the Ricardo Jorge National Institute, among others.
It aims at establishing a general index for welfare economics, in which questions of economic and social redistribution are combined with a political and cultural recognition. So far, various maps and cartographies have been developed for historical research, including a series of surveys to fundamental occupations such as teachers, flight crews, stevedores, nurses, or train drivers. Within the scope of the ongoing studies, a theoretical and methodological conception was also developed as a contribution to the studies on burnout, risk and hardship at work.