Sophie Mathieu, PhD

Senior Program Specialist

As Senior Program Specialist, Dr. Sophie Mathieu is responsible for leading the Vanier Institute’s projects and partnerships. A mother of three, Sophie holds a PhD in sociology from Carleton University. Her thesis, which was nominated for a Senate medal, showed that measures that fostered the equal division of child care responsibilities between partners contributed to curbing Quebec’s declining fertility rate.

Prior to joining the Vanier Institute, Sophie taught courses in the sociology of the family at the college and university levels while pursuing her research program. She was awarded several grants, including by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) Program, which enabled her to finance her research work, as well as two postdoctoral fellowships.

During her first fellowship at Brock University, she documented the existence of inequality structures in accessing parental benefits in Quebec and Canada. From 2020 to 2022, she completed a second fellowship at the Université TÉLUQ, studying the effects of the pandemic on the work–family balance of employed Quebec parents.

Sophie is currently a member of the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care, a role she was appointed in November 2022.

Passionate about knowledge mobilization, Sophie has authored numerous scientific articles on family policy and gender inequality in national and international journals, as well as dozens of commentaries, editorials, and research summaries in various French- and English-language Canadian media.

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