Independent practitioners and academics contributing expertise in labour economics, law, occupational health, and social policy. Affiliated with CELSI, IZA, GMJ, and Georgian academic institutions.
GILS research fellows are independent practitioners and academics who contribute expertise in labour economics, law, occupational health, and social policy. Fellows are not GILS employees — they maintain their primary institutional affiliations and engage with GILS on a project-by-project basis, bringing external perspectives that strengthen the independence of GILS outputs.
All GILS publications naming a fellow as author are peer-reviewed by at least one other fellow before publication. Fellows do not receive direction from GILS on their analytical conclusions — disagreements between GILS’s institutional positions and individual fellow analysis are noted in publications.
PhD Candidate, Tbilisi State University, Department of Economics
With GILS since 2021 · Languages: Georgian, English, Russian
Nino leads GILS’s quantitative labour market research, including the quarterly Labour Market Observatory updates and the Decent Work Index methodology. Her PhD research examines the relationship between informality and social protection coverage in Georgia, using Geostat Labour Force Survey microdata. She has contributed to ILO technical cooperation projects on labour statistics in the South Caucasus (2022–2024) and co-authored the GILS informal economy policy brief series.
Key areas: Labour market analysis · Informality · Social protection · LFS microdata · Geostat
LL.M., University of Amsterdam; Labour Law Practitioner, Tbilisi
With GILS since 2022 · Languages: Georgian, English
Giorgi leads GILS’s law analysis programme, including the 12 Labour Law Library analyses and the Labour Rights Index methodology. He practises labour law in Tbilisi with a focus on collective bargaining, unfair dismissal, and OSH compliance. His LL.M. research on EU-Georgia labour law harmonisation directly informs GILS’s law analysis framework. He advises the Solidarity Network on selected strategic litigation cases.
Key areas: Labour law · EU harmonisation · Collective bargaining · ILO conventions · OSH law
MA, Central European University; Gender and Development Specialist
With GILS since 2022 · Languages: Georgian, English
Mariam leads GILS’s gender dimension research, including the Gender Pay Gap Tracker and the unpaid care work policy brief series. She has previously worked with UN Women Georgia and UNFPA Georgia on gender data and policy analysis. Her GILS research focuses on the structural drivers of Georgia’s estimated 31.5% adjusted gender pay gap and the policy interventions required to reduce it within the EU accession framework.
Key areas: Gender pay gap · Care economy · Women’s labour force participation · UN Women methodology
MA, University of Tbilisi; IOM Georgia Research Affiliate
With GILS since 2023 · Languages: Georgian, English, Russian
Tamar leads GILS’s migration research, including the Migrant Workers Tool and the Georgian Labour Migration working paper series. Her IOM affiliation provides access to migration flow data unavailable through Geostat alone. She tracks remittance patterns, return migration trends, and the labour market integration of returned migrants — a growing policy issue as Georgia’s large diaspora in the EU contemplates return under accession conditions.
Key areas: Labour migration · Remittances · Return migration · IOM data · Diaspora integration
Bratislava-based research institute specialising in Central and Eastern European labour markets. CELSI fellows advise on comparative methodology for GILS’s South Caucasus Scorecard and review GILS working papers from a CEE comparative perspective.
celsi.sk →Bonn-based global labour economics research network. GILS working papers are submitted for IZA Discussion Paper consideration where methodologically appropriate. IZA’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia database is a primary source for regional comparative data.
iza.org →GILS’s occupational health and safety research is submitted through GMJ’s standard double-blind peer review process. GMJ’s OHS Knowledge Hub maintains a separate editorial board with international OHS expertise for reviewing GILS-connected health worker labour research.
gmj.ge →| Aspect | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Appointment | Fellows are invited based on demonstrated expertise in specific labour market domains. There is no public application process; GILS identifies candidates through academic publication records and professional referral. |
| Independence | Fellows maintain their primary institutional affiliations. GILS does not require fellows to adopt GILS’s institutional positions. Where fellow analysis diverges from GILS positions, both are noted in published outputs. |
| Peer review | All GILS publications are peer-reviewed by at least one fellow in a relevant domain before publication. Academic outputs submitted to GMJ go through GMJ’s independent double-blind process. |
| Disclosure | Fellows disclose any institutional affiliations or funding relationships that could create conflicts of interest with their GILS research outputs. Disclosures are published in each paper’s author notes. |
| Languages | GILS research is published in English as the primary language. Georgian translations of policy briefs and the annual Observatory review are produced on a 6-month lag. Fellows contributing Georgian-language outputs receive additional support from GILS editorial staff. |
GILS welcomes enquiries from researchers with expertise in Georgian and South Caucasus labour markets, labour law, occupational health, gender economics, or migration. Fellowship engagement can range from single-paper collaboration to ongoing index methodology advisory roles.
All fellowship engagement is non-commercial. GILS does not pay fellows for published outputs — engagement is on an open-access, knowledge-contribution basis consistent with our institutional model.
Open-access research outputs from GILS fellows.