As a sociologist and ethnologist, Dr. Eva-Maria Schmidt has been a senior researcher at the Austrian Institute for Family Studies (OIF) since 2017. Dr Schmidt researches and publishes on the topics of unpaid and paid work, parental leave organisation, gender roles, parenthood and social norms, intergenerational relationships in families as well as non-marital cohabitation, with a focus on qualitative-reconstructive survey and analysis methods. In her dissertation, based on internationally peer-reviewed and published journal articles, she examined parenting practices and constructions. Eva-Maria Schmidt is a member of the International Network on Leave Policies & Research and spokesperson for the Family Research Section of the Austrian Sociological Association.

Research Projects

• "Good Divorce": An analysis of multiple perspectives on the Austrian divorce law (2023-2024), Funding: Federal Ministry of Justice
• Employers' Perspectives on Fathers in Work Organizations. A Factorial Survey (2023), Funding: Federal Chancellery/Women, Family, Integration and Media
• DigiGen - The digital generation: The impact of technological transformations on children and youth (2020-2022), Funding: EU Horizon 2020
• NorM - Norms around Motherhood (2020-2023), at the Department for Sociology, University of Vienna

Recently Published

Schmidt, E.-M. (2024). Digital technologies in children's everyday lives and in 'doing family'. Families, Relationships and Societies. Early View.

Roth, M., Schmidt, E.‑M., Lafton, T., Kapella, O., & Barbuta, A. (2024). A Developmental View on Digital Vulnerability and Agency of Children Under 10 Years of Age. In H. B. Holmarsdottir, I. Seland, C. Hyggen, & M. Roth (Eds.), Understanding The Everyday Digital Lives of Children and Young People (pp. 169–207). Palgrave Macmillan.

Schmidt, E.-M. (2024). Needing a child to be fulfilled? The relevance of social norms around childbearing desires in collective orientations and individual meanings. Journal of Family Research, 36, 5–24.

Schmidt, E.-M., & Neuwirth, N. (2023). Do children suffer if their mothers work? In: Neuwirth, N.; Buber-Ennser, I.; Fux, B. (Ed.): Families in Austria. Partnerships, fertility intentions and economic­ situation in challenging times (p. 49). Vienna: Austrian Institute for Family Studies. doi.org/10.25365/phaidra.449

Schmidt, E.-M., & Neuwirth, N. (2023). Are children important for a fulfilled life? In: Neuwirth, N.; Buber-Ennser, I.; Fux, B. (Ed.): Families in Austria. Partnerships, fertility intentions and economic­ situation in challenging times (p. 28). Vienna: Austrian Institute for Family Studies. https://doi.org/10.25365/phaidra.449 

Vogl, S., Schmidt, E.-M., Kapella, O. (2023): Focus Groups With Children: Practicalities and Methodological Insights. Forum Qualitative Social Research, 24(2), Art. 21. DOI: 10.17169/FQS-24.2.3971

Schmidt, E-M. & Schmidt, A. E. (2023). Country Note Austria. In: Blum, S., Koslowski, A., Dobrotić, I., Kaufman, G. and Moss, P. (2023) 19th International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2023. DOI: 10.25365/phaidra.431, 106-115.

Kapella, O., Schmidt, E-M., Vogl, S. (2022) Integration of digital technologies in families with children aged 5-10 years: A synthesis report of four European country case studies. DigiGen-working paper series. (8). DOI: doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6411126.

Schmidt, E-M., Kapella, O., Vogl, S. (2022) Case Study Austria. In: Kapella, O., Sisask, M. (Ed.): Country reports presenting the findings from the four case studies- Austria|Estonia|Norway|Romania (DigiGen-working paper series), S. 5–56.

Schmidt, E-M. (2021) Flexible working for all? How collective constructions by Austrian employers and employees perpetuate gendered inequalities. In: Journal of Family Research. Early View. DOI: doi.org/10.20377/jfr-668.

Twamley, K.; Doucet, A., Schmidt, E-M. (2021) Introduction to special issue: relationality in family and intimate practices. In: Families, Relationships and Societies. Online first. DOI: 10.1332/204674321X16111601166128.

Zartler, U., Schmidt, E-M., Schadler, C., Rieder, I. & Richter, R. (2020) “A Blessing and a Curse”: Couples Dealing with Ambivalence Concerning Grandparental Involvement During the Transition to Parenthood—A Longitudinal Study. In: Journal of Family Issues. Online first. DOI: 10.1177/0192513X20950786.