Agnès van Zanten honorary doctorate

For her significant contribution to the sociology of education through her research on social groups' educational strategies, the production of segregation and inequalities, Professor Emerita Agnès van Zanten will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Faculty of Educational Sciences.

Agnès van Zanten, born in Venezuela, earned her Master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Stanford University and later on a PhD in Educational Sciences from the Université Paris-Descartes. Soon thereafter, she was accepted as a researcher at Centre nationale de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). van Zanten became Senior Research Professor at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 2002 working at the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities at Sciences Po (subsequently Senior Research Professor emerita)".

van Zanten has made significant contributions to the sociology of education through research into how different social groups, especially elites, exploit educational systems. Her research has unveiled and explained parents’ educational strategies, families’ school choices, inequalities in education, strategies of educational institutions, and social mechanisms in the transition to higher education. In addition to her specific studies of social conditions in the French education landscape van Zanten’s research also comprises comparative studies between countries focusing on analyses of educational policies, and ethnographic cross-country studies.

Professor van Zanten will be awarded her honorary doctorate at Uppsala University’s Winter Conferment Ceremony on 30 January 2026.