LETTER OF REFERENCE
Student of MA programme Studies in European Societies 
Udalova Tatyana Sergeevna

MA thesis 
Atypical Employment in France and Germany




The increase in the use of different types of “atypical” contractual arrangements in European countries as a part of labour market flexibilisation process is accompanied by debate about consequences for “atypical” workers in terms of wages, career chances and social security. Tatyana Udalova  joined the scientific discussion with a question “How and why certain atypical work forms (part-time, fixed-term, temporary agency work) differ in the national contexts of Germany and France?”
I appreciate very much that Ms. Udalova wrote an analytical dissertation. To answer research question she used the quantitative secondary data and appropriate theoretical approaches including theories of labour market flexibilisation and segmentation, theories of welfare and employment regimes. From my point of view, she 1)  took into consideration the subtleties of using cross-country comparisons; 2) demonstrated deep understanding of the theoretical concepts, which were used; 3)  was able to apply them for explanation of empirical phenomena;  4) statistical data effectively serves her argumentation.
As a scientific supervisor of Ms. Udalova, I was impressed by her level of personal responsibility, creativity and productivity, which she demonstrated at every step of her research project that was, from my point of view, successfully fulfilled.  Taking into consideration her  analytical abilities,  I would recommend Ms. Udalova to continue an academic career. She demonstrated that she is a capable researcher and a promising social scientist.

I consider that the paper presented by Ms. Udalova meets the requirements for an MA thesis and deserves a positive evaluation
  
Scientific supervisor, Dr. E.L. Shershneva