Luisa Donato is a researcher at the Socio-Economic Research Institute of Piedmont (IRES) since 2005. She holds a PhD in Comparative Social Research and Sociology (University of Turin and University Pompeu Fabra), a European MA in Labour Studies (University of Florence and University of Toulose) and a BA in Political Sciences (University of Turin). She is working for the Observatory of the Education and Training System (Sisform) of Piedmont. Her current research focuses on regional comparative studies of student learning outcomes at national (Invalsi) and international (ocse-pisa) level as well as on the school-to-work transition. Her research interests include sociology of education and the effects of social inequalities on students’ performance and employment. Recent publications: “I giovani piemontesi tra scuola e lavoro” (NetPaper Sisform 2/2016) and “Social capital, social cohesion and cognitive attainment” (Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Social Capital, Edward Elgar Publishing, ch. 18, 2015).