School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

Using social survey methods, social network analysis and sequence analysis, my substantive research focuses on spatial mobility, social networks, family and intimate relationships. I have a keen interest in studying the spatiality of social networks and how spatial distance and mobility behaviours relate to individuals’ social and professional integration over the life course.

Current Research

I am pursuing these research aims in various collaborative research projects.

(1) I am the Principal Investigator of the project Inequalities in geographical mobility, conjugal networks and conjugal quality (2019-22) that aims to analyse how individuals’ spatial mobility skills and their social networks, including the couples’ network overlap, moderate the influence of residential mobility on couples. Following a successful call, a specific module of questions will be added to the Swiss ISSP-MOSAiCH 2019 survey. The project is integrated into the last phase of the NCCR-LIVES with the collaboration of the University of Lausanne and the Laboratory of Urban Sociology-EPFL.

• Inequalities in geographical mobility, conjugal networks and conjugal quality
• NCCR-LIVES

(2) I am a Co-Investigator of the large survey Personal networks of young adults in Switzerland: Social capital, educational and work aspirations (2017-2025) (PI: Professor Eric Widmer, University of Geneva), funded by the Swiss government (Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport - DDPS) via the Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents Ch-x, (£1.2m).

This large-scale project surveyed an almost complete national cohort of young men, (N approx. = 60,000) aged between 18 and 21 years, and a sample of about 15,000 Swiss women aged 19. The project aims to better understand the role of young people’s personal relationships and personal networks on their educational and work aspirations. My main interests are to analyse (1) the relationships between three dimensions of exclusion: spatial, social and professional exclusion through the experience of unemployment/unstable educational and work history; and (2) the role of interpersonal relationships on aspirations using a multi-level design at the tie, network and regional levels.

• The Swiss Federal Surveys of Adolescents Ch-x
• Report describing the project (in French, German and Italian)

(3) I am a Co-Investigator of the international TEAMS project (2020-23) (PI: Dr Natasa Pantic, Moray House School of Education) (£1,1m), which aims to better understand how teachers, schools and education systems facilitate migrant integration. It will also create opportunities for professional learning for educators, and for migrant students to relate their lived experiences of schooling through film-making and photography. The combination of social network analysis and ethnographic research aims to identify educational practices and structural conditions that facilitate opportunities for migrants’ academic success, cross-cultural socialization, and developing a sense of belonging in their school communities.

• TEAMS project website

(4) I am involved in a longstanding research collaboration with Dr Heiko Rüger of the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) in Wiesbaden, Germany, using the European survey data ‘Job Mobilities and Family Lives in Europe’. This collaboration addresses a clear research gap in the field by analysing the long-term impact of work-related mobility behaviours on fertility and union stability using longitudinal data and in a cross-national comparison (see for ex. Rüger & Viry, 2017).

(5) I am involved in a research collaboration with Dr Andreas Herz of the Deutsches JugendInstitut (DJI) at Munich, Germany, using the 2013 MOSAiCH-ISSP Swiss survey data. Using multilevel analysis with network data, this collaboration aims to examine the role of physical distance between respondents and their family members on reciprocity and how this impact varies with the characteristics of the respondents (including their attitudes toward family roles – ISSP specific module), the kind of relationships and the network structure.

(6) I am involved in an interdisciplinary research collaboration with Professor Claire Bidart (CNRS Marseille) and Dr Marion Maisonobe (human geographer, CNRS Paris) on advanced methods for analysing and mapping the geography of personal networks, using GIS (geographic information system) and longitudinal network data.

Recent publications

2025. Viry, G. Herz, A. From dyadic distance to spatiality in family networks: Reciprocity of support in family relationships in Switzerland. Journal of British Sociology.

2025. Gialdini, C. Pantic, N. Packwood, H. Viry, G. A Matrix of Educational Policies to Support Migrant Students Across Europe. European Educational Research Journal.

2025. Drevon, G. Gauthier, J.-A., Viry, G. Kaufmann, V. Masse, F. Gumy. Transitivity and couple relationship satisfaction: Sharing and visiting friends and family make the difference. International Journal of Population Studies.

2024. Gumy, A. Kaufmann, V. Drevon, G. Viry, G. Gauthier, J.-A., Masse, F. Can spatial proximity to another country drive short-distance transnationalism? Evidence from social ties in three European border regions. Journal of Borderlands Studies.

2024. Dzieciatko-Szendrei, B. Pantic, N. Joksimovic, S. Gasevic, D. Viry, G. A systematic review of operational definitions and indicators of teacher communities. Educational Research Review, 45, 100640.

2024. Viry, G. Drevon, G. Masse, F. Gauthier, J.-A. Kaufmann, V. Gumy, A. Migration distance from birthplace and its association with relative income and employment share among heterosexual couples in Switzerland. Population, Space and Place, 30(6), e2773.

2022. Editorial: On the Role of Space, Place, and Social Networks in Social Participation. Social Inclusion, 10(3). (with Christoph van Dülmen, Marion Maisonobe, Andreas Klärner).

2022. Analysing personal networks in geographical space: beyond the question of distance. Social Inclusion, 10(3). (with Claire Bidart and Marion Maisonobe).

2022. La socialisation aux mobilités pour raisons professionnelles : le cas des absences régulières du domicile. [Socialization to employment-related mobility: The case of frequent overnight absences from family home]. Espaces et Sociétés. (with Stéphanie Vincent).

2021. Families in a network perspective. In: Schneider, N. Kreyenfeld, M. (eds). Handbook Sociology of the Family. Edward Elgar Publishing (with Andreas Herz).

2021. Analysing the effects of residential mobility behaviours on the composition of personal network in Switzerland. Population, Space and Place. (with Guillaume Drevon, Vincent Kaufmann, Eric D. Widmer, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier, Olga Ganjour).

2021. Making sense of teacher agency for change with social and epistemic network analysis, Journal of Educational Change. (with Natasa Pantic, Sarah Galey, Lani Florian, Srecko Joksimovic, Dragan Gasevic, Helen Knutes Nyqvist, Konstantinos Kyritsi).

2021. The sequences and the sequencers: What can a mixed-methods approach reveal about the history of genomics? Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences. (with Rhodri Leng, Miguel Garcia Sancho Sanchez, James Lowe, Mark Wong, Nikki Vermeulen)

2021. The Human Genome Project as an exceptional episode in the history of genomics. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences. (with Miguel Garcia Sancho Sanchez, Rhodri Leng, Mark Wong, Nikki Vermeulen, James Lowe)

2021. Yeast sequencing: 'Network' genomics and institutional bridges. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences. (with Miguel Garcia Sancho Sanchez, James Lowe, Rhodri Leng, Mark Wong, Nikki Vermeulen)

2021. Across and within networks: Thickening the longue-durée history of genomics. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences. (with James Lowe, Miguel Garcia Sancho Sanchez, Rhodri Leng, Mark Wong, Nikki Vermeulen)

2020. Life course and mobility. In: Jensen, O.B. Lassen, C. Kaufmann, V. Freudendal-Pedersen, M. Gøtzsche Lange, I.S. (eds). Routledge Handbook of Urban Mobilities. London: Routledge, 174-182.

2020. Understanding the reconstruction of personal networks through residential migration trajectories. Migration Letters. (with Olga Ganjour, Eric Widmer, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier, Vincent Kaufmann and Guillaume Drevon)

2019. L’analyse de séquence pour étudier les comportements de mobilité spatiale dans le parcours de vie. RTS - Recherche Transports Sécurité, IFSTTAR, 2019, La mobilité en méthodes, 18p. (with Jacques-Antoine Gauthier)

2019. Family development and residential trajectories of two birth cohorts living in Switzerland: Between individualization and standardization. Swiss Journal of of Sociology, 45(2), 185-214. (with Jacques-Antoine Gauthier)

2018. The intricacies of space and inclusiveness in family and personal networks In: Kapella, O. Schneider, N. F. Rost, H. (eds). Familie – Bildung – Migration. Barbara Budrich, 63-76 (with Eric Widmer and Olga Ganjour)

2017. Work-related travel over the life course and its link to fertility: a comparison between four European countries. European Sociological Review. (with Heiko Rueger)

2017. Analysing the role of social visits on migrants’ social capital: A personal network approach. Social Inclusion, 5(4), 209-225. (with Olga Ganjour, Jacques-Antoine Gauthier, Emmanuel Ravalet and Eric Widmer)

2015. High Mobility in Europe: work and personal life. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (co-edited with Vincent Kaufmann)

2015. Grandes mobilités liées au travail, perspective européenne et longitudinale. Economica (In press) (with Emmanuel Ravalet, Stéphanie Vincent, Vincent Kaufmann and Yann Dubois)