Kai Leichsenring
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research
Kai Leichsenring
Kai Leichsenring is a Senior Researcher at the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Vienna, of which he had been Executive Director from 2016 to 2026. His background is in Political Sciences/Social Policy (Dr.phil., University of Vienna) and Organisational Development Consultancy His background is in Political Sciences/Social Policy (Dr.phil., University of Vienna) and Organisational Development Consultancy. During his career as a researcher, he specialised in comparative and applied social research and policy consultancy with a focus on ageing, health and long-term care, and related issues such as governance and financing, quality management, labour conditions, user involvement and informal care. Apart from coordinating many national and European R&D projects he collaborated with a number of regional and national governments, and international agencies (UNECE, OECD, WHO, Worldbank, UNDP). He has represented the research community at the UNECE Standing Working Group on Ageing and its Bureau since 2016. Moreover, he designed and facilitated workshops, conferences and trainings, and published a wide range of reports, books and articles
FURTHER INFORMATION
| Countries | Austria; |
|---|---|
| Topics | Care economy; Care inequalities; Care innovations; Care integration/ coordination; Care work and migration; Co-production in LTC; Community-based LTC; COVID-19 and other infectious diseases and LTC; Dementia care and support; Ecosystems of care; End-of-life care and LTC; Evaluation of LTC systems and services; Financing LTC; Gender and care; Governance and LTC systems organisation; Healthcare access in LTC; LTC and people with mental health conditions; LTC and younger people; LTC Policy; LTC Reforms; LTC Systems; LTC Workforce; New models of care; Outcome measurement in LTC; Prevention and rehabilitation and LTC; Quality regulation and accreditation for LTC services; Residential LTC services; Rights and people’s voices in LTC systems; Social Innovation in LTC; Survey measures; Technology and LTC; Unmet needs; Unpaid / informal care; |
| Methods | Analysis of administrative data; Co-production methods; Comparative policy analysis; Document analysis; Knowledge-exchange; Literature reviews and synthesis; Mixed methods; Policy analysis; Qualitative studies; Research ethics; Simulation models; Surveys; Theory of Change; |
| Role | Research; |
| Interest Groups | Care home markets and regulation; Long-Term Care Policy; Migration Mobility and Care Workers; |
| Website | https://www.euro.centre.org/persons/detail/2 |
| ORC.ID | 0000-0002-4448-1585 |
| GOOGLE SCHOLAR | https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Yl7y5qIAAAAJ&hl=en |
| Other 1 | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kai-Leichsenring; |
| Research interests | Comparative social policy, integrated care, long-term care systems: their identity, policies, structures, pathways, (quality) management and resources, the long-term care workforce; ageing & society, new public management and social services. |
| Key publications | Rodrigues, R., Simmons, C., Leichsenring, K. (2025). Sharing the burden: the impact of long-term care on the financial situation of families in Europe, pp. 266-298 in Cylus, J., Wharton, G., Carrino, L., Ilinca, S., Huber, M., Barber, S.L. (Eds.), The Care Dividend: Why and How Countries Should Invest in Long-Term Care. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Simmons, C., Fischer, J. and Leichsenring, K. (2025). Emerging Long-Term Care Systems – Learning from Comparison, pp.192-208 in Morgan, J. & La Placa, V. (Eds.) Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care Policy and Practice – A Comparative Introduction. Milton Park: Routledge. Leichsenring, K. and Sidorenko, A. (Eds.) (2024). A research agenda for ageing and social policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Kalavrezou, N., Pot, M., Kadi, S., Simmons, C., Leichsenring, K. (2025). Facts & Figures on Healthy Ageing and Long-term Care. Vienna: European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. Simmons, C., Pot, M., Lorenz-Dant, K., Leichsenring, K. (2024). Disentangling the impact of alternative payment models and associated service delivery models on quality of chronic care: a scoping review. Health Policy, doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105034 Leichsenring, K. and Sidorenko, A. (eds.) (2024) A research agenda for ageing and social policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Simmons, C., Pot. M., Leichsenring. K. (2023). Scoping review on alternative purchasing arrangements: impact of purchasing, service delivery and institutional design on quality of chronic care. Geneva: World Health Organization. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Leichsenring, K., Kadi, S. & C. Simmons (2022). Making the Invisible Visible: The Pandemic and Migrant Care Work in Long-Term Care. Social Sciences, 11: 326. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080326 R. Rodrigues, C. Simmons, T. Premrov, Leichsenring, K. & C. Boehler (2022). From each according to means, to each according to needs? Distributional effects of abolishing asset-based payments for residential care in Austria. International Journal for Equity in Health, DOI: 10.1186/s12939-022-01639-y Leichsenring, K., Schmidt, A.E. & Staflinger, H. (2021). Fractures in the Austrian model of long-term care: What are the lessons from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic?, Journal of Long-Term Care, 33-42. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31389/jltc.54 Leichsenring, K. (2021) Applying Ideal Types in Long-Term Care Analysis, pp. 187-206 in C. Aspalter (Ed.) Ideal Types in Comparative Social Policy. London: Routledge. Tello, J.E., Pardo-Hernandez, H., Leichsenring, K., Rodrigues, R., Ilinca, S., Huber, M., Yordi Aguirre, I. & E. Barbazza (2020). A services delivery perspective to the provision of long-term care in Portugal. Public Policy Portuguese Journal, Vol. 5(1), 8-25. Schulmann, K., Reichert, M. & Leichsenring, K. (2019). Social support and long-term care for older people: the potential for social innovation and active ageing, pp. 255-286 in: Walker, A. (Ed.), The future of ageing – making an asset of longevity. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. Nies, H. & Leichsenring, K. (2018). Concepts and strategies of quality assurance in care for older people, pp. 347-371 in: Boll, T., Ferring, D. & Valsiner, J. (Eds.), Cultures of care in aging. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Leichsenring, K., Nies, H., Billings, J. (Eds.) (2013). Long-term care in Europe – Improving policy and practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. |