Since 1998, Jean-Maurice Frère has been working at the Federal Planning Bureau as an expert in the Task Force on Sustainable Development. Using a transdisciplinary approach, he contributes to the analysis of the present situation, the policy assessments and the prospective scenarios in the Federal Reports on Sustainable Development. He holds a master's degree in sociology, a bachelor's degree in philosophy, an additional degree in international affairs and a master's degree in quantitative analysis in the social sciences.

His areas of expertise include poverty, social exclusion and inequalities and population ageing within the context of sustainable development.

As an expert at the Federal Planning Bureau, he was involved in preparatory and supporting tasks with regard to social economy policy, federal sustainable development policy and research concerning poverty and social exclusion.  He follows both the development and the evolution of new indicators of poverty and social exclusion within the framework of the EU 2020 strategy, among others. Furthermore, he is part of the Social Indicators Working Group Europa 2020/OMC, led by the FPS Social Security and of the Belgian delegation to the Indicators subgroup of the Social Protection Committee of the European Union.

Before joining the Federal Planning Bureau, Jean-Maurice Frère worked as a scientific researcher at the HIVA - Research Institute for Work and Society of the KU Leuven, conducting research in work-related areas.