Christian Toft has worked at universities in Scandinavia, Britain, Germany, Italy, the United States, Canada, and Estonia. During the last few years he has held visiting appointments at the European University Institute in Florence, the Max Planck Institute in Cologne, the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at Notre Dame University (USA), the University of Victoria (Canada), the University of Tallinn (Estonia), and the United Nations University ？ World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU朩IDER) in Helsinki (Finland). He has Danish nationality.

Christian Toft's main area of research concerns comparative public policy with special emphasis on policy choices in the area of social security and labor market policy. In a major project he is researching patterns of unemployment compensation and labor market policy reform in industrialized countries during the twentieth century. This involves investigation of the international development of policy strategies, including ILO and OECD strategies, recommendations and conventions, as well as a more detailed examination of policy choices and developments in a selection of countries with the main focus being on Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, and the United States. He is also writing a co-authored textbook on income inequality, poverty and redistribution.