Centre for Population Change (Transition funding)

Building on the achievements and key findings from the past eight years of CPC, the scientific programme during the transition funding period consists of a set of projects that consolidate and extend that research, providing an opportunity to follow-up on new avenues of enquiry suggested by our prior work and to response to advances in the field generated by CPC and elsewhere. The scientific agenda also lays the foundation for an anticipated bid for full Centre funding i.e. for CPC-III, retaining key research staff and, importantly the Administrative and KE Hub. The innovative research within CPC-II has, and will continue to, generate exciting and novel findings. Maximising the impact of these, both within the scientific community and wider economic and societal impact will therefore be a core activity during transition. Our research will continue to be organised around the five thematic areas of: 1. Fertility and family change 2. Increasing longevity and the changing life course 3. New mobilities and migration 4. Understanding intergenerational relations & exchange 5. Integrated demographic estimation and forecasting These thematic areas explicitly recognise the dynamic interaction of the individual components of population change both with each other and with economic and social processes. The first three themes reflect the three main components of population change: fertility, mortality and migration. Understanding how trends such as the ageing of the population, changes in family formation and dissolution and increased mobility (spatial, economic and social) are both shaped by and in turn shape international relations and flows of support is essential for assessing the role of the family beyond the household and for debates around intergenerational solidarity and justice. Finally, one of the most notable successes of CPC has been in the area of innovative methods and modelling, and we will continue to work at the cutting edge of developments in demographic modelling, collaborating closely with ONS and other national statistical agencies. CPC will continue its contribution to three areas identified by the ESRC as of key importance: the design of academic research with a consideration for its policy implications and a high impact on the wellbeing of persons in society; the incorporation of a significant capacity-building element in the research programme with the training of emerging social scientists in the multi-disciplinary area of population change; and the exploitation of existing and newly-available sources of quantitative data, some of which are core ESRC investments. Continued engagement with our partners ONS and NRS and other users will ensure our research remains timely and relevant.