£5 million grant for new research centre to understand population change
Professor Jane Falkingham from Southampton will direct the new Centre which is expected to start work in October 2008. Nine extra members of staff at the School of Social Sciences will be recruited including researchers and administrators.
The money from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) will be shared between the Universities of Southampton and a consortium of Scottish universities led by St Andrews, enabling a strong UK-wide focus to its work. The Centre will collaborate closely with both the Office for National Statistics and the General Registrar Office in Scotland.
Professor Falkingham said: 'We are very excited about the prospect of establishing the first UK centre of excellence dedicated to the study of population change. We hope that the work of the centre will lead to a better understanding of the key drivers of population change and the implications for economic welfare and social support at the national, local, household and individual level.'
The School of Social Sciences is already well-known for its interdisciplinary research on topics such as global health, population, poverty and policy migration and ageing. Researchers from areas such as Economics, Gerontology, Sociology, Social Policy, Social Statistics and Politics are all expected to contribute to the work of the centre.
Professor Ian Diamond, ESRC Chief Executive, added: 'The areas of research being undertaken by the Centre for Population Change are vital to our society. We are delighted to be supporting such a strong team at Southampton and St Andrews Universities as they take this work forward.
'The creation of this centre will make a significant contribution to the ESRC's commitment to support high quality work with major economic and policy impacts in this important area of research.'
For further information
Professor Jane Falkingham tel. 023 8059 3192, email: j.c.falkingham@southampton.ac.uk
Karen Woods tel. 07775 694266, email: kw1@southampton.ac.uk
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Science Education
Newest articles
Bringing bio-inspired robots to life
Nebraska researcher Eric Markvicka gets NSF CAREER Award to pursue manufacture of novel materials for soft robotics and stretchable electronics. Engineers are increasingly eager to develop robots that mimic the…
Bella moths use poison to attract mates
Scientists are closer to finding out how. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are as bitter and toxic as they are hard to pronounce. They’re produced by several different types of plants and are…
AI tool creates ‘synthetic’ images of cells
…for enhanced microscopy analysis. Observing individual cells through microscopes can reveal a range of important cell biological phenomena that frequently play a role in human diseases, but the process of…
