Title: Centre for Population Change (Transition funding)
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: The overall mission of the Centre during transition funding is to continue to advance our understanding of the key drivers and implications of population change within the United Kingdom and beyond through the continuing pursuit of innovative, world-class research and the strategic dissemination of key findings to ensure maximum scientific and societal impact. In achieving this, the Centre's key objectives are to: 1. Continue conducting cutting-edge research which improves our understanding of population trends and processes in the Centre's thematic areas of a) Fertility and family change; b) Increasing longevity and the changing life course; c) New mobilities and migration; d) Understanding intergenerational relations and exchange; e) Integrated demographic estimation and forecasting - all within the context of Brexit. 2. Continue our innovative contribution to developing methodologies towards measuring population change, in collaboration with our partners at ONS and NRS and internationally. 3. Continue advancing the use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as the use of mixed methods approaches. 4. Continue improving the evidence base for policies aimed at addressing the challenges of population change at the individual and societal level. 5. Continue promoting interdisciplinary approaches to research understanding population change. 6. Make greater use of existing datasets, exploit newly-released datasets and create new datasets allowing the examination of different aspects of population change. 7. Continue to develop the next generation of social scientists focussing on population change, in a range of disciplines. 8. Continue to promote the Centre's international reputation through the presentation of research findings at international conferences, through the hosting of international visitors, and through the collaboration in research with experts beyond the UK. 9. Continue to engage with stakeholders during the research process and at the end, in order to translate research findings into policy. 10. Continue to pro-actively communicate research findings to non-academic audiences, especially end users and policy-makers, as well as the general public thereby improving public understanding of all aspects of population change - an understanding which is critical for our continued engagement with Europe and the wider community during Brexit.

Lay abstract: 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.

Research activity codes: 2.6 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (AETIOLOGY)
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE