Entries are open for The Julia Mead Knox Memorial Prize for Research in Demography and Population Health. The prize commemorates the talented demographer and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science’...

Welcome to issue 18 of Changing Populations.

From Vincent Straub, Interdisciplinary researcher, University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford, UK

Abstract. The adverse association between smoking and mortality is well known, yet estimated risks for smokers have risen markedly in recent decades. Expla

The LCDS will host its first seminar of term on Thursday 1st October at 2pm at Nuffield college. Bringing 10 years of experience from across the publishing industry, Joe will discuss some of the commo...

Abstract. The adverse association between smoking and mortality is well known, yet estimated risks for smokers have risen markedly in recent decades. Expla

Led by the University of Oxford in partnership with the World Health Organization and an international consortium of leading research, public health and technology partners, the three-year PANDAI proj...

An early look at the University of Oxford’s National Conversation research was shared at a Parliament event exploring how communities across the UK can live well together.

Sleep patterns differ more between individuals at risk of psychosis, and between individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, than they do between healthy individuals, according to new research ...

Oxford researchers launch RobustiPy, a new open-source tool designed to make scientific findings more robust and reliable.

Between 2011 and 2019, England & Wales saw slower life expectancy gains than other European countries, slippingdown in international rankings. New LCDS research explores what was going on underneath t...

A new study shows how digital trace data can be combined with traditional surveys to produce more detailed estimates of migrant populations by age and sex. The research, published in the Journal of th...

New research published in Annals of Epidemiology examines why educational inequalities in life expectancy tend to be larger among men than among women — and how much of this difference can be explaine...

Life expectancy in England & Wales has diverged from that of its high-income peers since 2011, raising concerns that the country may become an international laggard like the United States (US). Usi...

Population Dynamics in a Changing Climate – Future Directions for Climate Demography Organiser: University of Bologna (POPCLIMA – ERC Consolidator Grant), in...

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) challenges the traditional view that influence within families flows only from parents to children. The research was...

“It is time to reflect on whether or not to have a child.” That will be the opening line of a government letter being sent to 29-year-olds in France in June, 2026. Aiming to address infertility, the l...

Deborah Meaden, of Dragons' Den fame, has issued a plea for the British public as they wake following England's clash with Mexico - will you help us remedy the country's fractures and divides?

A new study published in Demographic Research by Mengxue Chen (Australian National University), LCDS researcher Wen Su, and Vladimir Canudas-Romo (ANU) examines how regional mortality change and popul...

A new study published in Social Forces by LCDS researcher Kim Stienstra examines how inequalities in children’s educational performance develop over the course of primary education.

Turns out, death is really hard to predict.

Researchers from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science marked a successful European Population Conference 2026 in Bologna, with Professor Ridhi Kashyap receiving the inaugural EAPS Early Caree...

A two-day workshop on gender, family, and work inequalities at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. 23–24 June 2026. Organised by Juliana de Castro Galvão and Sander Wagner.

I'm not so convinced. An interesting new paper highlights the power and pitfalls of simple stories

New research identifies cardiovascular disease, cancer and preventable deaths as major drivers of Australia’s life expectancy gap between men and women.Men in Australia with lower levels of education ...

LCDS researchers are presenting work across health, mortality, fertility, migration, family, digital demography, inequalities and new data methods at the European Population Conference 2026 in Bologna...

A new review co-authored by Professor Jennifer Dowd from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science suggests that more recently born generations in Britain may be experiencing poorer health than pr...

3 June 2026

New research co-authored by Jorden Jackson shows that armed conflict and extreme heat can compound one another’s effects on child health across sub-Saharan Africa.Published in Population and Developme...

A new international study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, co-led by RMIT researcher Dr Lauren Steele and LCDS researcher Dr Andrea Tilstra, examines how mortality risks varied ...

A new study led by LCDS researcher Dr Ursula Gazeley has uncovered the substantial but largely invisible burden of violent deaths during pregnancy and the postpartum period in Mexico, showing how defi...

AbstractBackground. Understanding age-specific mortality patterns across historic influenza pandemics is crucial for future pandemic preparedness. Prior re

A major UK‑wide initiative is launching a national listening exercise to understand what people value in community life and the communities they want.

Researchers at the University of Oxford are launching a major new initiative to understand how people across the UK feel about their communities, institutions, and the future of the country.

An emerging market promotes embryo selection for behavioural traits including IQ, but the response of the social and behavioural genetic research community remains muted. We call for unified best prac...