December 15, 2023 | News | News

Season´s Greetings 2023

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) has had a year full of memories, new opportunities and new beginnings, as well as tried and tested constants. In March, we bade farewell to founding director Jim Vaupel with a moving symposium. In January we were delighted to receive an ERC Consolidator Grant for Joshua Wilde for his project "Natural Sex Ratios at Birth and Missing Women: New Evidence and Implications". There was also cause for celebration in September: Silvia Loi, Deputy Head Population Health, was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for her project "Immigrant-Native Health Disparities in Ageing Societies".

The kick-off meeting of the ERC Synergy Grant BIOSFER took place in September in Rostock and was the first big meeting of project scientists from MPIDR, NIPH (Norway) and Aarhus University (Denmark). In October, the Max Planck - University of Helsinki Centre for Social Inequalities in Population Health - MaxHel for short - was officially launched in Helsinki.

In the summer, the Population and Social Data Science Summer Incubator Programme took place for the second time. Ten students from different countries came to Rostock to conduct research together. With the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science (IMPRS-PHDS) and the European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD), we are continuing to train young researchers from all over the world. A particular success: 19 participants in the IMPRS-PHDS program successfully defended their doctoral theses by 2023. 

We want to use the days between the years to recharge our batteries to face the challenges of 2024 with renewed energy. We wish you, all our staff, alumni, friends and partners of the Institute and of demography everywhere, peaceful and happy holidays and, above all, a happy new year.