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Intergenerational Contact Zones: What and Why?
Those who study the health and wellbeing of older adults emphasize the importance of having opportunities to remain active, civically engaged, and socially connected with others – across gene...
Open Data and Open Research
The Oxford University podcasts have just published a couple of short video documentaries in their Openness at Oxford series; one about Open Data and one about Open Research. They feature numerous i...
Helping a workforce age, not helping an ageing workforce: the importance of Work Ability for ageing
It was recently reported that increasing the employment rate for 55-59 year olds will boost the UK economy by £100bn per annum. PwC’s ‘Golden Age’ index, which examines how ...
Ideals and Intentions: Discussing Fertility at the Asian Population Association Conference
This week I’ve been attending the 3rd Asian Population Association Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While, I have presented a paper and a couple of posters, the most interesting th...
The great escape
Although Angus Deaton’s book The great escape: health, wealth and the origins of inequality was published in 2013, it is still being reviewed, and rightly so. It certainly deserve...
Is fertility stalling in sub-Saharan Africa?
Sub-Saharan Africa is not only the last region to initiate the fertility transition, it also has experienced a weaker pace of decline in fertility compared to other regions. While the global ...
The plight of Greek pensioners as a dramatic sounding single data point (“Lies, damned lies and not understanding statistics”)
Greek pension reform has been a major stumbling block in the prolonged negotiations between the Greek government and its creditors, and the plight of Greek pensioners is one the most commonly cited...
Does it matter where we live? From ¾ to 6.4 billion!
We now live in a world where more than half of us live in urban areas, and yet little more than half a century ago, less than a third of us did so. The future looks no less urbanised – on the...
The concept of civil repair
What does the Catholic paedophilia scandal; the 2008 financial crisis and the UK phone hacking scandal have in common? A great deal, according to US Cultural Sociologist Jeffrey Alexander. All...
Reflections on the market and care- what the future may hold
The Green Templeton College ‘Conversation on Care and the Market’ seminar (3rd June 2015) provided plenty of food for thought on the topic of residential care provision (with some musin...
Population Panic and Media Hype
Journalists like sensationalism and, when they find the opportunity, they seem to relish the prospect of warning us that Armageddon is approaching. Demography seems to be a topic particularly ripe ...