£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