Research Programme

About our research programme

The communities in which we live are being shaped and re-shaped at unprecedented speed. Changing patterns of migration, fertility, family and household dynamics and ageing all interact in complex ways to create the society in which we live. Understanding the extent, drivers and implications of these changes is essential if we are to develop appropriate policy responses at the national, regional and local level - ranging from provision of adequate services to school children through to the design of pension schemes that accommodate today's increasingly mobile population.

The ESRC Centre for Population Change is carrying out research in the thematic areas of:

1. Dynamics of fertility and family formation;
2. Household change and living arrangements across the life course;
3. The demographic and socio-economic implications of national and transnational migration;
4. Modelling population growth and enhancing the evidence base for policy.

Within each of the four themes we are undertaking a series of research projects using a variety of research methods ranging from in-depth qualitative studies to enable us to discover more about underlying individual demographic behaviour, through to complex statistical and economic modelling.

For a full overview, download our 'Research activity and highlights 2009 - 2013' brochure.

The ESRC Centre for Population Change's scientific research agenda has been developed in consultation with the Office for National Statistics and the National Records of Scotland.