Can we predict Steph Curry’s next move on the court? Last year, Boris Barron started at MPIDR as a research scientist in the Migration and Mobility Department. He is a physicist and specializes in modeling complex systems. While at Cornell University, he and his colleagues developed a methodology to analyze detailed positional information of basketball players in NBA games. Their approach adapted a physics-based approach, Density Functional Fluctuation Theory (DFFT), to provide a general framework to infer subtle aspects of the game. More
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“Data Visualization Design” is an intensive five-day workshop where participants practice the trade of data visualization. Visualization will be taught as a design process: In order to design effective visualizations, one needs to have a clear communication purpose in mind, know the audience, know a wide range of visualization idioms, be fluent in the tools required to transform imagination into a finished product, and be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the visualization. More
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A recent study by researchers at the University of Padua and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) has revealed that political differences between partners can significantly increase the risk of separation. Using long-term data from UK couples, the researchers found that those with different party preferences were substantially more likely to separate than those with the same political beliefs. The risk is particularly high when there are differences of opinion on Brexit. More
Leesch, J.; Skopek, J.:
Five decades of marital sorting in France and the United States: the role of educational expansion and the changing gender imbalance in education Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 97:101044, 1–15. (2025)
van Damme, M.; Alburez-Gutierrez, D.; Castro Torres, A. F.:
Research note: estimating kinship size of older adults in Europe with models and surveys Demography, 1–10. (2025)
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Recap of the “Gender Inequalities, Fertility, and the Future of Family Demography: Intersectionality in an Era of Family Complexity” conference in Rostock: In March 2025, researchers from six continents gathered at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) for the “Gender Inequalities, Fertility, and the Future of Family Demography: Intersectionality in an Era of Family Complexity” conference in Rostock. The scholars came together to debate and advance the understanding of fertility, gender inequality, social stratification, and the growing complexity of family life. More