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June 17, 2026 | News | Award
On June 17, MPIDR researcher Henrik-Alexander Schubert was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal in Frankfurt for his doctoral thesis on “The fertility puzzle. Trends and patterns of male and female fertility”. The Medal was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Max Planck Society, during the meeting of the Human Sciences Section in Frankfurt. In his thesis, Henrik investigated low fertility and its determinants. It makes major contributions to our understanding of current trends in fertility, and it does so with the highest methodological rigor. more
June 16, 2026 | News | PHD
Carolina Coimbra Vieira from the Laboratory of Migration and Mobility at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “Migration, culture, and inequalities in algorithmically-mediated societies“, at the Saarland University. Her findings contribute to our understanding of how digital trace data can be used to measure and analyze culture, migration, gender inequalities, and online behavior, particularly in contexts where traditional data sources are limited or delayed. more
June 12, 2026 | News | PHD
Rishabh Tyagi successfully defended his dissertation, "The Disparate Effects of Employment Uncertainty on Life Course Outcomes," at the University of Oslo. In his thesis, he demonstrates that experiencing employment uncertainty due to job loss, unemployment, or workplace closures leads to negative health and family outcomes in Germany, Norway, and India. more
June 06, 2026 | News | Award
Mikko Myrskylä, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), received the 2026 Dirk J. Van de Kaa Award for Population Studies at the European Population Conference 2026 (EPC2026) closing ceremony in Bologna. Presented by the European Association for Population Studies (EAPS), the award honors outstanding scientific achievements in population studies. more
May 21, 2026 | News | Award
The MPIDR is happy to share that Elena Pojman received the 2025 IPUMS Time Use Research Award in the Student Division for her research on "Racial-Ethnic Stratification in Women’s Kin Caregiving Burden Across the Life Course in the United States." more
May 19, 2026 | News | PHD
Isabella Marinetti from the Laboratory of Demographic Data at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “Effects of short-term events on mortality in Europe“, at the University of Groningen. Her findings contribute to our understanding of how short-term events such as seasonality and the COVID-19 pandemic shape mortality patterns and life expectancy across Europe in the 21st century. more
April 30, 2026 | News | Blog@MPIDR
Johann Behrendt was a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock from February to April. He is currently studying psychology in Leipzig. In the MPIDR blog, he describes his experiences as a research intern gaining an insight into a scientific discipline other than his own. more
April 28, 2026 | News | PHD
Chia-Jung Tsai from the Laboratory of Migration and Mobility at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “Factors Shaping Public Attitudes and Responses to Refugee and Immigrant Populations: Examining the Interplay of Demographics, Media, and Contextual Influences“, at the University Pompeu Fabra. Her findings contribute to our understanding of how public opinion toward refugees and immigrants is shaped by various factors, such as the media, demographic composition, and the COVID-19 pandemic. more
April 23, 2026 | Press Release
Researchers investigated whether men or women have fewer children. Using international datasets, they demonstrate that imbalances in population structure, particularly an increasing proportion of men, affect male fertility. While men used to have higher fertility than women globally, this has reversed, and women have and will have a higher fertility rate than men. The scientists offer recommendations to counteract the social implications of this trend. more
April 21, 2026 | News
The Max Planck Society is launching a 6-year research project to explore how education must change to account for rapid societal transformations. As of April 2026, the “EduTrack” project initiates a collaboration between researchers across three Max Planck Institutes. Experts from demography, history, computer science and political science will collaborate to produce fresh insights on digital education, the globalisation of knowledge, as well as the impact of education on social mobility, crisis resilience, and democracy. more