September 11, 2025 | News | Max Planck Partner Group
Ben Malinga John leads UNIMAX Group in Malawi
Ben Malinga John at his desk in his office at the University of Malawi. © MPIDR
In September, Ben Malinga John, a former MPIDR researcher, started leading a Max Planck Partner Group (UNIMAX) in Zomba, Malawi, hosted by the University of Malawi. His research will focus on studying family formation processes among highly educated individuals.
“The University of Malawi–Max Planck Partner Group has two main research objectives. Firstly, the group aims to analyze the family and reproductive aspirations of graduates, examining how transitions into the labor market influence the realization of these aspirations, as well as their broader socio-economic implication,” says Ben Malinga John. To this end, the group is planning to launch the Malawi University Graduate Internet Panel (MUGIP), the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, to study the processes of family formation among highly educated individuals.
Secondly, the UNIMAX Group seeks to promote research into the use of administrative data for the regular monitoring of population dynamics and the evaluation of the effects of external shocks on demographic trends. Specifically, the UNIMAX Group intends to utilize civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) and routine health records to investigate the impact of recent shocks, such as droughts and pandemics, on fertility patterns in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Group will comprise the group leader Ben Malinga John, master's students and a research assistant. In addition, Emmanuel Sauza and Monica Jamali Phiri, senior lecturers in the Department of Sociology and Population Studies at the University of Malawi, have been engaged to support the group’s research objectives. The work will also be guided by a scientific advisory committee consisting of leading demographers, including Mikko Myrskylä and Susie Lee (MPIDR), Monica J. Grant (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Vissého Adjiwanou (University of Montreal), Ayaga Bawah (University of Ghana), and Priscilla Idele (Chief of the Data and Analytics Branch at the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA).
About Max Planck Partner Groups
Max Partner Groups are led by outstanding early career researchers of a Max Planck Institute (MPI) who have returned or are about to return to a high-performance research institution / university in their home country. Max Planck Partner Groups enable collaboration in research areas that are innovative, scientifically promising, geared to the future and of mutual interest both to the MPI and to the partner institution in the home country of the former scientist to which she/he is relocating. A Partner Group is set up for a duration of five years and provides a high-level and visible framework to the Partner Group Leader aiming at strengthening collaboration, building up a research group as well as international networking.The Max Planck Society provides the group with €20,000 of funding each year.
More info: mpg.de/272644/partner-groups