September 04, 2025 | News | Congratulations

ERC Starting Grant Awarded to Ugofilippo Basellini

Ugofilippo Basellini, of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), has been awarded a €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant to establish his own research group for the project "The Future of Longevity."

Ugofilippo Basellini receives an ERC Starting Grant. © MPIDR

The project will develop innovative stochastic methods to predict mortality at the population level using various mortality determinants. These methods are based on current demographic theories about how and why mortality changes over time.

"Current mortality forecasts rely almost exclusively on the continuation of past trends, ignoring the wealth of information we already have about the populations being studied," says Dr. Basellini. "Integrating these determinants into forecasting methods from a demographic theory perspective has great potential to advance the field."

Accurate mortality projections are critical for planning in areas such as public health, pensions, social security, and labor policy. Given the unprecedented aging of the population, the need for reliable projections is greater than ever.

Dr. Basellini explains, “Improving methods for forecasting mortality is particularly relevant given that some countries with low mortality have recently seen a stagnation or even a decline in life expectancy—a development that could not be predicted using current forecasting methods.”

Building on Dr. Basellini's previous work and commitment to open science, the project aims to provide freely accessible tools and fully reproducible results. These tools will give practitioners and policymakers better resources for future planning.

Dr. Ugofilippo Basellini is a research scientist and deputy head of the Laboratory of Population Dynamics and Sustainable Well-Being. He is an expert in mortality forecasting and statistical demography, as well as an advocate of open science.

"I am very grateful for the wonderful mentors, colleagues, and friends I have met over the years at MPIDR, INED, CPOP, EDSD, MaxNetAgeing, and Bocconi University—without them, I would not be here," said Dr. Basellini.

The ERC was established by the European Union in 2007 and is Europe's leading funding organization for excellent pioneering research. It supports innovative researchers of all nationalities and ages who carry out projects across Europe. The ERC offers four main funding programs: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants, and Synergy Grants. With the additional Proof of Concept Grants program, the ERC supports its grantees in bridging the gap between their pioneering research and the early stages of commercialization. The ERC is governed by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. The ERC's total budget for the period 2021-2027 is more than €16 billion and is part of the Horizon Europe program.