September 02, 2025 | News

Julia Hellstrand Honored with Prestigious European Demographer Award

Dr. Julia Hellstrand, alumna of the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health, and Data Science and a fellow at the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health, has been awarded the European Demographer Award in recognition of her exceptional promise and contribution as an emerging leader in the field.

Dr. Julia Hellstrand has been awarded the European Demographer Award 2024. © private

Dr. Hellstrand is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center, and is involved in two large-scale projects that address the question of why is fertility declining so rapidly in the Nordic countries: the MPIDR-led BIOSFER project and the Family Formation in Flux project. Her work analyzes fertility decline and family formation in the Nordic countries, and studies the roles of education, policy changes, and cultural factors such as religiosity in contributing to the fertility decline.

Dr. Hellstrand’s academic trajectory is impressive. As a master’s student at the University of Helsinki, she was awarded the Nordplus Grant for her outstanding performance. She later became the first graduate in the University of Helsinki’s Ph.D. program in Social Data Science, marking a pioneering milestone in the discipline. During her doctoral studies, she successfully completed the rigorous program at the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health, and Data Science.

"Julia is one of the most talented and promising scholars of her generation of demographers," says Prof. Mikko Myrskylä, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR). "She is not only an excellent researcher in contemporary fertility dynamics but equally importantly, she is an outstanding scientist-citizen who engages with the public and supports the discipline by engaging with the public, the policymakers, and statistical institutions. Her leadership in advancing demographic research—both in Finland and internationally—is exemplary."

The European Demographer Award, organized by Population Europe since 2015, honors outstanding contributions to the study of demographic change in Europe. It celebrates researchers at both early and advanced stages of their careers whose work bridges across multiple disciplines. Two awards are given annually, one for a more junior, one for more senior researcher. Dr. Hellstrand’s award is for the promising, upcoming researcher who has obtained their PhD within the period of 2019-2024. 

The award will be formally presented to Dr. Hellstrand on October 27, 2025, during the opening ceremony of the Berlin Demography Days.
“I am surprised and feel very honored. The award motivates me to keep learning. I am very grateful to my PhD supervisors, colleagues, and co-authors, whose support has been essential for the progress of my research” said Dr. Hellstrand upon receiving news of the award.