October 01, 2004 | Press Release

Joint Research Center for the Study of Demographic Change launched by the University and the Max Planck Institute in Rostock

The Minister of Education Metelmann says, "The best scientists are likely to be attracted to our state because of the Center."

The University of Rostock and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock (MPIDR) have celebrated on October 1, 2004 the opening of the Rostock Center for the Study of the Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change. A large number of guests have attended the ceremonial act, among them the Minister of Education, Science, and Culture of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Prof. Hans-Robert Metelmann; the Rector of the University, Prof. Hans Jürgen Wendel; and the General Secretary of the Max Planck Society, Dr. Barbara Bludau.

The scientists of the Center will engage in interdisciplinary collaborative research on the causes and consequences of demographic change, and focus in particular on its impact on society and politics. The research results are to feed into the socio-political discourse as well as provide decision-makers in politics, economics, and society with knowledge-based information. The Center combines scientists and students from about a dozen of study branches, among others sociology, demography, political science, economics, population geography, anthropology, mathematics, and statistics.

"Demographic change will determine political action in Germany for many decades to come. All political realms are in need of radical changes: the health system, the labor market, the pension system, the housing market, suffice it to mention but a few major areas that will be fundamentally impacted by changes in the population structure," says Prof. James Vaupel, one of the two directors of the new Center and Founding Director of the MPIDR. "The development of intelligent and synchronized reforms requires a sound knowledge base. It is the central aim of the Rostock Center to provide this knowledge base."

Prof. Thusnelda Tivig, the female Director of the Rostock Center and Pro-Rector of Rostock University, stresses that the promotion of junior scientists in the field of demographic change is another important task of the Rostock Center. "The new, three-staged study concept in the social sciences and in particular the structured doctoral programs are likely to have a German-wide attraction," she says. The new concept provides interdisciplinary training in demography, sociology, and economics through its BA program. Students can then continue with the MA program, specializing in one of the three disciplines. Highly talented MA students have the opportunity to apply directly for a doctoral program in "Demographic Change" after the first year of the MA course.

The Minister for Education, Science, and Culture of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Prof. Hans-Robert Metelmann, enthuses over the launch of the Rostock Center, "This is how I imagine the scientific region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to develop: The internationally renowned Max Planck Institute joins other university institutes to engage in collaborative research and teaching. This is likely to attract students and the best scientists to our state."

The Rostock Center for the Study of the Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change will initially have seven professors and lecturers, one junior professor, three post-docs, and ten doctoral students. By the start of the Summer Semester 2005 another professor will have been appointed as well as five new male and female junior professors; four of the junior professorships are the first of its kind in the Max Planck Society. Research focuses on the interaction between education-dependent fertility, income distribution and economic growth; innovation and growth perspectives in an aging society; labor- and knowledge management in an aging work-force; age-dependent interactions between technology development and technology diffusion; adjustment of wages to age-dependent productivity; securing company pension schemes; among other topics.

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The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.