Coursework

The programme of specialized courses is tailored to the needs and interests of PhD candidates. Candidates with an adequate background in demography can select specialized courses from three sources.

1. First, advanced courses from the Master's programme. Since 1999, students in Groningen enter the PhD programme through the local MSc programme. The coursework takes 12 months, including research leading to an MSc thesis (MSc degree requirement). 
2. Second, courses offered through the Research Training Network (RTN). In 2000, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, established the International Max Planck Research School for Demography (IMPRSD). The school is a network (the Consortium) of leading researchers working together to provide a more complete set of high-level courses and associated research supervision than any one institution can provide alone. Currently, the courses are offered in Paris and at the participating researchers' institutions. Students sponsored by any member of the Consortium may take Max Planck courses offered by any other member. Membership of the Consortium is by invitation, issued by majority vote of current members at an annual meeting in Rostock, usually in May. The Rector of the Max Planck School is Professor James Vaupel, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. The first Dean of the IMPRSD was Professor Woody Carlson. Since September 2002, the Dean has been Dr Heiner Maier of the Max Planck Institute in Rostock. The elected Chairman of the Consortium Council, which consists of representatives of the Consortium members, is Frans Willekens (since 2001).

In 2001, the first Dean of the IMPRSD, Professor Woody Carlson, developed a proposal for the establishment of a European Research Training Network (RTN), to be funded by the European Commission in Brussels. The proposal was submitted in April 2001 under the title 'Demographic sustainability and European integration'. Eight partners participated in the proposal:

1. The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock
2. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
3. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
4. The Institut National d’Etudes Demographiques (INED), Paris
5. The Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), The Hague
6. The Technical University of Vienna
7. The Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve
8. The University of Rome – La Sapienza, Rome
9. The University of Groningen

The proposal involves the training of young researchers (trainees) at the doctoral (PhD) and postdoctoral levels. Trainees travel to participating centres and work with senior researchers on specific subjects pursuing specific project objectives. Participants provide training in the conduct of research, in preparation of scientific reports, in presentation of results at workshops and other conferences, in co-authorship of published work, in résumé writing and career placement. The research is organized into four themes:

• Fertility, coordinated by Godelieve Masuy-Stroobant of the Catholic University of Louvain
• Mortality, coordinated by Graziella Caselli of the University of Rome at La Sapienza
• Migration, coordinated by Frans Willekens at NIDI
• Integrated models, coordinated by Alexia Fuernkranz-Prskawetz of the Technical University of Vienna.

The proposal was accepted in 2002 and is currently being implemented. Opportunities for doctoral and postdoctoral training in the network (openings) are posted by the IMPRSD on the EU's CORDIS website. At the beginning of September 2002, eight positions were advertised. The advertisements mention the starting dates and durations of visits.

3. A third source consists of courses in economics and management offered by a consortium of scholars, referred to as PhD Networks (or AIO Networks). Access to the courses offered by the networks is through SOM. Most of the courses offered through these networks require an adequate background in economics and/or management.