Demography

Demography is about you, me, about us. It is about our lives, and about how we make sense of our lives. We are born, grow up, develop relationships and sometimes split up again, have children or do not have them, we move between places, sometimes between continents, we age, healthily or not, and then we die. The life course approach is central to the research of the Population Research Centre and also to our teaching. We study the events that take place during our lives against the background of the socio-cultural and spatial context, and are interested in their consequences for well-being.

Contact via secretaries Mirjam Berghuis and Eliza van der Ploeg

Haisma, prof. dr. ir. H.H. (Hinke)

Function

Prof Child Nutrition and Population Health, Rosalind Franklin Fellow, Head of Dept Demography

Expertise

Child nutrition, Global Health, Capability Approach, Inequalities

Berghuis, M. (Mirjam )

Function

Management Assistant Demography

Adaawen, S.A. (Stephen), Dr

Function

Assistant Professor

Expertise

Migration, Demography, Climate/Environmental Change, Remittances, Rural Development, Migration Governance

Gonzales Martinez, R.M. (Rolando), PhD

Function

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow

Expertise

Rolando Gonzales Martinez is a researcher at Oxford University and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences in the University of Groningen, where he applies machine learning and deep learning to survey data combined with satellite images. He has a PhD from the Universitetet i Agder (Norway) and a MSc in Applied Statistics from the University of Alcala (Spain). His dissertation was framed on the anarchist theory of knowledge of Feyerabend and discussed the differences between theory-driven and data-driven science, with applications to nanofinance groups in Africa. Previously, he was a post-doctoral data scientist at CASUS (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany), a postdoctoral researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and Arts, and a postdoctoral consultant for the University of Groningen, the Centre for Demographic Studies of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the University of Amsterdam, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), AjoCard (digital finance in Africa) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI, Oxford University). The research interest of Dr. Gonzales Martinez are sustainable socio-economic development, early detection of cancer with artificial intelligence (AI), biologically-inspired artificial intelligence, machine-learning and deep learning, Bayesian methods, catastrophe modelling, social vulnerability to natural disasters, epistemology, spatial and spatio-temporal methods, and the role of AI in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic studies.

Haas, dr. B. (Billie) de

Function

Assistant Professor

Expertise

Sexuality education; fertility desires; reproductive autonomy and decision-making; sexual and reproductive health and rights; qualitative research; participatory action research

Janssen, prof. dr. F. (Fanny)

Function

Honorary Professor "Mortality and Longevity" (Faculty of Spatial Sciences) & Grant Proposal Trainer (University Services)

Expertise

mortality, ageing, mortality forecasting, health determinants, lifestyle, smoking, sex and country differences

Meijering, prof. dr. L.B. (Louise)

Function

Professor in Health Geography

Expertise

Themes: place attachment, home-making, well-being, mobility, health literacy
Target groups: older adults, stroke survivors
Methodology: qualitative research, participatory approach, geographical analyses (GIS)

Mulder, prof. dr. C.H. (Clara)

Function

Professor of Demography

Expertise

Internal migration, residential mobility, households, family relations

Oosterhoff, dr. A.T. (Bettie )

Function

Assistant Professor

Expertise

Health Literacy in Cultural Context; Qualitative Research

Remund, A.P.P. (Adrien), Dr

Function

Assistant Professor

Expertise

mortality, health, migration, historical demography, young adults

Slagter, drs. M.J. (Martian)

Function

PhD-student/Post-doc researcher

Valk, prof. H.A.G. (Helga) de

Function

Honorary Professor of Migration and the life course

Expertise

International migration, demographic characteristics and behaviour of migrant populations, family formation, intergenerational relationships

Wiel, dr. R. (Roselinde) van der

Function

Assistant Professor Social Demography

Expertise

Family demography

Wissen, prof. dr. L.J.G. (Leo) van

Function

Professor Economic Demography

Vogt, T.C. (Tobias), Dr

PhDs

Arora, C. (Charvi)

Function

PhD Researcher

Aviisah, M.A. (Mark)

Function

PhD student

Expertise

Qualitative & quantitative research; Population health; Ageing; Older adult health & well-being

Dey, R. (Rupankar )

Function

PhD Researcher Demography

Expertise

Rupankar's doctoral research is a qualitative study focuses on sexual and reproductive justice for women with diverse disabilities in Uganda’s Kalangala Islands. He has previously worked on development initiatives related to sexual and reproductive health, water, sanitation, and hygiene, as well as human rights in supply chains and gender and sexuality rights across South America, East Africa, and South & Southeast Asia. Broadly, his research interests include gender & sexual justice, inclusivity in health care, human rights, and health geography.

Frentz-Gollnitz, M.

Function

PhD student

Her, Y.C., Dr

Jong, D.R. (Dorien) de, MSc

Function

PhD Candidate

Expertise

Mobility of people with physical disabilities; Interdisciplinary research; Qualitative research

Kalmijn, prof. dr. M. (Matthijs)

Function

Professor at NIDI

Expertise

Quantitative research, methods, statistics, demography, datacollection, family and life course, divorce, migration, social inequality, intergenerational relations.

Olewe, G.D. (Gabriel )

Function

PhD student

Expertise

I am a PhD candidate at University of Nairobi and University of Groningen pursuing Ph.D in Climate Change and Adaptation(Dual Doctoral program sponsored by Global Centre on Adaptation), with particular interest in investigating the impact of climate youth activism in climate adaptation policies in Kenya. I have a Master’s degree in Applied Philosophy and Ethics from Strathmore University. Professionally, I have worked as a Lecturer of Applied Philosophy and Ethics at Strathmore University, for the past seven years. I have a deep interest in writing and lifelong learning. In 2014, I founded Writers Guild Kenya, a Centre for readers and writers working to encourage general reading and Writing culture in Kenya. As the chair of Writers Guild-Kenya, I took part in the training and mentoring of more than 116 first time authors and championed the founding of 18 functional book clubs in a period of 10 years. In 2014, I was awarded as the Most Promising Entrepreneur, owing to the number of writers I had mentored and had been employed to create content to different companies. In 2015 I was awarded as Top 25 Under 25 (Business Category)for creating platform to guide young people on writing as a business. In 2018, I was awarded as the 1st Runner’s Up in the Writing and Research Category in Utumishi Bora Awards. In 2021, Iwas awarded Top 40 Under 4 by Nation Media Group and 2024 Awarded as among 50 Influential Young people in Kenya. I have authored a few books including Questions of my Youth (2019), Guide to Self-Publishing (2018), Youth Unemployment in Kenya, a Ticking TimeBomb (Co-authored,2016).

Özer, O. E., MSc

Pardede, E.L. (Elda), MSc

Function

PhD student

Rodríguez Castillo, K.M., MSc

Roelofs, B.J. (Bart)