Congratulations to the Centre’s José Manuel Aburto who has been awarded the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Silver Medal for his research on inequality.
Each year, the Silver Medal is awarded to a Danish researcher under the age of 40 for their outstanding contributions to their scientific field in the last five years.
José’s research has contributed significantly to the long-term consequences of inequality in global population health and mortality. He has received this award for his research on inequality, particularly its interdisciplinary approach involving computer science and statistics, and dissemination to the wider public and policy makers.
‘’I am deeply honoured to receive the Silver Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. A significant part of my professional development and research has taken place in this beautiful country. I am indebted to my colleagues and mentors at the University of Southern Denmark’s Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop), particularly the late Jim Vaupel. I would also like to thank colleagues at Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, and Population Studies Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. To a great extent, this recognition belongs to them too’’, says José Manuel Aburto.
His research into global health and mortality inequalities has been instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes research on the impact of COVID-19 on life expectancy in the US, Chile, and the Nordic region.
In 2021, José was the lead author on a Centre study that quantified the impacts of the pandemic through life-expectancy losses in 29 countries. This research is now being expanded with an upcoming paper in Nature Human Behaviour.
José adds, “The COVID-19 pandemic has had terrible consequences on population health and mortality around the world. While Denmark has been an exception, a significant part of the globe continues to suffer the consequences of this crisis”.
The Silver Medal, including a prize of DKK 100,000, will be presented to José at a meeting of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters members on 27 October. He plans to use the prize money to continue developing demographic models that increase our understanding of the pandemics long-term consequences in low and middle income countries. It will also be used to strengthen a collaborative network between young researchers from South America and Africa.
