Launched today, the Einstein Center Population Diversity (ECPD) will become a leading institution in biosocial research. ECPD is an interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together leaders in social and health sciences across Berlin and Oxford, including members of the Berlin University Alliance, the University of Oxford in Berlin, and the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (LCDS).
Migration, an ageing population and new ways of working and caring, present huge challenges and opportunities for European societies. The new centre, part of the The Einstein Foundation’s 8.2 million euros of funding to expand their research portfolio in Berlin, will study the complex relations of population diversity with social inequality and health disparities. The centre will runs for six years and is primarily financed by the Einstein Foundation Berlin.
'The Einstein Center Population Diversity will bundle and strengthen Berlin-based research at the interface of biomedicine, social and health research. With experts from the fields of demography, sociology, medicine, psychology and health sciences, it is in a unique position to investigate the various mechanisms of population development and their interrelationships at the family level,' explains Prof. Martin Rennert, CEO of Einstein Berlin Foundation.
The ECPD is a consortium of renowned Berlin institutions that examines the effects of increasing population diversity on social and health inequality through the prism of the family, including the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Free University of Berlin, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, the Berlin Science Center for Social Research (WZB) and the demographic research network Population Europe - alongside the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science as part of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) Oxford-Berlin Research Partnership.
Together, they will investigate various biosocial factors that drive inequalities in population and family diversity such as physical and mental health, educational attainment, and income. Oxford’s participation is led by Professor Melinda Mills, whose bio-demography group within the LCDS will play a vital role in identifying the biosocial mechanisms that drive population diversity.
Professor Melinda Mills, Director of the Demographic Science Unit and LCDS, and one of eleven Principal Investigators for the new centre adds, ‘Oxford is excited to be part of this ambitious and interdisciplinary centre to improve our understanding of population diversity through our expertise in biosocial health, and the interaction of genetics and biomarkers with population and family diversity.’
The new centre will also open up new opportunities for early career researchers to advance the study of population diversity and work alongside experts in the field across LCDS, Oxford Population Health and Berlin. Dr Maike Bohn, Managing Director of the University of Oxford in Berlin said, ‘We look forward to offering these talented researchers the platform to identify and address inequalities across Europe, driving meaningful progress in biosocial research, and ultimately benefiting society and families.’
