Jane Falkingham: the challenge of an ageing population

Jane Falkingham is Professor of Demography and International Social Policy at the University of Southampton and Director of the ESRC Centre for Population Change, exploring the drivers and consequences of a changing population. Much of her research over the past 20 years has focused on the social policy implications of population ageing and the wellbeing of older people, with her research taking an explicitly life-course approach.

To coincide with the UN’s World Population Day (11 July), here are Jane Falkingham’s reflections on an ageing population – first published in our Outlook at 50 series during our 50th anniversary year in 2015.

City Inc

James Fletcher is a Social Science, Health and Medicine research student at King’s College London. He saw off competition from some 70 entrants to win the ESRC’s writing competition, The World in 2065 – in collaboration with academic publishers, SAGE. 

The competition, which marked the anniversaries of the ESRC and SAGE, asked PhD students to creatively write about their vision of 50 years from now.

Read James’ winning article, City Inc, below:

Making the world a happier place

Professor Lord Richard Layard directs the Wellbeing Programme at the ESRC Centre for Economic Performance, and has made major contributions on unemployment, inflation, inequality and post-Communist reform. Author of the influential book Happiness, he currently works on how to produce a happier society and advises the UK government on mental health policy.

Why did you pursue an academic career?

I never meant to. I was teaching in a comprehensive school and going to evening classes at the London School of Economics (LSE). Through the LSE connection I was asked to be the research officer for the Robbins Committee (Committee on Higher Education, 1961), and after that I was offered a research job at LSE.

Picture of the week: Prominent social scientists

This year we are celebrating our 50th anniversary. Here are just a few prominent social scientists from the last 50 years…

Devyani Prabhat: Law, society and community

Dr Devyani Prabhat is a lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol Law School, as well as a lawyer with legal practice experience from New Delhi and New York. She is currently leading a three-year ESRC research project on British citizenship and the practice of nationality laws.

Why did you pursue an academic career?

I practiced as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of India, New Delhi and, later, in New York City. In both places I represented clients who were from disadvantaged backgrounds. I was not satisfied to only examine their individual legal cases, but wanted to know about the systemic reasons why they required representation from me. This inspired me to undertake a PhD at New York University with a focus on the Sociology of Law.