How can we tackle the challenges posed by aging societies? Perhaps answers will come from the work by researchers awarded the "Allianz award for work by junior researchers in demography" yesterday evening in Berlin.
Allianz Demography Award
"With the first Allianz award for talented junior researchers specializing in demography, we would like to sponsor rising academics who make a significant contribution to the ongoing exchange of ideas between academics and industry experts on the issue of demography," emphasized Professor Volker Deville, demography expert at Allianz.
Professor Tilman Mayer, chairman of the German Society for Demography (DGD) and co-presenter of the awards with Deville, said, "Junior researchers in particular are often open to taking entirely new directions, which enables them to develop alternative and surprising approaches to solving social problems."
Professor Volker Deville at the Allianz Forum on Pariser Platz in Berlin
The east-west and north-south divide
A good example of this is the study by award-winner Dr. Eva Kibele, a researcher at the Population Research Centre at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She investigated the impact of where people live in Germany and their social status on their life expectancy. Her research showed that there was a clear connection.
Indeed, she was also able to demonstrate that the historical difference in life expectancies between east and west Germany is now largely a thing of the past. "This is now turning into a north-south divide", says Kibele, in which people in southern Germany are living longer.
Over the last few weeks the DGD review committee assessed more than 40 submissions. Submissions came from a wide variety of academic disciplines but all related to demographic issues. The award money was donated by Allianz. More than 100 participants attended the award ceremony at the Allianz Forum on Pariser Platz.
The DGD has been awarding prizes to junior researchers since 1998. The prizes are intended to sponsor junior academics specializing in demographic issues. Award-winning studies have focused on a variety of issues, including migration, starting a family, the labor market or child mortality. This year Allianz is the official sponsor for the first time.
Five out of the six winners of the Allianz award for junior demography researchers together with Professor Volker Deville and Professor Tilman Mayer (far right)
The collaboration between DGD and Allianz aims to further widen the social discourse on demography. For instance, in January Allianz hosted the first Berlin Demography Forum in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the European School of Management and Technology. The Forum was launched by Dr. Kristina Schröder, the German Minister for Families and Michael Diekmann, the CEO of Allianz. In his five-point plan Diekmann called for financial relief for younger generations to become a top priority.
The six winners of the Allianz award for junior demography researchers are
- Dr. Christina Bohk, University of Rostock
- Dr. Ingmar Rapp, Max-Weber Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg
- Professor Marion Klemme, Institute of Geography, Münster
- Dipl.-Soz. Linda Beyreuther, Federal Institute for Population Research, Wiesbaden
- Dipl.-Soz. Christiane Lübke, University of Duisburg, Institute of Sociology
- Dr. Eva Kibele, Population Research Centre, University of Groningen, Netherlands
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