Postdoctoral Research Projects
iacchos | Louvain-la-Neuve
Epidemics and inequalities in Belgium from the plague to covid-19: What can we learn about societal resilience? (EPIBEL)
Promotor: Thierry Eggerickx
Researchers: Mélanie Bourguignon, Yoann Doignon, Jean-Paul Sanderson
Collaborations: Université de Gand, Université d'Anvers.
Funding: Brain 2.0 - BELSPO
EPIBEL mobilizes the wealth of information on differential vulnerability and resilience following major epidemics in the history of Belgium/the Southern Low Countries, in order to improve our understanding of societal resilience today, in three interacting domains: health, economy and social care. In order to do so, EPIBEL first of all examines the role of socio-demographic and -economic inequalities in Covid-19 mortality. Who died as a result of the pandemic? Besides age and gender, how did place of residence, occupation, education or income shape the risk of dying from Covid-19? Secondly, EPIBEL investigates whether inequalities in Covid-19 mortality differed from previous epidemic outbreaks, both in their short-term impact and in longer-term resilience. Thirdly, EPIBEL aims to understand whether inequalities in the economic impact of epidemic outbreaks mirrored pre-existing socio-economic inequalities, how they interacted with health inequalities, and how they compromised societal resilience. Fourthly, EPIBEL investigates how the scale and organisation of social care and welfare systems might mitigate the effects of an epidemic outbreak on the poor and foster their resilience. Finally, EPIBEL informs policymakers on the importance of inequalities when promoting societal resilience. How have «epidemic policies» in the past affected resilience? Are policies which explicitly take into account inequalities more efficient in promoting resilience than more «universal» policies?
INEQKILL
Promotors: Thierry Eggerickx, Philippe Bocquier
Researchers: Jean-Paul Sanderson, Audrey Plavsic, Marina Vergeles
Funding: FWO, FNRS
INEQKILL is a four-year interdisciplinary research project that focuses on a crucial dimension of inequality in society, the disparity in death, coined ‘ultimate inequality’. How inequality kills. The COVID-19 pandemic has incited renewed interest into infectious diseases as potential drivers of social and spatial mortality inequalities, alongside life-style disease (cardiovascular diseases and cancer) and external causes of death. The project aims at generating new knowledge and insights into the origin and development of inequalities in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Belgium. It tackles the long-term evolution of mortality inequalities (1800-2025) using an interdisciplinary approach based on expertise from demography, social epidemiology, medical geography and socioeconomic history. INEQKILL addresses the following questions concerning how inequality kills: How have social and spatial differences in cause-specific mortality evolved in the context of rising living standards, improved social security and medical progress? How did these mortality patterns vary according to age, gender and migration status? And which factors can explain these? Besides using Belgium’s rich and unique statistical heritage, the project takes advantage of state-of-the-art geographic information systems and statistical techniques. Integrating micro and macro level data, linking past and present, and engaging with the wider public, INEQKILL embodies a major and original initiative in enhancing our understanding of mortality inequalities in Belgium and beyond.
Care, Buffering Effects and WELL-being at the time of the pandemic and after (BE-WELL)
Promotor: Ester Rizzi
Researchers : Hequn Wang, Damiano Uccheddu, Ashira Menashe-Oren
Funding: BELSPO
Collaborations : University of Antwerp (Dimitri Mortelmans, Z-eynep Zümer Batur, Fee Van den Eynde), University of Luxembourg (Anja eist), University of Padua (Bruno Arpino)
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted various facets of people’s lives. For young adults who were on the verge of transitioning into adulthood, these disruptions may have had an especially profound impact. Similarly, older individuals were particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and their day-to-day routines have been significantly affected. Family ties may have acquired a special importance to buffer some of the adverse consequences of the pandemic and to preserve health and well-being. Consequently, caregivers may have encountered new challenges pertaining to their well-being. At the same time, the role of non-family ties has received limited attention in research on the COVID-19 pandemic. The BE-WELL project is an interdisciplinary research initiative, involving demographers, sociologists, and researchers in public health. Focusing on Belgium, and adopting a comparative and life-course perspective, the project examines four main domains where care relations and well-being were affected by the COVID-19 crisis: young adults’ residential shifts (Work Package 2, WP2), the variance and impacts of informal care on well-being of caregivers (WP3), the role of family and non-family ties on older people well-being (WP4), and unmet (mental) healthcare needs (WP5). The gender dimension, the socio-economic disadvantage, and welfare policies are incorporated as overarching themes of each WP. In WP3-WP5, the goal is to measure objective and subjective well-being (loneliness, physical and mental health, healthcare needs, etc.) according to specific profiles of individuals. By focusing on measurable goals, the BE-WELL project will inform federal policies, for improved care, health, and well-being during global crises.
Ashira Menashe-Oren
Child Migration and Parental Death in Rural and Urban Sub-Saharan Africa
Promotor: Philippe Bocquier. Funding: FNRS
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is characterized by both high adult mortality—where HIV/AIDS-related deaths have disrupted families—and high rates of rural-to-urban migration among adults. In this context, children may migrate with their parents or be left in the care of other family members. Additionally, becoming an orphan may also drive children to migrate. Yet evidence on child migration in SSA, especially among orphans, is limited. This research proposes examining child migration while accounting for parental death and household composition in SSA. It focuses on migration across rural and urban settings in particular, since these movements alter the environments in which children live and the resources available to them, including access to healthcare and educational opportunities. I propose using Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) data available through the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health to explore the probabilities of child migration. HDSS monitor births, deaths, and migrations within a specific location, providing a unique opportunity to examine child migration, especially in SSA where vital registration is poor. The sites cover rural, semi-rural, peri-urban, and urban settings in twelve SSA countries, representing children’s living environments more accurately than the binary rural/urban definition. This research aims to identify from which area along the rural/urban gradient children are most likely to migrate out, and to what extent children’s living arrangements and being an orphan affect these migration probabilities.
Atiqul Haq Shah Md.
Are fertility preferences related to perceptions of climate change and extreme weather events in Bangladesh? A comparative study
Promotors: Schoumaker Bruno (UCLouvain), Bartiaux Françoise (UCLouvain). Funding: FNRS
Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change, and many people in this country are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of extreme weather events. My project aims to explore how people living in areas prone to extreme events such as floods, cyclones, and droughts perceive climate change and its impacts. This project also seeks to explore how perceptions of climate change vary across different extreme weather events and their relationship with fertility decisions. This study proposes to compare variations in fertility decisions with the impacts of different extreme events in Bangladesh. This study seeks to calculate fertility differentials and trends for areas in Bangladesh that are highly affected by floods and those less affected, using GPS coordinates and census data. This project also aims to foster a comprehensive and multidisciplinary understanding of Bangladeshi people’s representations of climate change and their perceptions regarding the impacts of climate change on fertility decisions.
Brée Sandra
A longitudinal approach to fertility in Belgium and France from the late 19th century to 1940 through the retrospective use of population censuses
Promotor: Eggerickx Thierry (UCLouvain). Funding: FSR and Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission
Based on the unprecedented analysis of retrospective and individual data from Belgian and French censuses of the second half of the 20th century, this research aims to reconstruct the reproductive lives of female generations born from the 1890s through the 1940s. By taking into account different social environments within a geographically limited area yet composed of highly heterogeneous populations—languages (French, Flemish), cultures (Northern and Southern Europe), economic activities (industrial, bourgeois, commercial cities), geographical settings (port cities, isolated towns, border towns)—will allow us to refine, enrich, and compare the conclusions of existing monographs; particularly regarding the extremely rapid assimilation of urban behaviors by newcomers.
Lessons from Childlessness in Rouen before the Industrial Revolution & Fathers’ Return to Couples Based on Childcare Arrangements
Promotors: Thomas Baudin, Ester Rizzi (UCLouvain). Funding: ARC “Family Transformation – Incentives and Norms”
The first part of this postdoc involves analyzing the levels of childlessness among the precursors of the fertility decline in France, drawing on research conducted by Jean-Pierre Bardet (1983) to understand the role of childless couples in this process. The second part of the postdoc focuses on fathers’ return to a relationship based on child-rearing arrangements. By analyzing the new INED survey, EPIC (Study of Individual and Marital Trajectories), the aim is to understand whether fathers who have custody of their children (shared or sole) exhibit different patterns of remarriage compared to those who do not have custody.
Carpentier Sarah
LIMA – Personal aspirations and adaptation processes: how does the legal framework influence migrants’ agency?
Promotor: Schoumaker Bruno (UCLouvain). Funding: ARC
This project runs from 2015 to 2020 and brings together legal scholars, sociologists, and demographers to study the aspirations, life course development, life satisfaction, and agency of new arrivals in Belgium from a holistic perspective. The project examines the opportunities offered by the legal framework to develop the aforementioned aspects of life, as revealed through qualitative interviews, longitudinal administrative data, and linked survey data. Theoretically, the project draws on ideas from the capabilities approach, the life course perspective, and human rights theory to move beyond an empirical approach focused on fixed resources and risk categories. Sarah Carpentier’s postdoctoral research project aims to develop measures of life course development and freedoms in the years following migrants’ arrival, based on administrative and linked survey data. Since socioeconomic careers can serve as a gateway to life course development, the study begins by examining socioeconomic careers. Stability, volatility, and mobility in the socioeconomic careers of migrants with different legal statuses upon entry are studied. Furthermore, the project examines how stability, volatility, and mobility are subjectively experienced and linked to aspirations.
Chen Mengni
Second Demographic Transition in Asia
Promotor: Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain). Funding: FNRS
The theory of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) has often been proposed to understand changing family profiles not only in Western societies but also in Eastern societies. Currently, in Asian societies such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China, many features of the SDT have been observed, including low fertility rates, late marriage and childbearing, increasing singlehood, and surging divorce rates. However, the elements of cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births appear to be absent in these societies; and there are also very few up-to-date empirical studies examining whether the observed changes in family behavior reflect shifts in social attitudes. Therefore, this research project aims to address these gaps. The project aims 1) to investigate the prevalence and trends of cohabitation and non-marital births in the five Asian societies over the past decade, 2) to identify the factors associated with these behaviors, and 3) to reconstruct and compare the family normative frameworks between the West and the East.
Doignon Yoann
The Spatial Spread of the Second Demographic Transition in Belgium and France since 1970
Promotors: Eggerickx Thierry (UCLouvain), Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain). Funding: FSR (UCLouvain)
The Second Demographic Transition (SDT) was developed to understand the socio-demographic transformations in Northwestern Europe beginning in the 1970s. Many dimensions of the SDT have been studied in the literature, but the spatial dimension of these demographic changes remains much less explored. This project aims to address these gaps by analyzing the spatial diffusion of the SDT’s demographic changes in France and Belgium since 1970, at a fine-grained geographic level. The project’s objectives are as follows: 1/ Describe how the STD spreads spatially, with a particular focus on the effects of (political and cultural) borders; 2/ Identify the factors that explain this spatial pattern; 3/ Analyze the impact of migration on the progression of the STD within a given territory.
Kim Younga
Women’s Retirement Intentions and Work-Family Life History
Promotor: Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain). Funding: MOVE-IN Louvain project co-funded by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions
My project aims to evaluate the effect of work-family life histories on retirement behaviors among women. This is done by comparing countries with different conditions for reconciling family life and work. In doing so, I address the themes of aging, gender, and the relationship between the life course, work, and family life. The project comprises three papers. The first examines the effects of work and family trajectories on retirement intentions: a comparison of 13 European countries. The second explores associations between women’s retirement intentions and subsequent retirement behaviors in South Korea, addressing the question of who makes their wishes come true. The third focuses on changes in women’s retirement intentions over time in Europe from 2004 to 2013.
Le Guen Mireille
Changes in contraceptive use during the “pill scare”: a comparison between Belgium, France, and Switzerland
Promotor: Bruno Schoumaker (UCLouvain). Funding: FSR (UCLouvain)
At the end of 2012, following media coverage of a complaint filed against a pharmaceutical company by a young woman who had suffered a stroke and blamed it on her use of new-generation oral contraception, a media controversy—also known as the “pill scare”—erupted in France and resonated in the French-speaking media in Belgium and Switzerland, two countries where the pill is also the most widely used method of contraception. As a result, pill use dropped in France and Belgium, while in Switzerland a decrease in pill sales was observed, and social inequalities in access to prescription contraceptives have increased in France. Using data from 11 representative cross-sectional surveys conducted in Belgium, France, and Switzerland, we compare recent trends in contraceptive use across the three countries according to women’s socioeconomic background to understand how the “pill scare” has differently affected contraceptive practices in these three countries, which are characterized by significant differences in health insurance coverage for medical consultations and contraceptive methods. I will also seek to understand, through qualitative interviews in Belgium and Switzerland, to what extent these changes result from difficulties in accessing certain contraceptives or from consumption patterns regarding healthcare and medical goods that vary according to women’s socioeconomic background.
In-Migration and Out-Migration of Primary and Secondary Migrants from Southern European Countries to Belgium Around the Economic Crisis of the Late 2000s
Promotor: Bruno Schoumaker (UCLouvain). Funding: UCLouvain
In Europe, the global economic recession of the late 2000s strongly affected the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain). The rapid deterioration of labor market conditions affecting both natives and immigrants from these countries led to an increase in out-migration to Western and Northern European countries less affected by the crisis, such as Belgium. To understand how economic crises influence the migration selection process differently among men and women based on their migration status, we examine immigration from PIIGS countries to Belgium before and after the late 2000s crisis, distinguishing between natives (primary migrants) and non-natives (secondary migrants). We also analyze the emigration of primary and secondary migrants from Belgium based on their integration into the Belgian labor market before and after the crisis.
Ma Li
Social policy, life-course transitions, and family dynamics in China
Promotor: Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain). Funding: MOVE-IN Louvain project co-funded by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions
China is a developing society that has not only experienced remarkable economic growth over the past few decades but has also faced a series of demographic changes and challenges, such as declining marriage and fertility rates, the rise of cohabitation, and increasing divorce rates. To date, one study on marriage and three studies on divorce have been conducted. All these studies provide empirical evidence that socioeconomic changes at the macro level interacted with behavioral changes at the micro level. This project not only improves our understanding of family dynamics in Chinese society but also offers insights into life-course transitions in developing societies more broadly.
Mikucka Malgorzata
Life course events and well-being. The importance of family obligations and support
Promotor: Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain)
Funding: FSR and Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission
The project focuses on the consequences of difficult life transitions—specifically, transitions into unemployment and parenthood—on well-being. It also investigates the buffering effect of support received from family and other networks during these periods. The literature has demonstrated the negative impact of unemployment on well-being and suggests that, in the long term, parenthood also has a negative effect. Furthermore, these effects vary across individuals and social contexts. Evidence on the buffering effect of family and non-family support in the context of parenthood and unemployment is scarce. The results showed that the buffering effect of family and non-family support during the transition to unemployment in Germany is rather weak, which is not in line with theoretical expectations and suggests the need for further investigations, which would broaden our understanding of social support during difficult life transitions. The study of support from relatives during parenthood in Switzerland demonstrated that support increases slightly when people become parents, but the effect on parents’ subjective well-being is small and sometimes inconsistent with the buffering hypothesis.
Family transformations. Incentives and norms
Promotor: Rizzi Ester (UCLouvain). Funding: ARC
The project focuses on two questions. First, we analyze parental preferences regarding the sex of their child in light of recent advances in happiness research. Second, we examine the role of religiosity in moderating the relationship between parenthood and subjective well-being.
These two studies aim to provide general conclusions; they therefore draw on large comparative datasets: the European Social Survey and the World Values Study. The project contributes to a better understanding of fertility decisions and the consequences of parenthood and childlessness for contemporary societies, as well as to a better understanding of the interaction between religiosity and fertility decisions.
Care, Retirement, and Well-being of Older Adults in Different Social Protection Systems
Promotor: Ester Rizzi (UCLouvain). Funding: BELSPO
As societies age, the well-being of older adults is increasingly becoming both a priority and a challenge. CREW is an interdisciplinary team from six institutions in five countries, ready to examine the interrelationships between social participation (in the form of paid work and caregiving) and health and well-being. Our research project covers four main themes. First, we study the determinants of health and well-being among older adults and critically examine both new and existing measures. Second, we describe care models and the impact of caregiving on the well-being of caregivers. Third, we analyze the challenges facing pension systems due to changing family dynamics and work patterns. Finally, we examine the population of older adults without close relatives, analyze their characteristics, and explore how the welfare state shapes their well-being. Gender and social policies are cross-cutting themes in each area, as they shape all the dynamics analyzed.
Munno Cristina
Differential Demography: A Syndemic Approach to the Study of Mortality in Urban Areas
Promotor: Eggerickx Thierry (UCLouvain). Funding: FNRS
This project highlights the mechanisms that shaped the evolution of mortality in 19th-century Venice, one of Italy’s largest cities, where mortality rates are among the highest in Europe. This involves examining the various components of mortality—by cause, sex, and age—their distribution across space and time, and their mutual influences. A detailed study of mortality is made possible by an exceptionally rich dataset drawn from the population registers of a city with approximately 130,000 inhabitants. Additional data pertain to housing conditions (access to water and sanitation), causes of death, daily temperatures, and weekly reports on food prices.
Nie Wanli
Internal Migration and Urbanization in Asia
Promotor: Philippe Bocquier (UCLouvain). Funding: Globmig project
In Asia, internal migration has led to a rapid expansion of urban boundaries. However, since the definition of rural and urban areas varies by country and over time—and is sometimes lacking—it is difficult to establish a reliable estimate of historical urbanization trends. To address this gap, this project aims to provide a harmonized estimate of urbanization and to understand the extent to which internal migration has contributed to changes in urbanization. We used microeconomic data available from sources such as IPUMS-International and the DHC, and adjusted our estimates based on those published by the World Urbanization Prospects.
The Mobility Transition in Asia between 1970 and 2011
Promotor: Philippe Bocquier. Funding: Globmig project
The mobility transition is based on the assumption that, alongside the demographic transition, well-defined migration patterns can be observed. These changes in migration should also evolve during the urbanization process. We aim to empirically investigate whether a mobility transition exists in Asia, or whether it deviates from theory, by directly estimating migration using 27 census samples. We aggregate census data from ten Asian countries, covering four decades, and model migration rates by sex, age, and education level using Poisson models. Preliminary results suggest that net internal migration has fluctuated over time and peaked in the 2000s in Asia. Intra-rural migration is particularly high throughout the period, suggesting that Asian countries are still in relatively early stages of the mobility transition. That said, relatively high migration is also observed within other urban areas.
Sanderson Jean-Paul
End of Career and Life Courses in Belgium, from the 19th to the 21st Century
Promotors: Eggerickx Thierry (UCLouvain), Burnay Nathalie (FUNDP). Funding: FNRS
This research is part of the debate on retirement age and falls within the theoretical framework of life course analysis. The objectives are to trace the evolution of individual and collective management of the end of one’s career, from the 19th century to the present day; to understand the interactions between professional and family trajectories at the end of working life; and to understand the organization of this period in light of migration patterns and intergenerational relationships.
Spousal homicide among violent deaths in Belgium
Promotors: Thierry Eggerickx (UCLouvain), Xavier Rousseaux (UCLouvain). Funding: BELSPO/BRAIN
This research aims to study the evolution of violent mortality in Belgium and to understand the mechanisms of spousal violence and spousal homicide. Data are drawn from the National Register, censuses, the criminal prosecution offices’ computer system, as well as court records and interviews with perpetrators and victims.
SODA: Social Sciences and Humanities Data Archive
Promotors: Thierry Eggerickx (UCLouvain), Bruno Schoumaker (UCLouvain). Funding: BELSPO
The objective of this project is to establish a Belgian archive of surveys and data collected in the humanities so that they can be reused for other projects.
Measuring Invisibility Brussels (MEASINB)
Promotor: Thierry Eggerickx (UCLouvain). Funding: INNOVIRIS
The research aims to understand the processes of invisibilization linked to the disappearance of certain individuals from administrative records and their consequences on access to rights.
Singh Akansha
Spatial modeling of infant mortality at the district level in India
Promotor: Masquelier Bruno (UCLouvain). Funding: MOVE-IN Louvain project co-funded by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions
This study aims to develop estimates of infant mortality rates at the district level in India to describe trends over several decades and analyze associated socioeconomic and health factors.
Uccheddu Damiano
The education of adult children and the health of their aging parents (DARLENE)
Promotor: Ester Rizzi (UCLouvain). Funding: F.R.S.-FNRS
The DARLENE project examines how the educational attainment of adult children influences access to care, transitions to nursing homes, and the health outcomes of elderly parents.
Veljanoska Stefanija
Understanding the determinants of migration through new data sources and methodologies
Promotors: Philippe Bocquier (UCLouvain), Frédéric Docquier (UCLouvain). Funding: ARC - GLOBMIG
This project combines socioeconomic data, telephone big data, and geographic data to analyze the dynamics of internal and international migration.
Zuzana Zilincikova
Family ties that bind: a new perspective on internal migration, immobility, and labor market outcomes
Promotor: Christine Schnor (UCLouvain). Funding: ERC
The FamilyTies project aims to analyze the role of family ties in internal migration decisions and their effects on career trajectories.