Nuffield welcomes postgraduate students for PopFest 2018
On 19 to 21 June, Nuffield College and the Department of Sociology hosted the 26th Annual Population studies conference – PopFest 2018 – on the theme of ‘Social inequality and demography’. The conference, which is traditionally organised with the British Society of Population Studies (BSPS), brings together social science postgraduate students from across the world to talk on subjects related to population studies.
This year, 44 students came to Oxford from countries as far afield as Japan, Nigeria and South Africa. Attendees were working in a range of different fields in the social sciences, including Demography, Sociology, Epidemiology and Statistics.
Papers were given by students on a range of topics relating to population studies, and keynote lectures were given by leading academics in the field, including the eminent statistician Sir David Cox, and current Nuffield Fellows Ridhi Kashyap, Richard Breen and Felix Tropf. Other keynote speakers were Oriel Sullivan from the Department of Sociology and Nicola Barban from Essex University.
Whilst discussions were taking place in College on topics ranging from gender, marriage and the family, health and mortality, statistical methods, causality and sociogenomics, the conversation was also continuing online. Fuelled by great offline conversations (and a vegetarian menu), participants shared their experiences at the conference on Twitter under #popfestoxford.
Had amazing conferenze at @popfestoxford! Great keynotes, priceless exchanges with young promising researchers and an exceptional hosting team...Thank you guys!
— guido salza (@GuidoSalza) 21 June 2018
PopFest 2018 was organised by a team of Oxford DPhil students, including Evelina Akimova (St Anthony’s), Justin Jacobi, Joan Madia, Meg Scott and Giacomo Vagni (Nuffield). The student team was supported by Nuffield College, the Department of Sociology, the British Society of Population Studies, the European Association of Population Studies – who provided six students with bursaries to attend the conference – and the Economic and Social Research Council's Incubator Fund for interdisciplinary projects.
Pictured: (top) Attendees at PopFest 2018. (below) The organising team (from left) Joan Madia, Meg Scott, Evelina Akimova, Justin Jacobi and Giacomo Vagni. Both photographs courtesy of Kinga Lubowiecka, Bright Lens (www.brightlens.org)