Vienna Institute of Demography

Coordinates: 48°12′53″N 16°24′21″E / 48.214827°N 16.405847°E / 48.214827; 16.405847

Vienna Institute of Demography
Agency overview
Formed 1975
Jurisdiction  Austria
Headquarters Vienna, Austria
Agency executives
  • Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, executive director
  • Wolfgang Lutz, director
Parent agency Austrian Academy of Sciences
Website VID Homepage

The Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) (until 2002: Institut für Demographie/IfD) is a research institute of the division for humanities and social sciences within the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)[1] and part of the three "pillar institutions" of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital.[2]

History

After some groundwork by researchers interested in having a population studies institute in Austria, among them Wilhelm Winkler and Gustav Feichtinger, the Institut für Demographie was established in November 1975 as a non-university research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in close cooperation with the Austrian Statistical Central Office (now Statistik Austria). Founding director was Lothar Bosse (1914–1996), a German-born philosopher, mathematician and economist who remained at the head of IfD for twelve years. In the first few years, research activities were limited by budget restrictions and focussed on theory and basic research as well as applied demography.[3] From the beginning, there was an emphasis on informing the public about population issues and research results, by publications such as "Demographische Informationen" (since 1981, in German with English abstracts).[4]

Bosse was succeeded by Richard Gisser who headed the institute 1987–1989 and again 1993–2001 (interim directorship was taken by social scientist Rainer Münz) and continued to be the institute’s deputy director and a leader of the VID research group on Demography of Austria.

In the period of 1985 to 2000, the institute and the research topic of demography received increasing attention, though there was a certain competition for scientific staff with the newly founded Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany.[5]

After positive independent evaluations and the commitment of special funds, the ÖAW decided to substantially expand and internationalise the institute in 2001. Under the designated new director Wolfgang Lutz, the IfD changed its name and working language, employed more scientific and administrative staff, expanded its research agenda as well as its publication efforts and moved to new and successively larger premises in the 4th district (2002–2007 at Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 8-10, then 2007–2015 at Wohllebengasse 12-14).

Research activity at VID continued to expand and received favourable attention by policy-makers and scientific peers, which showed in VID members participating in or coordinating major research projects, for instance within the European Union’s Framework Programmes, and obtaining recognition by being awarded sizeable grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Director Wolfgang Lutz received the Wittgenstein Award in 2010 and, with the 1.5 million euro prize money, established the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital.

At its 40th anniversary in 2015, VID moved to the WU campus in Vienna’s 2nd district,[6] celebrating this and other occasions with a symposium on "Demography that Matters".[7][8]

In 2016 Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, head of the Institute of Mathematical Methods in Economics at the Vienna University of Technology and long-time leader of the VID research group on Population Economics became executive director.[9][10]

Research activities

VID employs about 40 researchers, most of them from the fields of economics, mathematics/statistics, geography, health studies and sociology, to cover the major research topics of demography or population science: fertility, mortality and migration as well as a number of other fields of interest. Over time, the institute’s research focus has expanded from its core competences in Austrian and later European demography to a global perspective on the relevant issues of population and human capital development.[10]

There are seven main areas of research, assigned to different research groups though there is considerable permeability and cooperation:

Publications

In addition to the individual contributions of VID researchers to a number of scientific journals,[15] the institute issues the following regular publications:

References

  1. ↑ List of Academy institutes published by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy
  2. ↑ Der Standard, 31. January 2011: “Vienna Wittgenstein Centre aims for top position among demography institutes worldwide”
  3. ↑ European Demographic Information Bulletin (December 1979), Volume 10, Issue 4, pp. 163–164
  4. ↑ Activity Report of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, chapter on IfD on p.222ff. (published in the IAEA archive)
  5. ↑ "Twenty Years Institute of Demography: Activities 1987–1996", in: Demographische Informationen (1995/96), pp. 5-8 (JSTOR quotation)
  6. ↑ WU welcomes the Austrian Academy of Sciences to its new Department Building 5 WU press release, 1 June 2015
  7. ↑ Tiroler Tageszeitung of 4 September 2015: "Multiple anniversaries for Vienna’s Demography"
  8. ↑ Announcement by the German Statistical Society (DStatG)
  9. ↑ Academy entry about VID, giving the current directorships
  10. 1 2 Details on the VID history taken from the anniversary brochure 40 years of the Vienna Institute of Demography 1975–2015, Vienna, 2015, Wittgenstein Centre, VID, ÖAW
  11. ↑ Families in Austria, results of the Generations and Gender Survey 2009–2013
  12. ↑ Bongaarts, John; Sobotka, Tomáš (2012). "A demographic explanation for the recent rise in European fertility.". Population and Development Review. 38(1): 83–120. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00473.x.
  13. ↑ Sanderson, W.C.; Scherbov, S. (2010). "Remeasuring Aging.". Science 329 (5997): 1287–1288. doi:10.1126/science.1193647.
  14. ↑ The Cloister Study, a longitudinal study on longevity among monks and nuns
  15. ↑ e.g., Lutz, W.; Muttarak, R.; Striessnig, W. (2014). "Universal education is key to enhanced climate adaptation.". Science 346 (6213): 1061–1062. doi:10.1126/science.1257975., Sanderson, W.C.; Scherbov, S. (2005). "Average remaining lifetimes can increase as human populations age.". Nature 435: 811–813. doi:10.1038/nature03593.
  16. ↑ JSTOR entry for VYPR
  17. ↑ Press release by MPDR, 26 March 2004
  18. ↑ Link by the French Institut national d'études démographiques
  19. ↑ Link by research network Population Europe

External links

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