The Center for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS) at Sciences Po invites applications for two three-year PhD fellowships within the remit of the ERC project: A Social Demography of Widowhood across Ageing Societies.

This ground-breaking research moves beyond the state-of-the-art in at least four ways to establish a social demography of widowhood.
The foundation of the project lies in an innovative conceptual and methodological approach to the risk and vulnerability to widowhood. While risk aims at the probability and duration of widowhood, vulnerability focuses on its mental health and economic consequences. Current assessments of widowhood effects are limited to change in wellbeing directly after bereavement with a special focus on unexpected deaths. However, the most prevalent scenario entails a process of terminal health decline in the years before death. The consequences of the often neglected longer process of expected widowhood may be larger than the shorter process of unexpected widowhood.
Three ground-breaking pillars build on risk and vulnerability to examine social inequalities by socioeconomic status, race-ethnicity and nativity, social support networks, gender and age, as well as country differences and change over time.
High-quality cross-sectional and longitudinal data sources will be harmonized and applied to an advanced set of statistical methods for up to 60 ageing countries varying in demographic trends and welfare systems from 1985 with projections to 2050. A social demography of widowhood will supplement fragmented evidence with systematic and comprehensive estimates on risk and vulnerability, provide insights into the challenges facing a growing widowed population and their family members, and facilitate new research on sustainable pension and elder care systems.

Two openings:

• the risk of widowhood
• the vulnerability to widowhood.

Applicants should specify whether they are applying to the position focused on the risk or the vulnerability of widowhood. It is expected that the successful applicants will contribute to research on how the risk or vulnerability to widowhood varies across social groups and across countries. Interested persons are asked to refer to the project proposals for more information and contact Zachary Van Winkle (zachary.vanwinkle@sciencespo.fr) with any questions.

Requirements:
- Master’s degree in sociology, demography, economics, gerontology or a related field,
- Background or strong interest in family sociology and/or demography as well as quantitative methods,
- Previous experience with cross-sectional and/or longitudinal data preparation and analysis in Stata, R or similar
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively
- Excellent English language skills

Start date September 1st, 2024, on the Sciences Po Campus (Paris Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin).

Please download the complete job description and application procedure here (pdf, 266 ko)