Post-doctorats

Promoteur : Philippe Bocquier (UCLouvain)
Financement : FNRS (UCLouvain)

Under the MADIMAH project (Child health, migration and family composition in Africa and Asia: Comparative analysis), my research aims to study child migration after parental death within sub-Saharan Africa, while accounting for orphan’s socioeconomic environment and their household characteristics. This research examines the probabilities of child migration over a gradient of urbanicity in particular, to account for the conditions under which children live, since rural/urban residence can determine child wellbeing. This research assesses to what extent orphans have higher probabilities of migration in comparison to other children and how this differs by rural/urban sector.

Promoteur : Bruno Schoumaker (UCLouvain)
Financement : FNRS

Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa has decreased little over the last decades. Its decline started much later than in other regions of the world and the pace of the fertility decline has been slower. In some countries, fertility has stalled in recent years, contributing to the uncertainty about sub-Saharan Africa’s future fertility. Such interruptions in fertility decline can have a large impact on the size of Africa’s population by the end of the 21st century, as well as on population distribution across and within countries. An detailed study of their dynamics and causes is essential to understand the recent and future demographic changes in sub-Saharan Africa. This project has three broad objectives: (1) Identifying fertility stalls in sub-Saharan Africa at the national and subnational level; (2) understanding the demographic dynamics of these fertility stalls; and, (3) identifying the underlying causes of these fertility stalls.

Promoteur : Thierry Eggerickx (UCLouvain)
Financement : INNOVIRIS

La Région bruxelloise, dans son appel “rendre visible l’invisible” pose la question de l’appréhension de la population présente sur son territoire (qu’il s’agisse des personnes y résidant officiellement ou des groupes dits “cachés”). Celui-ci vise à en obtenir une image claire en vue de mettre en place une politique inclusive soucieuse de l’accès aux droits.
Dans ce cadre, MEASINB s’intéresse à la disparition de ces personnes des registres administratifs. En Belgique, l’inscription du citoyen aux registres, par le biais de la domiciliation, lui permet un accès aux droits. L’absence ou la perte d’un domicile ou d’une adresse de référence a pour conséquence l’exclusion de ceux-ci. La recherche vise à appréhender les processus d’invisibilisation, au regard des contextes urbains et sociaux. Cette compréhension est nécessaire pour apprécier les politiques d’actions publiques appliquées sur le territoire.

Promotrice : Ester Rizzi (UCLouvain)
Financement: F.R.S.-FNRS (Chargé de Recherche)

As societies age, the health status of older adults increasingly becomes a priority and challenge. Education is one of the most important predictors of health outcomes, including healthcare access, physical and mental health, and mortality. Past research shows that higher levels of schooling are generally associated with better health at older ages, even more so than income or wealth. Despite an extensive body of research on the links between education and health, only a few studies have considered the level of education of the family – that is, beyond that of the married couple – and its relationship with health at older ages. The DARLENE project aims at investigating whether educational attainments should be considered a family resource, benefiting not only the health conditions of the individuals themselves but also the life course of their older parents.
In this project, the relationship between adult children’s education and older parents’ health is approached from different angles, using comparative longitudinal data from different sources, such as the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and Belgian administrative data.
The research project covers three broad topics. First, I investigate the extent to which adult children’s educational attainment promotes or inhibits older parents’ access to healthcare. Second, I examine whether and how offspring’s education affects parents’ transitions from their home to a nursing home. Third, I analyse how children’s education influences parental health outcomes (i.e., physical and mental health). Gender and welfare policies are two themes that cut across all the topics analyzed, as they shape all of the dynamics analysed.
DARLENE aims at filling key policy-relevant gaps in existing research, ultimately contributing to knowledge that informs policies to guarantee high quality of ageing and equal opportunities for healthy ageing for both men and women of different socio-economic groups.