I’m thrilled to share that I’ve started as a Postdoctoral Researcher at @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social. I look forward to engaging on questions of gender, political behavior, and survey methods over the next year.
I may also have brought the Texas sky with me!
Some puns are too good to pass up... but seriously, mRNA technology is amazing, let's give it some love, not unwarranted hate!
open.substack.com/pub/jenndowd... #episky #publichealth #medsky #healthpolicy
I am also very excited to be joining @profjanegreen.bsky.social full time at Nuffield College as a UK Politics Impact Research Fellow from next Monday. Stay tuned for new research on fragmentation, party fortunes and electoral blocs as we navigate upcoming elections & the longer road to 2029!
3/3
Tax exposure and political preferences
doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
Paper in Socio-Economic Review by @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social Fellow @benansell.bsky.social, Asli Cansunar and Mads Andreas Elkjær
Five years after the pandemic began, have countries returned to their pre-COVID life expectancy trajectories?
New research shows 31 of 34 high-income countries still have life expectancy deficits in 2024, suggesting lasting effects on population health.
www.demography.ox.ac.uk/news/new-lcd...
An open laptop with the words 'Foreign Policy' on the screen. The laptop is on a table with a cup of coffee and a notepad and pen next to it.
Our Resource of the Month for March is 'Foreign Policy.' The Foreign Policy subscription website is updated every day, blending daily reporting with long-form analysis and commentary. Find out more at tinyurl.com/mryj3ssc #SSLResourceoftheMonth
Yesterday @melindacmills.bsky.social delivered the Richard Doll Seminar🎓🎤 about the "Our Future Health" data.
She outlined the exciting prospects of large-scale health data and her analysis of representativeness of the biobank population to a packed room, full of interested questions.
Smart Talk: Land, Housing, and the Economy
John Muellbauer @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social talks to Ed Dodson @hgsssnyc.bsky.social about the interactions between the housing market and the wider economy.
@oxmartinschool.bsky.social @oxfordecondept.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7vf...
💡Watch now: Francesco Billari's talk on “Demography and Hyperdiversity“ at the @oeaw.bsky.social (Karl Popper-Lecture)!
Francesco Billari introduced the concept of “hyperdiversity” – a concept that will shape future demographic thinking.
🔗 Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzau...
#demography
Proud supervisor moment. Congratulations to Alexandra Stafford, who is headed to the EUI as a Max Weber Fellow to work on a book project about the genealogy of international criminal law. A superstar! www.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/dpir-dp...
DPIR DPhil student Alexandra Stafford has been awarded the European University Institute's Max Weber Fellowship, a selective postdoctoral programme open to global applicants. To hear more from Alexandra, see our website article here: https://ow.ly/b9ws50Yothx.
Some thoughts here on Labour’s greater electoral threat on the left and how the party has been over-reacting to its Reform threat:
www.itv.com/news/2026-02...
📈 New preprint on life expectancy trajectories in high-income countries since 2020. 📉
Joint work with a great team from
@mpidr.bsky.social @oxforddemsci.bsky.social @psglshtm.bsky.social @camunicampop.bsky.social
Link below. 👇
Jasmin Abdel Ghany, Research Fellow in Sociology at Nuffield College, has co-authored a new PNAS opinion piece arguing that the closure of USAID’s Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program presents a critical opportunity to rebuild global health data systems.
Read more: tinyurl.com/5f5xxh4n
Do you enjoy extended and possibly tortured zombie analogies? Are you a post-liberal in a doomed fight against zombie liberalism? Are you a zombie too? Much to discuss.
Following up some of my morning thoughts: "Labour’s basic electoral problem comes from the fact that left-leaning voters are indeed choosing to vote against rather than for parties. The problem is that progressives aren’t just voting against Reform. They are now actively voting against Labour."
Looks like us ‘bloc politics’ people were on to something after all ;)
benansell.substack.com/p/british-po...
@martamiori.bsky.social and I have been writing, since 2024, about why Labour's 'Reform' challenge and emphasis was based on a misunderstanding of Labour's vote. Here for anyone interested: politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Here's a table in the new @britishelectionstudy.com book (forthcoming). We calculated 'second preferences' - here Labour voters after elections 2015 to 2024.
50% of Labour's 2024 voters had Greens as second preference. 42% the Lib Dems. The left bloc is coalescing behind the most viable left party!
📢🎓 Upcoming talk by @melindacmills.bsky.social
"Assessing Representativeness and Bias in Large Prospective Biobanks: Insights from Our Future Health"
📆March 3, 13:00
📍Richard Doll Building
learn about the latest OFH data release covering >1.9 million participants.
talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/e2a...
🚨 A defining moment for global health data.
The termination of the #USAID-supported Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program has wide-ranging consequences. We reflect on the collapse and argue what should come next in a new PNAS: doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…
📊 9,000+ studies
A wealth management magazine asked me to distill advice from Billionaire Backlash for the 'good billionaire.' The punchline: Leave the hubris on the yacht.
An experimental approach to pandemic preparedness:
A new @nathealth.nature.com article introduces “Epigames” smartphone-based simulations that model pandemic outbreaks and behavioural responses in real time. 📱🦠
Read more:
www.demography.ox.ac.uk/news/oxford-...
Oxford Forum of Open Scholarship logo
It is just a week before the OxFOS 2026 Conference Day. Running March 4th from 10am until 6pm, in the Sir Victor Blank Lecture theatre, @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Weston Library, you can check out the full agenda and register to attend now
go.glam.ox.ac.uk/OxFOS26
Tomorrow is the by-election Westminster has been obsessing about. Ahead of the vote @benansell.bsky.social and @tom-clark.bsky.social join me on the @prospectmagazine.co.uk pod to talk Labour vs Greens vs Reform, populism and how politics is changing www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...
In OxFOS week, there is another chance to attend the Fundamentals of Open Access course. Now is the time to stop being baffled by Open, confused by embargoes and even the mention of golds and greens. Join the course and tame the jargon
go.glam.ox.ac.uk/Open
📅3rd March
⏰10-11.30am
📍Online
📣 1 Month to Go!
We’re just 30 days away from Social Sciences Impact Conference 2026. Join researchers, policymakers, impact professionals and changemakers to explore how social sciences can create positive change in uncertain times
📅 24–25 March
📍 @ox.ac.uk
👉 www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/impact-confe...
Quote from Jasmin Abdel Ghany: "Extreme heat is not only a major public health threat. Temperature fundamentally shapes human reproduction by influencing who is born and who is not born. Our findings show that temperature has measurable consequences for foetal survival and family planning behaviour, with implications for population composition and gender balance. Understanding these processes is essential for anticipating how the environment affects societies in a warming climate."
🌡️ New research published in @pnas.org finds that high temperatures may influence the sex ratio at birth.
Analysing 5+ million births, researchers show that exposure to temps above 20°C during pregnancy is linked to fewer boys being born 📊👶
🔗 www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/article/new-...
Congratulations to Nuffield College alumni John de Bhal and Sam Holcroft, and current Nuffield Fellow Elsa Kugelberg, on receiving Department of Politics and International Relations prizes for outstanding DPhil theses.
Read more: tinyurl.com/2d9ervh3
Image credit: Kinga Lubowiecka
Today we celebrate the winners of the Julia Mead Knox Prize, handed out in memory of a brilliant DPhil student at LCDS, whose passion for inclusive, justice-oriented demographic research continues to inspire us. 👉 demography.ox.ac.uk/news/winners-announced-julia-mead-knox-memorial-prize
