British Society for Population Studies Annual Conference 2004 and 2005

The BSPS is most grateful to the Galton Institute for their invaluable financial contribution to the costs of the BSPS Annual Conference over the past two years. A short report of both Conferences follows, but the full Conference reports, together with programmes and abstracts for both Conferences, and some of the papers and presentations in full, can be accessed at the BSPS website at www.bsps.org.uk

The plenary theme of the Conference was Ethnicity, refugees and group conflict, and the Conference was held at Stamford and Beaumont Halls, the University of Leicester from 13-15 September. The first invited plenary speaker was Professor David Coleman, who spoke on Migration in the 21^st century: A third demographic transition in prospect?, hypothesising that recent trends in international migration could be considered as a driver of a third demographic transition. The second invited plenary speaker, Dr. Mushtaq Khan, spoke on Demography and conflict in Israel/Palestine: Explaining the failure of the Oslo peace Process. He presented a compelling explanation for the failure of the Peace Process, centring on the demographic tensions within Israel. Mary Blanche and Chris Endersby from Kent County Council discussed Managing unexpected asylum flows and the concerns of the local population in the third plenary session. Kent receives a third of all asylum applications into the UK, and the responses of the County Council were explained, with the focus then moving to the integration of asylum seekers and the sharing of “best practice” between different local areas. The final plenary speaker, Dr. David Voas, asked Does religion matter?, specifically to social scientists. After discussing how religion might matter in areas such as personally, geopolitically, and to public policy, David turned to measuring religion or religiosity and compared the 2001 UK Census and the British Social Attitudes Survey.

A full programme of strand sessions, three or four running simultaneously, took up most of the Conference timetable, with sessions on Ageing; Families and Households; Fertility; Health and Ethnicity; Child Health and Nutrition in Resource Poor Places; Historical Demography; Local Government (Housing, the Census, and Population Estimates and Projections); Migration and Population Mobility (extended to include the plenary theme); Mortality; and Reproductive Health. A poster session was a feature of the first evening, and posters were displayed throughout the Conference.

The 2005 Conference was held at the University of Kent at Canterbury from 12-14 September, with a plenary theme of Intergenerational Relations. Plenary speakers were Professor Emily Grundy, who spoke on Intergenerational exchanges and family support of older people, Professor Ron Lee, from the University of California at Berkeley, on Intergenerational transfers: A broad view, and Alison O’Connell from the Pensions Policy Institute, who summarised the key pension issues facing the UK in Reforming UK pensions for today’s and tomorrow’s older people. Alison was due to discuss similar issues at the TUC Annual Conference later the same day!

An invited paper was presented to Conference by Sonia I. Catasús Cervera, president of the Cuban Society for Population Studies, and senior professor at CEDEM, Havana University. Sonia discussed the demographic evolution of the Cuban population in the twentieth century and the Cuban demographic transition.

Again, there was a packed timetable of strand sessions running throughout the Conference. Strand themes were Intergenerational Relations and Aging; Evolutionary Demography; Families and Households; Fertility; Health Inequalities; Historical Demography; Local Government, Subnational and Census Issues; Migration, Population Distribution and Ethnicity; Mortality; and Reproductive Health. Posters were again displayed throughout the Conference.

The 2006 BSPS Conference will be held at the University of Southampton, from 18-20 September, with a plenary theme of Global Migration Trends. Galton Institute members will find details posted on the website as available, and submissions of papers would be most welcome, as would interested delegates. The 2004 and 2005 Conference attracted over 150 participants to each Conference, and it is hoped to build on this enthusiasm in 2006.