Institute for Social and Economic Research appoints new director

Professor Emily Grundy will become Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex from October this year.

Professor Grundy, currently Professor of Demography at the London School of Economics (LSE), will join ISER as Director and Professor of Population Science, in succession to Professor Nick Buck.

Before her appointment at LSE, Professor Grundy was Professor of Demography at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where she is now an Honorary Professor. She previously led a National Centre for Research Methods, node, based at LSHTM and has collaborative links with a range of universities in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Her research is focussed largely on the social support and intergenerational relationships of older people and on trends and differentials in later life health, disability and mortality. She has a particular interest in associations between family trajectories and health and disability at older ages.

Professor Grundy is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences and has various national and international roles, including serving as Council Member for Europe for the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population and Chair of the UK Population Investigation Committee.

Professor Grundy said: “I am really excited to be joining ISER and the University of Essex. ISER has been at the forefront of both leading data collection and data analysis and interpretation for many years and has served as a model for many international institutes. The synergies with other activities at the University of Essex, and the support ISER has received from the University, have contributed greatly to its success. I look forward to working with colleagues in ISER and the rest of the University to help maintain and develop further the role and reach of ISER as a world leading institute.”

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research at Essex Professor Heather Laurie MBE welcomed Professor Grundy’s appointment: ‘We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Emily Grundy as the next Director of ISER and Professor of Population Science.

“ISER is a flagship social research institute that is responsible for the management of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Panel Survey as well as being home to the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-Social Change and Euromod, our ground-breaking EU micro-simulation project.

“Emily brings with her a wealth of experience in the field of demography adding another dimension to the world-class research carried out within ISER. Under Emily’s leadership we expect ISER to continue to grow in stature and reputation and to produce the next generation of high quality evidence-based research to inform current policy challenges and our understanding of the complex world in which we live.”