Research Projects

1. Einstein Center Population Diversity (ECPD)

My research position is funded by the Einstein Center Population Diversity (ECPD). The ECPD is an interdisciplinary research center based in Berlin, studying the consequences of population diversity (with a focus on family diversity) on social inequality and health disparities. The ECPD pursues the following overarching aims:

1. To assess the implications of growing population and family diversity for social and health inequalities and to identify promising targets and approaches for intervention
2. To advance our understanding of social and health inequalities through the integration of biomedical and social science (biosocial approaches)

The ECPD firmly establishes social demography in Berlin and Germany, promoting a broader conceptual understanding of how health research (e.g., aging, disability, mobility, and mortality) as well as biological or epigenetic perspectives can enrich social science and vice versa. By linking the two strands of research, the ECPD overcomes disciplinary fragmentation and moves toward a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of how social and health inequalities are shaped through ongoing (mega)trends and their interaction with the family sphere.

Funding agency: Einstein Foundation Berlin

Funding period: 2024-2029

Cooperation partners:

• Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
• Freie Universität zu Berlin
• Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Population Europe
• German Socio-Economic Panel at the DIW Berlin
• Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW)
• WZB Berlin Social Science Center
• Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at University of Oxford

2. Unravelling the biosocial hallmarks of ageing: Bridging social and biomedical research by examining ageing-related biomarkers through an intersectional lens

The use of biomarkers allows the assessment of biological risk, which is of interest to investigate physiological pathways through which sociodemographic variables can affect healthy ageing. However, most quantitative studies have not taken an intersectional perspective on social determinants of healthy ageing and related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Instead, they rather focused on the sole impact and interactions of certain demographic or socioeconomic characteristics. Within the present study, we aim to bridge social and biomedical research by applying quantitative intersectionality. This innovative technique will enable us to explore intersectional disparities in risk biomarkers for CVD, T2DM and CKD in German older adults.

We exploit secondary data from the NAKO National Cohort in Germany, with rich biomarker and sociodemographic data of more than 200,000 randomly selected citizens aged 20-69 across all Germany.

Cooperation partners: Universitätsmedizin Rostock