Workshop A Unified Perspective on Formation and Dissolution Processes in Demography

The ERC project Born Once – Die Once invites contributions to a workshop investigating regularities in birth and death patterns – broadly defined – that is, not just birth and death as in “fertility and mortality of people”, but also as in “formation and dissolution of couples, families, and households”. We are seeking to develop a shared formal demographic framework and to discover shared empirical macro-level regularities.

Emerging results are promising, which will be presented at the workshop.

The workshop will feature keynote presentations by distinguished scholars in fertility, mortality, couple, family, and household demography, followed by contributed paper sessions and roundtable discussions.

We warmly welcome you to join and present at our workshop. Presentations can bring diverse perspectives to formation and dissolution processes, including empirical studies, methodological innovations, and theoretical insights. Contributions focusing on identifying and analyzing macro level patterns, rather than causal mechanisms, are particularly encouraged. We also invite contributions on birth and death processes from diverse disciplinary perspectives.

The workshop strives to open new perspectives on birth/formation and death/dissolution as mirrored processes that may complement and inspire existing research on fertility, couple, family, and household dynamics. We anticipate a substantive exchange that enables diverse future collaborations.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should include a structured abstract (up to 300 words) addressing:

• Background
• Objectives
• Data
• Methodology
• Results (actual or expected)

Full research papers are also welcome.

How to Submit

If you are interested in contributing, please send your abstract to b1d1@sdu.dk by 19th December 2025.

Please include:

• Provisional title
• Full name(s) of author(s)
• Affiliations (full name of organization and department)
• E-mail address

Notification: Applicants will be notified by 15 January 2026 whether their paper has been accepted.

Participation fees: There are no participation fees, but participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.

Place and Date

The workshop is scheduled for 9-11 March 2026 at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense (www.sdu.dk).

Contact

For any questions or additional information, please contact us at b1d1@sdu.dk.

We are looking forward to your contributions and to welcoming you in Odense for an enriching and collaborative workshop.

Consider signing up to our B1D1 mailing list to be reminded about deadlines for the workshop and to stay updated on future events, job postings and results of the Born once – Die Once project.

Workshop Organizers

Annette Baudisch, Paola Vázquez-Castillo, and Silvio C. Patricio