CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS DEMOGRAFICOS

Their core work

The Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) is a Barcelona-based research centre specializing in population dynamics, social inequality, and health demography. They investigate how demographic forces — life expectancy gaps, family formation patterns, and social mobility — shape inequality across European societies. Their work combines longitudinal data analysis with cross-country comparisons to understand who lives longer, who gets ahead, and why. They are part of the CERCA research institution system of Catalonia, affiliated with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CED's early H2020 work (2015-2019) focused on broad demographic inequality and family formation under economic stress — macro-level population questions with a socioeconomic lens. From 2020 onward, their focus sharpened considerably toward health demography (lifespan inequality, health expectancy) and previously understudied populations (sexual minorities). This represents a clear shift from general demographic analysis toward more targeted, identity-aware inequality research with direct public health relevance.

CED is moving toward health-equity research with an intersectional lens — expect future work combining demography with public health outcomes for underserved groups.

How they like to work

CED overwhelmingly leads its own projects — 4 out of 5 H2020 grants were coordinated by them, primarily through prestigious ERC grants (2 Starting, 1 Consolidator). This reflects strong principal-investigator-driven research rather than consortium-dependent work. With 19 unique partners across 13 countries, they maintain a broad but loosely connected European network, typical of ERC-funded centres where collaboration follows individual researcher links rather than institutional partnerships.

CED has collaborated with 19 distinct partners across 13 countries, reflecting a wide European reach driven by their multiple ERC grants and one Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship. Their single consortium-style project (InGRID-2) connected them to the broader European inclusive-growth research infrastructure community.

What sets them apart

CED stands out as one of very few European demographic research centres that has secured multiple ERC grants — a strong signal of individual research excellence in population studies. Their combination of quantitative demography with inequality and minority-group analysis positions them at a distinctive intersection that few centres occupy. For consortium builders, CED brings deep expertise in longitudinal population data, cross-country comparative methods, and credibility with ERC review panels.

Highlights from their portfolio

• HEALIN
  Largest single grant (EUR 1.45M ERC Consolidator), directly tackling one of Europe's most policy-relevant questions: why healthy lifespan gaps are widening.
• MINEQ
  Rare ERC-funded study on inequality of opportunity for sexual minorities — an underresearched demographic topic with growing policy demand.
• EQUALIZE
  Their first major ERC Starting Grant (EUR 1.17M), establishing CED's reputation in spatial welfare inequality analysis.