John Hobcraft

I am a demographer with broad interests in the social, psychological, health and biological sciences. I have worked extensively on the demography of both developing and developed countries and on demographic methods. This research has encompassed substantial work on fertility and reproduction, infant and child mortality, and partnership behaviour and on the consequences of these for policy and population change.

I have a strong interest in sexual and reproductive health and rights and in the empowerment of women, having been a lead negotiator for the UK at the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo and at the five-year follow-up in New York in 1999.

I also spent around a decade researching intergenerational and life-course pathways to adult social exclusion using data from the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies. This research has drawn out the importance of considering a wide range of childhood and early adult antecedents of a wide range of adult disadvantages and has also paid particular attention to ‘gendered pathways’. More recently, I am exploring pathways to educational, cognitive and behavioural performance for children using the Millennium Cohort Study.

I have also been developing an intellectual agenda and research programme concerned with the interplays of 'alleles, brains, and contexts' in understanding human behaviour. This is concerned with the interplays of nature and nurture and has involved substantial investment in learning about genetics, brain science and psychology, in order to gain a better understanding of the interplays of genes, the brain/ mind, and intermediate pathways involved in demographic, health and socioeconomic outcomes and behaviours.

I play a very active role in shaping the design and analysis of prospective cohort and panel studies. This includes: Chair of the Consortium Board and Network of National Focal Points for the Generations and Gender Programme; Vice-Chair of the Governing Board for Understanding Society and member of its Data Access Committee; Chair of the Scientific Committee and membership of the Governing Board for the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) Birth Cohort Studies and member of the Governing Board for the new UK Birth Cohort Study. I have also become a leading proponent of the inclusion of biomarkers in prospective surveys.

Areas of expertise

• Pathways to adult social exclusion
• Life-course
• Gender and generations
• Human fertility and reproduction
• Partnership behaviour
• Population policies
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights
• Understanding individual behaviour
• Biomarkers and behaviour
• Prospective cohort and panel studies