CEPAR Chief Investigator Honorary Professor Peter McDonald AM has been honoured with the 2022 IUSSP Laureate Award by the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP).
The IUSSP Laureate Award honours exceptional achievements in the population field. Professor Peter McDonald receives the Laureate Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of population science, notably his contributions to demographic theory, research and training as well as his service to governments in relating demographic research to policy and planning issues.
There will be an award ceremony on 30 June. The ceremony will be chaired by IUSSP President Shireen Jejeebhoy and will include a number of speakers who will address various aspects of his career, including CEPAR researchers Dr Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi and Associate Professor Jeromey Temple. To join the ceremony, please register here.
Peter McDonald is a CEPAR Chief Investigator, Honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne, and Emeritus Professor of Demography at the Australian National University.
By being awarded the 2022 IUSSP Laureate Award, Professor McDonald has received both the major international awards in the field of demography.
In 2015, Peter McDonald has been awarded the Irene B. Taeuber Award of the Population Association of America which is given in recognition of an unusually original or important contribution to the scientific study of population or an accumulated record of exceptionally sound and innovative research. He is only the fourth non-American to receive this award.
The Taeuber Award and the IUSSP Laureate are the two most prestigious international awards in the field of demography. Additionally, Professor McDonald was IUSSP President from 2010 to 2013. No other demographer has received all three of these honours.
Professor McDonald was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2008, for his service in the fields of demography and social research, particulrly relating to population dynamics and future studies, through the exploration of related policy options and through education.
In 2018, he was the coordinating author of the United Nations State of World Population Report 2018. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Professor McDonald is frequently consulted on the issue of population futures, its causes, consequences and policies, by governments around the world, especially in Australia, Europe and East Asia.
His theoretical and policy-oriented research on low fertility - the gender equity theory of fertility - is widely cited and has informed government policymaking in several countries.