EAPS European Association for Population Studies

As a tribute to one of the founding fathers of EAPS, the Council awards a prize for the best paper by a young scholar at each European Population Conference.

Nominating qualifications

Full single or duo authored papers by scholars who are (both) under 35 years of age at the time of the conference may be nominated for the award. To qualify for this award the full paper must be submitted to EAPS one month before the start of the conference, with a request to be nominated and the curriculum vitae of the author.

Nominated papers are judged by a Jury, consisting of Honorary Presidents of EAPS, on the basis of the following criteria:

• choice of topic and originality
• theoretical foundation underlying, or theoretical notions used in the paper
• technical competence as displayed in the analysis and presentation of the data
• use of existing professional literature
• Structure of the paper and quality of its text.
The award consists of a certificate and a cash prize of € 400– The Gunther Beyer award is presented during the award ceremony at the closing session of the European Population Conference. The full paper, CV of the author and the request for nomination should be sent to the Executive Secretary of EAPS, Nico van Nimwegen, e-mail: nimwegen@nidi.nl

Note: The paper should be part of the program and be accepted for (oral or poster) presentation at the EPC.

Laureates Gunther Beyer Award


2012 - Stefan Öberg (Sweden) The University of Gothenburg, “Socioeconomic differences in height among young men in southern Sweden, 1818-1968”, awarded at the European Population Conference 2012.
2010 - Elizabeth Wrigley-Field and Felix Elwert (Madison, USA) University of Wisconsin, "Can multi-stage mortality selection explain a mortality deceleration puzzle?", awarded at the European Population Conference 2010.
2008 - Pia S. Schober (United Kingdom); University of Cambridge, "Relationship quality with pre-school children: how paid and domestic work matter to her, him and them", awarded at the European Population Conference 2008.
2006 - Krzysztof Tymicki (Poland); Warsaw School of Economics, "The correlates of Infant and Childhood Mortality”, awarded at the European Population Conference 2006.
2003 - Marc Anton Luy (Germany) Federal Institute for Population Studies (BiB), "Nature or behaviour? An answer to the question of male excess mortality by a comparison of monastic and general population".
2003 Lucia Coppola (Italy) National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT), "Reciprocal causality and endogeneity between exit from the educational system and union formation in Italy and Spain", both awarded at the European Population Conference 2003.
2001 - Marika Jalovaara, (Finland) “Socio-economic status and divorce in first marriages in Finland, 1991–93”, awarded at the European Population Conference 2001.
1999 - Melinda Mills (Netherlands), “The link between Anthony Giddens social theory and family formation research”, awarded at the European Population Conference 1999.
1997 - Pia Mäkelä (Finland) “Contribution of alcohol-related deaths to mortality in Finland".
1997 - Andres Vikat (Estonia), “Pre-Union childres as a determinant of futher childbearing insecond and higher order unions in contemporary Sweden”, both awarded at the EAPS Conference 1997.