In episode 1 of "Certain Futures", host Daniel Stern begins his journey into demography as a "future science". Being a person who is ageing, living on a continent that is ageing, he wants to know what that means for himself - and for Europe.
His first guest, Prof. Jakub Bijak (University of Southampton) explains the origins of demography. Next, Prof. Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz and Dr. Miguel Sánchez-Romero (TU Vienna) reveal that technically, Dan does not age 12 months every year - but 9.
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Italy is one of the fastest-ageing societies in Europe. In Episode 2 of "Certain Futures", Dan visits Milan, recording both hope and apprehension in the face of demographic change. He meets Valentina and Paolo, two "Milanese", whose outlooks on the future are very different from each other.
Dan's guests are leading researchers at Bocconi University in Milan. Prof. Arnstein Aassve explains how ageing societies face a challenge to uphold intergenerational fairness. Prof. Letizia Mencarini worries about the funding of databases that fuel a "future science" like demography. And Prof. Aleksandra Torbica, a health economist, fights misconceptions about ageing.
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Is Europe baby-friendly enough? For Episode 3 of "Certain Futures", Dan interviews demographer and sociologist Prof. Anna Rotkirch, a leading researcher and policy advisor on the topic. She believes that policy can think much bigger in order to help people have the number of children they want.
Both being parents, Dan and Anna talk about "Baby Fever", the power of playgrounds, parental policies in Berlin and Finland, and the economic and cultural forces that influence the decision to become a parent.
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The final episode of the "Certain Futures" begins outside an emergency room, where Dan is waiting for his son to get called in after a small injury. Reflecting on what he's learned throughout the podcast, he's inspired to reconsider the meaning of "resilience".
If resilience is all we need - then what do we need for a society to be resilient? Returning to conversations with demographers from previous episodes, Dan finds themes of hope for looking at today and into our future.
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