Livia OlahSenior Lecturer, Docent

About me

Livia Sz. Oláh is Associate Professor of Demography at the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, with expertise also in law and political science, comparative welfare state research and gender studies. She is also affiliated to The School of Social Sciences at Södertörn University, Sweden where her most recent project "Vulnerability and partnership dynamics in the Baltic Sea region: Similarities and differences within and between Eastern European and Nordic countries", supported by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies is placed. As Project coordinator of FamiliesAndSocieties (“Changing Families and Sustainable Societies: Policy contexts and diversity over the life course and across generations” www.familiesandsocieties.eu) in the EU 7th Framework Programme (Febr. 2013 – Jan. 2017), and Principal Investigator of the Swedish part of the international comparative project “Explaining very low fertility in postindustrial societies” (http://lowfertility.sociology.su.se) financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Olah has accumulated extensive experiences of leading and participating in international research collaborations. She  participated in the Network of Excellence RECWOWE (Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe; 2006-2011), served as academic observer for Sweden in the European Alliance for Families (2009-2012), a member of the editorial board of several international scientific journals (Cogent Social Sciences, Frontiers in Sociology, International Journal of Population Studies, Socio.hu Social Science Review, The Open Demography Journal), as well as of reference groups for Swedish government reports on family issues. She served as grant evaluator for the European Research Council (remote referee), the Swiss National Science Foundation, and The Leverhulme Trust, UK, and was invited expert at EC round table meetings and a UN expert group meeting.
Oláh's main research interests are: family demography in comparative perspective, policy impacts on fertility and partnership dissolution, and the interplay of family patterns and societal and familial gender relations. She has published in high-quality international journals, in addition to chapters in a number of edited volumes. She has provided numerous keynote addresses at international conferences in Europe and Japan, and was interviewed in various national and international media (print and broadcast) across the world.