Professor Melinda Mills
Melinda Mills
Director, Demographic Science Unit
- Professor of Demography and Population Health
- Professorial Fellow, Nuffield College
- Director, Demographic Science Unit
- Director, Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science
Melinda Mills is a Professor of Demography and Population Health, based in the Demographic Science Unit and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College.
Mills’ research focus is on demography, biodemography and biosocial health, fertility and reproduction, applied statistics, complex trait genomics, geospatial inequalities and public health policy. She has examined the genetics of reproductive and complex trait behaviour and is Founder of Data4Science and GWAS Diversity Monitor. Recent work focuses on providing a data-driven evidence base for public health interventions, including demographics, social-networks, geospatial factors, life-expectancy losses, mandatory vaccine certificates and vaccine hesitancy.
She is a Special Advisor to the European Commissioner of the Economy, PI of the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science (2019-2029), ERC Advanced Grant CHRONO, and CO-I on various grants including MapIneq (geospatial inequalities and the life course), European Social Science Genetics Network, ESRC/UKRI Connecting Generations Centre. Mills sits on a number of international and national data and research-related committees (e.g., Our Future Health (UK), Health and Retirement Survey (US), LifeLines and ODISSEI (Netherlands), Centre for Longitudinal Studies Cohorts (UK)).
She is an elected Fellow of the British Academy, received an MBE, Trailblazer Award, ORB Excellence in Impact Award and Clifford C. Clogg Award for Mid-Career Achievement. Mills also holds a part-time position as Professor of Data Science and Public Health Policy, University of Groningen and Department of Genetics, University Medical Centre Groningen.
Recent publications
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Nowcasting Daily Population Displacement in Ukraine through Social Media Advertising Data
Journal article
Leasure DR. et al, (2023), Population and Development Review, 49, 231 - 254
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Gene-x-environment analysis supports protective effects of eveningness chronotype on self-reported and actigraphy-derived sleep duration among those who always work night shifts in the UK Biobank.
Journal article
Akimova ET. et al, (2023), Sleep, 46
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Genome-wide analysis identifies genetic effects on reproductive success and ongoing natural selection at the FADS locus.
Journal article
Mathieson I. et al, (2023), Nat Hum Behav, 7, 790 - 801
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Prepayment meters strongly associated with economic and health deprivation: an observational, cross-sectional study
Preprint
Ding X. et al, (2022)
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Sociogenomics: theoretical and empirical challenges of integrating molecular genetics into sociological thinking
Journal article
MILLS M., (2022), Handbook of Sociological Science: Contributions to Rigorous Sociology