Demographic challenges for the 21st century: A State of the Art in Demography. Liber Amicorum Ron Lesthaege

In February 2007, a conference entitled Demographic Challenges for the 21st Century: A state of the Art in Demography was organised at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in honour of Ron Lesthaeghe, who had recently retired from this institution as a professor in demography and social science research methodology. During the 35 years Ron Lesthaeghe worked at the university, he established himself as a passionate researcher in many fields, as a gifted teacher who enthused several generations of students, and as a scholar publishing highly influential work which has changed the face of demography. This book offers a collection of contributions, presented by friends and colleagues on the occasion of that conference. Therefore it is not a Liber Amicorum that concentrates on personal impressions. Instead, it is inspired by Ron Lesthaeghe s work and covers many of the fields he was engaged in, together with the research group Interface Demography which he founded in the late 1980s. In addition, a tribute from Frans Willekens opens this volume with a brief precis of his academic biography and the significance of his contribution to demography.