I am an Associate Professor at Hacettepe University Institute of Population Studies (HUIPS), Department of Demography in Ankara. I received a Transnational Access Visit (TAV) Award for two weeks at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) for 2-6 December 2024 and 10-14 February 2025. My research project was on mortality, disability/limitation, and health outcomes of children and how these outcomes differed concerning the migration status of the children in selected European countries using Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) data. My research interests lie within a wide range of topics, from the fertility of migrant and minority populations to early life mortality and morbidity and migration. This research visit of two weeks helped me focus solely on my research on mortality and health outcomes of second-generation migrant children compared to non-migrant children in Northern and Western/Central European countries. In addition to that, I had a chance to meet almost all the researchers at NIDI and work in that friendly environment. My main contact was Aisling Connolly from the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) Team. My workplace was located in this friendly office on the roof floor of the building.
My first visit in December involved the Sinterklaas Day in the Netherlands and preparation for the holidays. I had a chance to visit the Christmas market close to the institute.
It was quiet in the city, and my visit was filled with coding and preparing syntaxes for my research. I also enjoyed coffee-accompanied research talks with Prof. Leo van Wissen, Dr. Becky Arnold, and Dr. Daniël van Wijk on our other ongoing projects. I also enjoyed group lunches with colleagues.
My second visit involved another special event: the 17th Dutch Demography Day, which took place in the Academy Building of Utrecht University on the 12th of February, organized by de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Demografie (the Netherlands Demographic Society, NVD). I learned that normally, the event had taken place in November in previous years, but this year it was in February! After the welcome note by Ruben van Gaalen, president of the NVD, the keynote speech was given by Prof. Wolfgang Lutz. Lutz’s speech with the title “Three demographic theories with predictive power: Demographic metabolism, demographic transition, and demographic dividend” was an enlightening talk. It once more emphasized that demography is at the core of social sciences. I attended the sessions on "fertility," “international migration,” and “life course transitions.”
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