Melinda Mills
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Melinda Mills, (born 1969) is a Canadian and Dutch demographer and sociologist. She is currently the Nuffield Professor of
Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
at
Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...
,
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
.Prof Melinda Mills.
Nuffield College. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
Mills’ research spans a range of interdisciplinary topics at the intersection of demography, sociology, molecular genetics and statistics. Her substantive research specializes in fertility and human reproductive behaviour, assortative mating, labour market, life course and inequality. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the
European Sociological Review ''European Sociological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press focusing on all sociology fields. It is the official journal of the European Consortium for Sociological Research. The editor-in-c ...
(2012-2016), journal of th
European Consortium for Sociological Research
where she was also an elected Board Member (2007-2014) and was previously Editor of
International Sociology ''International Sociology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of sociology. The editor-in-chief is Marta Soler Gallart (Universitat de Barcelona). It was established in 1986 and is published by SAGE Publications on behalf of th ...
(2003-2010), journal of the
International Sociological Association The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociolo ...
. In 2009 she was elected to the
European Academy of Sociology The European Academy of Sociology (EAS) is a fellowship of scholars with expertise in different areas of sociology. It wants to promote particular standards in sociology. EAS was founded in 2000 and Raymond Boudon was its first President. Subsequen ...
and in 2018 awarded Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to the social sciences. She is a nominated member o
AcademiaNet
for outstanding female academics and scientists (Nature Publication Group) and since 2013 is a member of the Council of Advisors fo
Population Europe
In 2017, she received the Ministerial appointment to the Executive Council of the Economic and Social Research Council, UK and was re-appointed in 2018 to the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council). In 2018 she received the Ministerial appointment to serve on th
non-Executive Supervisory Board (Raad van Toezicht)
fo
NWO, the Dutch Science Organization


Early life and education

Mills was born in
Red Deer, Alberta Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education. ...
in Canada and attended River Glen Elementary and Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School. She studied sociology and demography at the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
, where she obtained an undergraduate BA and an MA. She received her PhD in Demography from the
University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...
in the Netherlands. Mills has subsequently taken various PhD and related courses in molecular genetics and bioinformatics. She became dual Dutch citizen in the 2000s.


Career

Before her time at Oxford, Mills worked at the
University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...
and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Bielefeld Universität in Germany. Mills was the Head of the Department of Sociology at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
from 2015-2018. Mills has an interdisciplinary career spanning topic areas ranging from globalization to genes. She is known for her early work that examined the impact of globalization and uncertainty on the life course in a cross-national comparative perspective. This includes the 2005 boo
Globalization, Uncertainty and Youth in Society
where she co-developed a theory of how employment, economic and temporal uncertainty impact early life course decisions and Globalization, Uncertainty and Men's Careers: An International Comparison (2006). She has also published various statistics textbooks using the computer program R to introduce survival and event history techniques
2011, Sage
and has a forthcoming book on applied quantitative statistical genetics and the use of polygenic scores for beginners (2019, MIT Press). She is known for her interdisciplinary work on human reproduction and fertility, including the examination of why people postpone parenthood, a review of fertility research in advanced societies, the biodemography of fertility and the impact of educational field and occupations and gender equity on fertility. This work related to two large mid-career research grants first from the Dutch Science Council and later an ERC (
European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...
) Consolidator Gran
SOCIOGENOME
focussing on the sociological and molecular genetic underpinnings of human reproductive behaviour and gene x environment interaction. She was the first sociologist and demographer to lead a large genome-wide association consortium uncovering genetic loci related to human reproductive behaviour - age at first birth and number of children - published in 2016 in
Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studi ...
. She is currently finalizing an extension of this original study. A related research interest is assortative mating using both standard survey data but also data from large internet dating companies examining differential investments in relationships, dating, and more recently cross-national research into preferences in online internet dating (ethnicity, sexuality, and divorcees). Mills’ work has also examined nonstandard schedules and chronotypes, examining the impact of nonstandard (evening, night work, shift work) on partnerships, interactions with children, and childbearing.


Honours

In 2009 she was elected to the European Academy of Sociology. She is a nominated member o
AcademiaNet
for outstanding female academics and Scientists (Nature Publication Group) and since 2013 is a member of the Council of Advisors fo
Population Europe
Since 2014, Mills is a Governing Body Member of
Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...
Oxford. In 2017, she received the Ministerial appointment to the Executive Council of the Economic and Social Research Council, UK and was re-appointed in 2018 to the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council). In 2018 she received the Ministerial appointment to serve on th
non-Executive Supervisory Board (Raad van Toezicht)
fo
NWO, the Dutch Science Organization
Mills was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to the social sciences. In July 2018 she was elected Fellow of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
(FBA).


Selected publications

2017 *Tropf, F.C. et al. M.C. Mills. (2017). ‘Hidden heritability due to heterogeneity across seven populations,’ ''Nature Human Behaviour'', 1: 757-765. To access this publication: rdcu.be/vM1N *Verweij, R.M., M.C. Mills et al. (2017). ‘Sexual dimorphism in the genetic influence on human childlessness,’ ''European Journal of Human Genetics'', 25: 1067-74.
PEN ACCESS A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whi ...
*Mills, M.C., N. Barban & F.C. Tropf. (forthcoming). ‘The Sociogenomics of Polygenic Scores of Reproductive Behavior and Their Relationship to Other Fertility Traits,’ ''RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences'' 4(4), doi: 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.4.07. *Präg, P. & M.C. Mills. (2017). ‘Cultural determinants influence assisted reproduction usage in Europe more than economic and demographic factors’, ''Human Reproduction'', 32(11): 2305-2314.
PEN ACCESS A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whi ...
*Barbuscia, A. & M. C. Mills. (2017). ‘Cognitive development in children up to age 11 years born after ART – a longitudinal cohort study,’ ''Human Reproduction''. 32(7): 1482-88.
PEN ACCESS A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whi ...
*Präg, P. & M. C. Mills (2017). “Assisted Reproductive Technology in Europe: Usage and Regulation in the Context of Cross-Border Reproductive Care,” pp. 289–309, in: C''hildlessness in Europe: Contexts, Causes and Consequences''. Springer.
PEN ACCESS A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity whi ...
*Briley, D., F.C. Tropf, M.C.Mills (2017). “What explains the heritability of completed fertility? Evidence from Two large Twin Studies,” ''Behaviour Genetics'', 47(1): 36-51. *Potârcă, G., M. Mills & M. van Duijn. (2017). The Choices and Constraints of Secondary Singles. Willingness to Stepparent among Divorced Online Daters across Europe, ''Journal of Family Issues,'' 38(10): 1443-1470. *Präg, P, R. Wittek, M.C.Mills (2017). “The educational gradient in self-rated health in Europe: Does the doctor-patient relationship make a difference?” ''Acta Sociologica'', 60(4): 325-341. 2016 *Barban, N.......M.C. Mills (2016). Genome-wide analysis identifies 12 loci influencing human reproductive behavior, ''Nature Genetics'', 48: 1462-1472, doi: 10.1038/ng.3698 *Courtiol, A., F.C. Tropf & M.C.Mills (2016) When genes and environment disagree: making sense of trends in recent human evolution, ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS'', 113(26): 7693-7695, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1608532113 *Okbay, A. et al. (2016) Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses. ''Nature Genetics''. 48: 624-633, doi:10.1038/ng.3552 *Mehta, D.,.....M.C. Mills, N.R Way, S.Hong Lee. (2016). Evidence for genetic overlap between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women. ''JAMA Psychiatry'', 73(3):193-194. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2964. *Stulp, G., R. Sear, M.Mills, L. Barrett. (2016). The reproductive ecology of industrial societies: the association between wealth and fertility, ''Human Nature: An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective,'' 27: 445-470, doi: doi:10.1007/s12110-016-9272-9 *Täht, K. & M. Mills. (2016). ''Out of Time. The consequences of nonstandard employment schedules for family cohesion''. New York: Springer. CLICK HERE for a description of this book. *Mills, M.C. & P. Präg. (2016). Methodological Advances in Cross-National Research: Multilevel Challenges and Solutions, ''European Sociological Review'', 32(1): 1-2. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcw009 *Präg, P., M. Mills & R.P.M. Wittek. (2016). Subjective Socioeconomic Status and Health in Cross-National Comparison, ''Social Science & Medicine'', 149: 84-92. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.044. 2015 *Visser, M., L. Heyse, M.Mills & R.P.M. Wittek (2016) Enabling work life balance in an unbalanced environment: Job autonomy and trust in management among humanitarian aid expatriates. ''Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 45(6): 1191-1213.'' DOI: 10.1177/0899764016634890 *Potârcă, G & M. Mills. (2015). Racial preferences in online dating across European countries, ''
European Sociological Review ''European Sociological Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Oxford University Press focusing on all sociology fields. It is the official journal of the European Consortium for Sociological Research. The editor-in-c ...
'', doi: 10.1093/es/jcu093. *Sweeney, M., Castro, T. & M. Mills. (2015). The reproductive context of cohabitation in a comparative perspective, ''Demographic Research'', 32(5): 147-182.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Melinda 1969 births Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Living people British sociologists People from Red Deer, Alberta British women sociologists Canadian women sociologists Canadian Members of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the British Academy Academic journal editors