Media and engagement

Selected interviews, podcasts and comment on falling birth rates, families and evolutionary medicine.

In the media

October 2026
Camilla Cavendish, Penguin
Generation Maybe
Book to which my research contributes
September 2026
INVEST, University of Turku
Visiting Researcher Dr Paula Sheppard explores reproductive decision-making in Finland
News item
27 May 2026
BBC News
'It's not a nice world to bring children into': Births fall to the lowest level in 50 years
Expert comment
2026
New Scientist
The real reasons birth rates are declining worldwide
Interview, by Penny Sarchet
18 November 2025
Artefact magazine
The motherhood recession
Feature, by Keelin Roe
23 October 2025
British Vogue
Fertility rates in the UK have reached an all-time low. The reasons aren't as simple as you think
Feature, by Gillian Orr
29 August 2025
France 24, The 51%
Should we panic about plummeting birthrates?
Television interview, by Annette Young
December 2024
School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, Oxford
Lack of partner support is the most important reason for delaying having children in the UK
Research news
10 December 2024
University of Oxford
Expert comment: Why are people in the UK leaving it so late to have children?
Expert comment
2024
Oxford Sparks Big Questions Podcast
Why are birth rates falling in the UK?
Podcast

Seminar series

Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health seminar series

Recordings of talks from the Oxford Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health seminar series are on YouTube.

Policy and talks

My work has been featured in POST reports and parliamentary discussion, and appears in Hansard. I have also given evidence to policy audiences in the UK.

Invited talks include UCL, the University of Bristol, the University of Turku and Oxford Sociology. I have presented at EHBEA, the Population Association of America, the IUSSP, the European Consortium for Sociological Research, the Human Behavior and Evolution Society and the British Society for Population Studies. In 2023 I co-organised a workshop at Boise State University on 25 years of research on low fertility.