Speaking for over an hour without notes or slides, Professor Sarah Harper engaged, entertained and informed her audience with ideas, facts and detailed figures on the current population demographic trends in various regions of the world and how  each contribute to the way the global and various regional populations are likely to change this century.

The University of Oxford's first Professor of Gerontology said that thirty years ago there was widespread concern about the forecast “population bomb” which would result in the global human population reaching 24 billion. However, today two-thirds of nations are close to or below stable population replacement of about two children per couple and the maximum world population is likely to be around 10 billion. Yet different regions of the world are at different stages in the ‘demographic transition’, from high birth and death rates to dwindling childbearing and ever-lengthening lives. While Africa struggles to reduce fertility, the Middle East copes with the unemployment of its youth bulge, and Europe and the US are faced with ageing populations. She set these trends against the backdrop of urbanization, climate change, changing patterns of consumption (health and education) and production (work) across lifetimes.

Dean of the School of Economics Professor Bryce Hool, who introduced the speaker, also moderated a lively Question & Answer session after the main lecture. Among the questioners were an SMU faculty member, undergraduate, and international exchange student who asked about he role of technology in an ageing population, the relationship between technology on employment rates, the strengths of a multigenerational workforce, whether global resources are sufficient to support global population growth and why life expectancy is higher in Japan, France and the female population.

At the close of the lecture, Professor Hool presented Professor Harper with an SMU jacket embroidered with her name as a token of appreciation, before guests discussed the topics raised by the lecture during a buffet dinner.

Prof Bryce Hool (left) presented Prof Harper with a token of appreciation.

Professor Harper established Oxford's Institute of Population Ageing. She serves on the UK’s Council for Science and Technology which advises the Prime Minister on the scientific evidence for strategic policies and frameworks. She chairs the UK government Foresight Review on Ageing Societies, and the European Ageing Index Panel for the UNECE Population Unit. Her research was recognised by the 2011 Royal Society for Public Health: Arts and Health Research Award. She is an invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Art (FRSA). She is active in both Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. In 2008 she was awarded the University of Malaya Chair in Old Age, as a recognition of her unique contribution to research in Asian ageing studies. 

(Left to right) Vice Provost (Research) Prof Steven Miller, Vice Provost (Faculty Matters) Prof Phang Sock Yong, SMU President Prof Arnoud De Meyer, Prof Sarah Harper, SMU Provost Prof Lily Kong and Dean of the School of Economics Prof Bryce Hool.