Micol Matilde Morellini

Social scientist @sociology_uzh | DPhil @NuffieldCollege @SociologyOxford @OxfordDemSci @IMPRS_PHDS | she/her

[Micol Matilde Morellini @micolmorellini]

Excited to see my paper on spatial accuracy and statistical significance out in the European Journal of Population! Pre-proof accepted manuscript available here: https://t.co/fcPTNjTdQy

[Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science @OxfordDemSci]

🎓📝

How well do migration theories actually capture the spatial patterns of migration flows 🌐🔄 we observe?

In a new publication @micolmorellini introduces a simulation-based method to put migration theories to the test.

read more 👇

🔗 https://t.co/hPwHnWcRmF

[Claire Fox @Fox_Claire]

Never mind Jason Arday, there's a lot of it about. This guy fraudulently secured 13 NHS jobs - some with salaries of more than £78,000-a-year, by lying about his qualifications & experience, using fake certificates and fictitious references. He fabricated degrees from Oxford, Harvard & Birkbeck. Jailed for 4 years for claiming £170k on sick leave for a "litany of illnesses, including post Covid-19 syndrome, tiredness, anxiety, depression, low mood..."

[Mark Thakkar @brunellus]

As a fraudulent professor resigns without admitting a single mistake, a newly-minted PhD shows what it *really* looks like to care about the pursuit of truth, at a level of personal risk that doesn’t bear thinking about given the state of the job market 👏 https://t.co/7jUfdXTzE7

[Sociology at Oxford @SociologyOxford]

✍️🌎✈️ A new study shows global migration research is heavily skewed: some countries get disproportionate attention while many others are overlooked.

Using 125k publications, researchers reveal persistent gaps, especially in lower-income regions.

🔗 https://t.co/un9PswK2cj

[Florian Scheuer @Florian_Scheuer]

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ_uzh at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

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[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

An illegally abducted Jew is languishing in a desert prison. While only one of several abductees held illegally, this man is especially targeted by his captors for being a Jew. Though a US citizen, no US Senator, Congresswoman or man, has lifted their little finger, or even said a word, to secure his safe release.

His name is David Adler, a colleague, dear friend, a member of our extended family. The notorious prison he is languishing in is called Ketziot and is in the Negev desert. His captors are the state of Israel whose operatives abducted David in international waters, along with hundreds of others – an act of (legally indisputable) piracy against the crews of the Global Sumud Flotilla who had set course for a land – the so-called Gaza Strip – that the International Court of Justice, on 19thJune 2024, had declared an illegally occupied territory that Israel had to vacate forthwith. Instead, during the past year, Israel reinforced its siege of Gaza and continued its calculated genocide of its people.

Israeli propaganda (always an essential tool for those seeking to whitewash their war crimes) put forward three gigantic lies by which to justify its piracy on the high seas: First, that David Adler and his comrades were recklessly entering a war zone and violating a security zone. Second, that if they were truly interested in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, they should have given it to Israel’s authorities who would then deliver it to the people of Gaza. Third, that the crews of the flotilla were funded and directed by Hamas.

That these are gigantic lies is ever so easy to demonstrate.

First, David Adler and his comrades were not entering a war zone but a genocide zone. It was Israel that violated international law by declaring a security zone around Gaza to safeguard their genocide inside Gaza, not the crews of the flotilla whose only weapons were baby formula and some grain.

Second, the people of Gaza are starving to death (when not being bombed to smithereens) because Israel, as several of its ministers have proclaimed, has meticulously connived to prevent food, water and medicine to enter Gaza. In this sense, the notion that the flotilla crews should have handed their aid over to Israel (to add to the existing huge stocks they are actively preventing from reaching Gaza) is laughable.

Third, calling David Adler and his colleagues Hamas-enablers or, even worse, instruments of Hamas smacks of the Israeli government’s desperation in seeking to plaster the Hamas logo on the forehead of anyone whom they want to kill, abduct or vilify.
You may ask: Why am I focusing on David Adler in this post? The reason becomes obvious in a post David uploaded before his much anticipated abduction:

“I almost never write ‘as a Jew’. I share the exhaustion of being forced to put Jewish feelings first… But today I felt compelled to write in that register — as one of the only Jews on this mission… If there’s any part of the Torah that I still remember, it is this obligation it bestows upon us: "Justice, justice you shall pursue."… How could we stand by while the State of Israel perverts this holy obligation, overseeing a holocaust of the Palestinian people? I joined this flotilla just like any other delegate — to defend humanity, before it is too late. But on Yom Kippur, I am reminded that I am also here because my Jewish heritage demands it.

As a mere adolescent, my grandfather Jacques Adler (pictured) joined the Parisian resistance against the Nazis, putting his life on the line to sabotage their operations even as his friends and family were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. That is the tradition to which I am called, and the definition of “justice” that feels true to my Jewish identity — as the same genocidal rage that targeted my ancestors is now taken up by its principal victims… If Israeli forces intercept us on Yom Kippur, then let them see what true atonement looks like. Not fasting in comfort while starving their neighbors. Not praying in safety while dropping bombs over their heads. Atonement means action. So as the sun sets tonight, and the fasting begins, I hope that fellow Jews will join me in redefining their approach to atonement — together with silent prayer, and toward courageous action to put an end to this horrific genocide. G'mar chatima tova.”

So, THIS is why I am focusing my post on my friend David Adler, without of course neglecting or discounting the sacrifices of our other comrades in Israeli captivity: Because David is the only Jew in the clasps of Israeli war criminals who believe they are perpetrating a genocide on behalf of the Jewish people.

Genocidal maniacs, like Israeli Security Minister Itavar Ben-Gvir, hate an upstanding Jewish man like David Adler more than they hate even Hamas. For it is David Adler’s brave stance that exposes the lie that the Global Sumud Flotilla was an antisemitic fleet of deluded Westerners. For he is a living, breathing reminder (just as his Nazi-resisting grandfather was decades ago) of the error, the criminality, of the ways of those who place a whole people on death row – a splendid example of the Jewish people’s longstanding opposition to orchestrated misanthropy, to pogroms, to genocide.

And this is my reason for fearing for David Adler’s life and limb more than for any of his abducted comrades: because his genocidal abductors feel ever so tiny, ever so small, in the presence of this Jewish man.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

I just spoke with Laura Adler, David's sister. They have not had contact with David, a Jewish American citizen part of the flotilla, since Oct 1. They want his release from Ketziot prison in Israel, a phone call with him & for an American embassy official to visit him.

I will be leading a delegation letter to Rubio & the Israeli Ambassador on Monday & hope every colleague, particularly every California member, will sign.

Our government must stand up for an American citizen's fair treatment and release.

[Peter Beinart @PeterBeinart]

.@davidrkadler's mother tells me: "David is now in an Israeli prison and his US senators (Schiff and Padilla) are not being helpful. The EU is all over the prison and our embassy has not shown up at all."

Hey, @SenAdamSchiff and @AlexPadilla4CA. A constituent of yours is in a foreign prison for trying to draw the world's attention to mass starvation and slaughter.

His Jewish mother is sick with worry. Maybe you should do something about David's imprisonment--and the imprisonment and destruction of two million people in Gaza.

[Francesco Rampazzo @chiccorampazzo]

Is it Mánchester or Manchéster? Either way, I need to learn. From today I’m a Lecturer in Social Statistics and Demography at the University of Manchester @OfficialUoM - still Italian, still mispronouncing, but very excited for this new chapter!

[Human Mortality Database @HMDatabase]

📈SDRs by sex and year are now available📉
➡️ https://t.co/ntoWzehCtw

We are excited to announce that the #HMD has been updated to include period age-standardized #DeathRates (SDR) by sex and year, based on the two European Population Standards, 1976 & 2013

🔎Learn more👇🧵

[Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600]

I had never seen the US Baby Boom been visualized in this way. Rather cool visuals. The chart assumes Baby Boomers to be born between 1946 and 1964. Source: https://t.co/JlcnvLATDD

[POPCLIMA @popclima]

Our new research about climate change and fertility in Italy by @chiarapuglisi93 and PI: Raya Muttarak was released in GENUS journal.

[Aliakbar Akbaritabar, @akbaritabar.bsky.social @Akbaritabar]

I am extremely happy to share. Just out in @pnas.org:

“Global subnational estimates of migration of scientists reveal large disparities in internal and international flows”

Open Access: https://t.co/yAuXCYn3Ro
w/ @danko_maciej @XinyiZhao16 @ezagheni @MPIDRnews #PAA2025

[Dirk Witteveen @dirk_witteveen]

New paper in International Migration Review! 📝📈

Our analyses of linked 1900–1940 US Censuses suggest that macroeconomic opportunities do not explain career growth variation between multi-gen US men and European immigrant groups.

/w @mobarakhossa 🙌

https://t.co/uuLK85nT7Z

[Guillaume Blanc @gguillaumeblanc]

🚨 Call for applications - Research Assistant 🚨

Valeria Rueda and I are recruiting someone to work on projects on "Violence and narratives in Colombia"

Looking for students interested in pol econ/dev, with a good knowledge of Colombian history

Deadline: April 15

[Hong Chen @_Hong_Chen]

How accurately do citations reflect the original research? Do authors truly engage with what they cite?

In a new study [https://t.co/txqRRMWZZo] with @david__jurgens and @MishaTeplitskiy, we analyze millions of citation sentence pairs to measure citation fidelity and reveal how fidelity can vary depending on authors’ engagement with prior literature.

⬇️

[Jasmin Abdel Ghany @jasmin_abdelg]

The DHS era is over. We could now share DHS data with each other and publicly - but should we? 🤔 Here are some ethical considerations I'm grappling with. Let's discuss! A thread🧵

[Esteban Moro @estebanmoro]

📢 New paper in Nature Human Behavior! A perspective on the field we have been working in the last 10 years: urban mobility data reveals experienced inequalities in cities beyond where people live.
👉 Link: https://t.co/wHoq3eOa59
👉 Open-access: https://t.co/JIWjbxVWVj

[PAA @PopAssocAmerica]

Apply for the Henry P. David Grant for International Travel in Human Reproductive Behavior and Population Studies to cover expenses associated with travel to, during, and from the #PAA2025 Annual Meeting. Apply by February 14: https://t.co/Ro2sBNKc8t

[Drew Johnston @drew_m_johnston]

Have you ever wondered how social networks differ by gender?
Check out my team's new dataset, which uses Facebook data to measure regional differences in social networks by gender all across the world!
A 🧵 with examples, a description of our methodology, and a download link: