Arjan Gjonça is an Associate Professor of Demography at the Department of International Development. He holds an MSc and a PhD in Demography from LSE and continues to work at LSE as a full member of academic staff. His teaching focuses on demographic methods and on global population health.
Arjan started his career as an assistant professor at University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics, Albania. His work experience includes institutions such as Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics; University of Bocconi, Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy (as visiting professor), Department of Social Policy at London School of Economics, and finally Department of International Development
His research interests and publications focus on health and mortality in developing countries. His research covers the demography of the Balkans (with particular focus on Albania); Health transition in developing and transitional societies. His recent research focuses on the sex imbalances at birth and female disadvantages in health and mortality in developing countries as well as the interplay between development and tradition in shaping demographic behaviour. Past research projects focused on the importance of life style factors in health and mortality transitions for developing countries. Arjan’s research has been published in world rated demographic and epidemiological journals such as Population Studies, Population and Development Review, The LANCET and many more.
He is a member of different professional bodies, including International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), British Society for Population Studies (BSPS), European Association for Population Studies (EAPS), Population Association of America (PAA), and many more. He has held and continues to hold honorific positions such as the Honorary Secretary of the BSPS from 2001-2004, and a member of the council from 1997 till 2004; the vice-president of DemoBalk Association; more recently the Chair of the Accreditation Board for Higher Education in Albania.
Arjan has acted as an adviser to different international organisations and national governments, including the World Bank, UNFPA, UNDP, Albanian Government, Turkish Government and Bosnian Government. His recent contribution includes chairing the Commission on the Reform of Higher Education in Albania (2013-2015), which has resulted in the introduction of new legislation on higher education in the country. Since 2015 he holds the position of Chair of the Accreditation Board of Albania.