Brienna Perelli-Harris

Brienna Perelli-Harris is an Associate Professor of Demography at the University of Southampton, UK, where she conducts research on family formation patterns, particularly focusing on cohabitation, marriage, and childbearing dynamics across industrialized nations. She is a member of the ESRC Centre for Population Change and holds a prestigious five-year European Research Council starting grant to investigate the rise of childbearing within cohabitation.

Her research interests center on demographic transitions in family formation, with particular attention to how educational attainment, socioeconomic status, and cultural contexts influence partnership transitions and fertility behavior. Professor Perelli-Harris employs mixed methods approaches, combining demographic techniques with qualitative insights to understand the underlying mechanisms of family change.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals a consistent focus on cross-national comparative work examining how partnership patterns, relationship quality, and family formation behaviors vary across different social and institutional contexts. Her research spans multiple disciplines including sociology, demography, and family studies, with particular emphasis on life course perspectives and social stratification.

Scientific Recognition:

• Recipient of a five-year European Research Council starting grant
• Extensive publication record in top-tier demography journals including Demography, Population Studies, and Demographic Research
• Active collaboration with researchers across Europe, the USA, and Australia

Professor Perelli-Harris maintains an active research program investigating contemporary family change, with recent work examining how major societal disruptions like the Ukraine conflict impact fertility decisions. Her work bridges demographic methods with sociological theory to provide nuanced understandings of evolving family formation patterns in industrialized societies.