Interview with Letizia Mencarini | LUCE Awards 2026

Letizia Mencarini is Full Professor of Demography at Bocconi University, where she is affiliated with the Department of Social and Political Sciences and the DONDENA Centre for Research on Social Dynamics and Public Policy. She is also a Fellow at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Demography and Ecology.

Her research focuses on family demography and life-course analysis, with particular attention to fertility, family formation and dissolution, transitions to adulthood, and how these dynamics interact with gender roles, wellbeing, migration, and welfare policies. A central theme of her work is the link between gender inequality, labour markets, and demographic change, especially in contexts of low fertility.

Her work combines rigorous empirical research with a strong policy orientation, particularly on issues such as gender inequality, work–family balance, and the demographic challenges facing European societie