Excess mortality methods are essential for quantifying the demographic and social impacts of contemporary and historical mortality crises. The excess mortality methods in use across demography, epidemiology, and quantitative history involve a diversity of techniques, model assumptions, and means of quantifying uncertainty. A growing body of theoretical and applied work shows how excess mortality estimates and their interpretations are often highly sensitive to the construction of the underlying models. This work includes Andreasen and Simonsen (2011), Schöley (2021), Nepomuceno et al. (2022), Duerst and Schöley (2024), and Wakefield and Knutson (2025). Wider awareness of these issues and a collaborative approach towards developing the best practices for particular use cases of excess mortality methods would be a welcome step forwards for academic and governmental stakeholders.
Following the One Epidemic, Many Estimates (1EME) many analyst collaboration that has been running from September 2025 to March 2026 (more details here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-History/HED/Workshops/One-Epidemic-Many-Estimates-1EME), the Historical Economic Demography Group and Pop@LSE, the two demography research groups at the London School of Economics, are convening a two-day workshop on excess mortality methodology on 21–22 May 2026.
The current plan is for the workshop to run from 11am – 5.30pm on 21 May (followed by dinner), and 9.30am – 4pm on 22 May.
Attendance is welcome whether one has participated in the 1EME many analyst project or not, but only in-person attendance will be possible. Travel funding will be available to support a limited number of UK/Europe-based graduate students, as well as to members of the GreatLeap COST Action. If you would like to apply for funding, you must register by 15 February 2026. Registration for other attendees will close on 15 March 2026.
