John C 'Jack' Caldwell transformed demographic research. A paper published in Demographic Research named him the most influential researcher in the field, surpassing Thomas Malthus, John Bongaarts and William Brass (van Dalen and Henkens 2012).

At the recent Asian Population Association conference in Bangkok demographic luminaries such as Leela Visaria and Abbas Bhuyia told Dr Ann Larson that Jack’s influence could be seen in the papers by the most junior participants who were incorporating ethnographic methods and investigating the role of family composition in social and economic development.

As significant as Jack’s work is internationally, it was the ANU demographic community—the students, academics and support staff, the visitors in the Coombs Building—on whom he had the greatest influence.

The National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH) in partnership with ADSRI is relaunching the campaign for the John C Caldwell endowment fund to support research and research training in the areas of family composition and social and economic development. At Jack’s request the focus will be supporting African researchers to study at the ANU.

We invite demographers to contribute memories and testimonies about Jack’s legacy and what it means for them personally and professionally. They will be used to build a living record of the impact of the Caldwell’s work.

If you would like to offer words, photos, ideas or money to this great project contact Ann Larson (ANU PhD graduate in demography 1987) at ann.larson@anu.edu.au.