The Unit of Family Studies at the University of Tartu: from birth to rebirth
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Demographer, Professor Emeritus, University of Tartu
The Unit of Family Studies at the University of Tartu was active for more than 20 years since the end of the 1960s. During this time, around ten surveys (in the form of questionnaires) were conducted, and 10 collections of research papers and a number of pedagogically oriented publications, as well as articles in other journals were published.
Numerous presentations were given at local, Soviet Union and international conferences. Ten diploma papers and several candidate’s theses were written on the basis of the studies. The Unit of Family Studies initiated family counselling in Tartu, educational lectures and stimulating discussions were held.
What makes the activities of this working group special?
Much of the work was done as a “mission”, the lecturers involved in the activities of the group did not get any salary for that.
It was one of the first really interdisciplinary research collectives that brought together the representatives of a range of different disciplines who mutually enriched each other with their knowledge.
The activities and results of the working group were consistently introduced to the public through publications, educational lectures and the media.
The working group achieved important novel research results for its own time, including the explanation of changes in family and partnership values over time and space, as well as an algorithm for matching couples, which was one of the first attempts in Estonia (and perhaps more widely) to use computers to solve real-life problems in society.
The key issue was that the intellectual capital gathered over decades of work by the Unit of Family Studies could be used and was used by the members of the group to carry out new tasks in the Republic of Estonia – essentially, for rebirth.