We are no longer accepting applications for the 2024 workshop. The deadline to submit was March 8, 2024. Please check back in February 2025 for next year’s workshop application. You can view eligibility information below.
Eligibility
You will need to include or upload the following documents and information as part of your application. Create one pdf for your CV and courses taken.
- An up-to-date CV;
- A list of relevant courses taken in population studies and statistics;
- Attach proof of completion of a training in Responsible Conduct of Research, either the NIH online class or CITI (see below for more detail); and
- A one-paragraph statement about your research interests.
Prerequisites
Trainees who have already had training in statistics, statistical programming, and introductory demographic methods get the most out of the workshop. Candidates with a strong quantitative background in a non-demographic area (e.g., economics or quantitative biology) can also learn a lot from the workshop as long as they do the pre-workshop exercises and familiarize themselves with demographic terminology. We assume is familiar with basic statistics and probability and math (e.g., derivatives, integrals, and matrix operations).
R Language
Instruction will be in R. Those unfamiliar with R are strongly encouraged to complete the R module below. Trainees are expected to have already taken basic statistics and calculus courses. The hands-on exercises will use the R computer language. Prior to attending the course, students should install R onto their laptops and work through the 12 page “A (very) short introduction to R” by Torfs & Brauer available by googling or at: Short R Intro. The information about texts and pre-workshop preparatory exercises in R can be found here.
Demography
The training lectures will assume some familiarity with demographic measures and notation. Students who have never taken a demography course should be familiar with the concepts in either Chapters 1-3 of Kenneth Wachter’s Essential Demographic Methods or Chapters 1-3 of Preston, Heuveline, and Guillot’s Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes.
Responsible Conduct of Research
One of the following trainings must be completed and submit the certificate with your application:
- CITI Training. Your institution likely has a relationship with CITI. If you aren’t sure which module to take, take the Group 2 Social and Behavioral Research Investigators, Basic Course. This unit takes about 4-5 hours.
- You may also postpone this certificate if your institution does not offer human subjects training. A Free National Institutes of Health (NIH) training and certification in good clinical practice in social and behavioral research is available on-line through the Society of Behavioral Medicine. See https://www.sbm.org/training/good-clinical-practice-for-social-and-behavioral-research-elearning-course.
TERMS & CONDITIONS: Should you be accepted into the program, we ask that you be committed to attending. All attendees will be asked to follow standards of respectful and inclusive behavior.