Hello everybody,
One of the developments concerning social scientists who use US Census data is the proposed move to ‘differential privacy’ rules. While it sounds honorable – protecting privacy – in fact it is a change that will significantly reduce the usefulness of Census data, not just for social science research, but also most importantly for redistricting. Moreover, there have not been breaches of privacy. Please take a look at a webpage that IPUMS put together that summarizes the issues far better than I could do justice.
Heads up: PAA will issue its Call for Papers for the annual meeting – hopefully in person – in Atlanta, next spring. Deadline for submissions (expanded abstracts) will be September 26.
Events (mostly virtual) and other announcements are below.
Be well,
Leora
EVENTS
As in-person events are on hold, be sure to check out virtual talks and webinars. All times are Pacific unless otherwise noted.
None. I think people are zoomed out. And it’s summer.
SAVE THE DATE
Friday, September 24th. Challenges in Measuring and Studying Contemporary Families Among a Diverse Population. The Bowling Green State University Center for Family and Demographic Research (CFDR) will be hosting a virtual workshop entitled “Challenges in Measuring and Studying Contemporary Families among a Diverse Population” on Friday, September 24th. Along with CFDR affiliates, this event will feature insights from: Kate Choi, Paula Fomby, Tera Jordan, Kelly Raley and Deadric Williams.
Tuesday, July 27th from 13:00 – 17:00 GMT+1 (5:00 – 9:00 am PDT) You are cordially invited to an official virtual side event of the Global Education Summit, Increasing Aid for Girls’ Education and Family Planning in the West African Sahel. Combined, these two investments could shift demographic trends, dramatically improve the well-being of families, and pave the way for peace in the region.* The meeting is being hosted by OASIS, with our partners, Centre for Girls Education, L’Initiative OASIS Niger, and the Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit. This virtual event will enable us to find and engage new allies within governments and the donor community. One way you could support us is by recommending this event to key stakeholders from the Sahel and beyond by forwarding this email. We would also appreciate being introduced to relevant contacts for advocacy efforts following the event.Should you have any other ideas for event promotion, or any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact one of us or email oasis@berkeley.edu. The meeting agenda is forthcoming. Speakers will represent Sahel governments, bilateral donor agencies, academia and civil society. Please click the link to register for the meeting, which will be held on Zoom.
CONFERENCES
International Statistical Institute (ISI) Virtual World Statistics Congress, July 11-16, 2021, https://www.isi2021.org/. Visit the website for full information.
British Society of Population Studies 2021 annual conference, which will be held virtually. Starts: Sep 14, 2021 9:00 AM (GB), Ends: Sep 15, 2021 5:00 PM (GB). Url:http://www.lse.ac.uk/social-policy/research/Research-clusters/british-society-for-population-studies/annual-conference. Registration for the Conference is open to all BSPS members, but you must be a member to attend.
Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2021. The conference will take place 29.11.-01.12.2021 in full distance mode via Zoom. There is no conference fee. A special issue of the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research will focus on the conference theme, Depopulation – causes, consequences and possible policy. Conference participants will be invited to submit their research to the journal. For more information visit https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/events/calendar/conferences/the-causes-and-consequences-of-depopulation.
NICHD is excited to kick off its STRIVE for Change workshop series on July 14, from 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, with “Establishing a New Frontier in Health Disparities Research Across the Lifecourse.”STRIVE – STrategies to enRich Inclusion and achieVe Equity Initiative – seeks to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in all aspects of its research and workforce. STRIVE, which complements NIH UNITE, focuses on taking action to improve EDI within NICHD and the scientific community, and to expand health disparities research to develop solutions that mitigate inequities. These free, virtual workshops will bring together stakeholders from diverse sectors to discuss health disparities research, identify knowledge gaps, and help chart a bold course for future activities. To register for the July 14 and future workshops in the series, please visit the event page.
FUNDING
New Funding Opportunity: African American Child and Family Research Center. The Administration for Children and Families is now accepting applications for a NEW 2021 Funding Opportunity titled “African American Child and Family Research Center”! This grant program will lead and support research on the needs of African American populations served by ACF and promising approaches to promote social and economic well-being among low-income African American populations.
Gender Disparities Funding: The Economics Department has a tranche of funding to support research aimed at understanding gender disparities. These funds can be used to support research projects on gender equity broadly construed in any context, and also programmatic activities (such as supporting the advancement of women in economics). Ted Miguel and Supreet Kaur are writing with 2 requests:
1. If you have a research project or programmatic activity for which you would like to apply for funding, please email a brief (1 page max) proposal to Kristina Hallez <khallez@berkeley.edu> by Monday, July 26. The proposal should describe your project, and how the funding would be utilized or be helpful to complete the project. We anticipate award amounts will be between $1-10K for students, and $5-20K for faculty.
2. If you are doing any gender related work — ongoing or completed — please send us a blurb of 2-3 sentences letting us know about your work. This would be super helpful for us to have, in order to stay engaged with the donor. Please send these to Kristina Hallez <khallez@berkeley.edu> as well. (No need to email about projects you already told us about after last year’s call).
NSF Highlights Opportunities for Collaboration between Social and Computer Sciences. On June 23, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released a Dear Colleague Letterhighlighting existing opportunities for collaboration at the agency’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate. The letter cites the prevalence of overlap between the fields of social science and computer science as motivation for increased collaboration and that this collaboration may be critical for addressing societal problems. The letter also notes that the SBE and CISE Advisory Committees have been discussing research areas of mutual interest which may indicate increased collaborations in the future. A list of the potential collaborative programs is available on the NSF website.
NIH NOSI “Notice of Special Interest: Alzheimer’s-Focused Administrative Supplements for NIH Grants that are Not Focused on Alzheimer’s Disease” that was just published: NOT-AG-21-018. As administrative supplements, the work proposed needs to be within the scope of the research or training that is already supported. Center awards and resource awards are most likely to be able to justify these supplements, as they tend to have a broad content scope. Some research grants will also qualify if the current research is on a related topic (such as cognitive decline in aging, caregiving, the biology of neurodegeneration, genetics, imaging, computational methods, pain perception, or biostatistical tools that have application to research on AD/ADRD).
NIH: The Role of Work in Health Disparities in the U.S. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support innovative population-based research that can contribute to identifying and characterizing pathways and mechanisms through which work or occupation influences health outcomes and health status among populations with health and/or health care disparities, and how work functions as a social determinant of health. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-275.html.
Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Integration of Individual Residential Histories in Cancer Research: Notice Number NOT-CA-21-092. This FOA seeks to develop research that incorporates recognition of the importance of residential histories in cancer research, as part of evolving cancer data ecosystem. Residential history encapsulates a person’s multiple interactions with the social and physical environment that can result in lasting health impact. Incorporating residential history records into cancer research can enhance our understanding of the variety of potential and actual exposures throughout person’s life that may lead to cancer and affect cancer outcomes, such as: neighborhood sociodemographic and physical conditions, poverty and social deprivation, accessibility to healthcare resources, quality and availability of cancer care, tobacco and alcohol consumption, food environments, contaminants in water, soil, and air. Linkage of multiple cancer related data with individual residential history information offers an opportunity to add precision to the analysis of cancer risk and outcomes. This NOSI encourages studies focusing on two major themes: 1) Methodology for assessment and improvement of residential history data quality, and 2) Residential history data use in research in combination with other linked data sources to address environmental exposures and cancer risk, and additional cancer related information to address different areas across the cancer control continuum.
One example offered of a possible study is “Studies that utilize residential history data in combination with other linked data sources to address the impacts of various exposures on cancer risk and outcomes (e.g. Environmental Protection Agency data and US Geological Survey data)” and another is “Studies that utilize residential history data to assess the impacts of changing residence on various areas across the cancer control continuum (e.g., accessibility to cancer screening, quality of care, treatment options, quality of life after surviving cancer)” These are the kind of studies well-suited for a team consisting of a demographer with migration experience, someone with linked data knowledge, an epidemiologist of cancer research and possibly a data science expert. Two possibilities under this funding are R01s and one is an R21. Intrigued? Contact me and read the announcement: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-CA-21-092.html.
Dyadic Interpersonal Processes and Biopsychosocial Outcomes (R01). This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites basic and/or methodological research projects that illuminate and/or measure independent and interdependent health-related effects within dyads across relationships and settings. For the purpose of this FOA, a dyad is a unit of two individuals whose interactions and influences on one another are nested within larger social contexts and networks. Dyads are social relationships that extend beyond the individual and have strong bidirectional influences on physical and mental health. For the purpose of this FOA, independent effects are those effects that affect each member of the dyad individually (i.e., by nature of being part of the dyad), whereas interdependent effects are those that affect one member of the dyad contingent upon the other member of the dyad (i.e., not only because the individual is part of a dyad but also because being part of the dyad has an effect on the other individual within the dyad as well). See https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-280.html(experimental study) and https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-21-281.html (observational study)
William T. Grant Foundation. An online application is open for two grants of interest population researchers. Funding ranges from $100,000 to $1 million and covers two to four years of support. The deadline for letters of inquiry is Aug. 4, 2021.
• Research Grants on Reducing Inequality
• Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence
2021 MAST Center Small Grant Program. The Marriage Strengthening Research & Dissemination Center (MAST Center) will provide up to 10 awards to emerging Family Scientists of up to $750 to help cover the cost of professional development activities during the 2021-2022 academic year. The program is open to current graduate students and early career professionals within 3 years of finishing a master’s or PhD program. Applications are due by 5 p.m. EDT on July 15, 2021. Learn more and apply.
CALL FOR ARTICLES
RWJF Call for Articles ISSUE ON: Disparate Effects Of Disruptive Events On Children, Edited by:, Jennie Brand, University of California Los Angeles, Jason Fletcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Florencia Torche, Stanford University. This special issue will invite empirical papers that examine heterogeneity in the effects of disruptive events on children’s attainment and wellbeing. Given the health, economic, and social upheaval of 2020, this is a crucial time to understand the differential impact of disruption on children’s lives. Please visit HERE for a full description of this call for articles.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
NIH Funding Opportunity: Transition to Aging Research Award for Predoctoral Students F99/K00 Award. The objective is to facilitate the transition of outstanding and committed graduate students into aging-focused post-doctoral positions. Graduate students who are currently performing aging-related research are encouraged to consider the F31 NRSA funding program, but they are also welcome to apply for this program. The F99/K00 award is meant to provide up to six years of support in two phases. The F99 phase provides a minimum of one and up to two years of support to doctoral students to complete their dissertation research projects before transitioning into the aging-focused post-doctoral phase (K00). To learn more: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/rfa-ag-21-022.html, and also this BLOG. Contact me with any questions.
TRAINING and WORKSHOPS
Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS) at UC Berkeley to ask for your help circulating to students and faculty at your department the Call for Applications for our upcoming virtual Research Transparency and Reproducibility Training (RT2) on 8/23, 8/25, 9/1, and 9/3. We encourage applications from researchers across the social sciences and will grant tuition fee waivers to 40 of the 50 participants. The deadline for applicants who want to be considered for a tuition fee waiver is July 18; we will review submissions from self-funded participants on a rolling basis through August 15. You can share this event page (https://www.bitss.org/events/rt2virtual2021/) or this tweet.
July 21st, 5:00-6:00 PM ‘Science-Self-Fandom: How to Promote Your Science and Your Worth” and you don’t want to miss it (we are also planning to record it if you are unable to attend)! This event is open to all, so feel free to share widely with friends and colleagues who might be interested. Register here.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NIH – login.gov: Beginning September 15, eRA systems will be accessible only using login.gov. Those of you who have been reviewers already do this, but if you haven’t, you will have to set up a new login credentials. More information is HERE.
NIH has made a number of changes to the Biosketch and Other Support document. If you haven’t completed one in a while, check with me or your research administrator. In particular, the Other Support requirement covers a broad definition of foreign support, so again, please check with me or your RA if you have been (or will be) awarded a grant and need to complete this document.
Edge for Scholars: Recently I began to receive email newsletters from this group. It’s a non-profit collection of faculty, researchers and others at Vanderbilt who put out advice on how to get grants, publish and more. I have looked at a few articles and they seem fairly solid (but not always totally applicable depending on discipline) and so if you are a grad student, postdoc or early career researcher of any kind, you might give it a look: https://edgeforscholars.org/
WEBINARSNIH ‘All About Grants’ podcasts. Designed for investigators, fellows, students, research administrators, and others just curious about the application and award process, we provide insights on grant topics from those who live and breathe the information. Episodes are available as mp3s for download here, via iTunes, or via RSS feed. https://grants.nih.gov/news/virtual-learning/podcasts.htm.
Building your own subject pool. August 5th, 2021, 12:00pm-1:00pm EST. Do you perform longitudinal studies? Do you recruit the same types of people over and over again? Would you like a subject pool to share within your department? In this workshop, we will show you how to recruit and empanel your own pool of participants through Volunteer Science and how you can use that pool to recruit targeted participants and conduct longitudinal studies. This workshop will be recorded for attendees to come back to it for reference and inspiration. Register: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYrceCrpjssHtFwomyhSTCTBL_oxq7GSw3M. If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact support at support@volunteerscience.com.
DATA
Network for Data-Intensive Research on Aging (NDIRA). University of Minnesota’s Life Course Center on the Demography and Economics of Aging has launched a new initiative and invite you and members of your centers to join, NDIRA. This initiative seeks to build and support an emerging interdisciplinary community of scientists using novel collections of large-scale microdata and contextual data for research on population aging.
Zillow’s ZTRAX: You may have heard that Zillow will soon close down its big data project known as ZTRAX. As of 9/30/23, access to ZTRAX data ends, and as of 7/15/21, nine days from now, the opportunity to tell Zillow about proposed academic projects involving ZTRAX data will close forever. ZTRAX is a database of public records of home sales and related transactions going back two decades across most US counties. It is possible that Berkeley will be able to renew its umbrella contract (ZTRAX is administered by D-Lab). The data are allegedly messy, but as a resource for understanding home buying patterns and inferring the socioeconomic composition of communities and household composition of housing units, it is a valuable data source. According to Zillow, ZTRAX has no peer. (Which makes it all the more frustrating that they’re going to be pulling the plug on it in 2 yrs.). https://www.zillow.com/research/ztrax/
Reconnect Research’s “Life After Covid” survey. Here are the results.
D-LAB
Be sure to check the D-lab calendar at the website, dlab.berkeley.edu. D-Lab offers training, individual consulting and data services for the UC Berkeley community – faculty to undergrads. Be sure to check the D-lab calendar at the website, dlab.berkeley.edu.
RELATED LISTS
Jobs
All jobs and postdoctoral fellowships are posted as we receive them on the Demography Department Jobs Listserv, http://lists.demog.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/jobs. This list advertises positions of all sorts relevant for social and behavioral scientists with advanced degrees.
Migration Mailing List
Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI.berkeley.edu) is a research center for the study of immigrants and immigration. BIMI has a mailing list which is where a good deal of immigration and migration announcements are posted, and only some of that material is posted on the PopSciences Weekly News. Sign up for it with this link
School of Public Health Mailing List
Tue$day Top Tip$ for SPH Research is a listserv with research funding opportunities and other information pertinent to public health researchers who are not necessarily population researchers. To subscribe, write to Dr. Lauren Goldstein, lhg@berkeley.edu.
—
—–
The POPSCIENCES listserv is an announcements list for affiliates of the Berkeley Population Center, the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging, the Bixby Population Center and other interested parties. Archives are available by visiting the Group page (see below). Only the List Managers can post, but we accept submissions for possible publication. UC Berkeley faculty, staff and students should be able to subscribe via Google Groups. For any submissions, requests for subscribing or posts, questions, contact the list administrator, Leora Lawton, llawton@berkeley.edu.
—