SAVE THE DATE. On Friday, May 1st, we’ll hold our annual Pre-PAA Mini-Conference, giving graduate students and post-docs the opportunity to practice and present their upcoming talks at the Population Association of America’s Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO (May 6-9, 2026). The conference will be held in person in 310 Social Sciences, as well as via Zoom. Lunch will be served; more details to come. Any questions should be addressed to this year’s organizers, Kylee Hoffman (khoffman@berkeley.edu) and Nik van der Wagt (niklasvanderwagt@berkeley.edu).
Join us for this week’s Brownbag Seminar on Wednesday, April 22nd at 12pm PT. Paige Park, PhD candidate in Demography at UC Berkeley, will present, “Deep Learning Approaches to Demographic Forecasting.” The event will take place in Room 310 in the Social Sciences Building and will also be available via Zoom. (Meeting ID: 985 2901 0198 Password: DEMOG_BB) See the full event details here. Our YouTube channel is here. Visit our Brown Bag event page for both past and upcoming talks here.
Featured affiliate research of the week: Predicting the effects of temperature variability on nutritional status of children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa using machine learning. (2026). Jovine Bachwenkizi, Cheng He, Yixiang Zhu, Alice Mugisha, Boikhutso Tlou, Candida Moshiro, Henry Mwambi, Isabel Madzorera, Renjie Chen, Haidong Kan, and Wafaie W. Fawzi. Scientific Reports, Vol 16, Article number: 8055.
See further announcements and opportunities below.
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EVENTS
April 20 | 2-3:30pm | Sociology Department Colloquium Series | Nina Bandelj, Associate Chancellor’s Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine. “Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting.” 402 Social Sciences Building. Zoom link here; Meeting ID: 912 1296 2018. See event details.
April 21 | 12:40-2pm | UC Berkeley Health Policy Colloquium Series | Dr. Marcella Alsan, Thomas J. Davis, Jr. Faculty Scholar of SIEPR Academic Council Faculty, Stanford University. “Why Doesn’t the United States Have National Health Insurance? The Political Role of the American Medical Association.” 2121 Berkeley Way West, Room 1104. Event details are here.
April 22 | 12-1pm | Demography Department Seminar Series | Paige Park, PhD candidate in Demography at UC Berkeley, will present, “Deep Learning Approaches to Demographic Forecasting.” The event will take place in Room 310 in the Social Sciences Building and will also be available via Zoom. (Meeting ID: 985 2901 0198 Password: DEMOG_BB) See the full event details here.
CALLS
Workshops
13th MODS-UNFPA Summer Seminar on Population
Seoul & Daejeon, Korea (Rep), 29 June-16 July 2026
Deadline for applications: 8 May 2026 (6:00 PM, Korea Standard Time)
We are pleased to inform you that the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) jointly organize ‘the 13th MODS-UNFPA Summer Seminar on Population‘ from June 29 to July 16, 2026. We warmly invite you to join this dynamic academic forum and help shape the future of demography. The 13th Seminar features three distinct yet consecutive workshops centered on research and methodologies. These workshops address key contemporary demographic challenges, including low fertility, population distribution, and aging populations.
- Workshop 1 – How Do We Measure Fertility? Demographic Methods and Approaches (June 29 – July 3 | Seoul)
- Workshop 2 – Analysis of Demographic Data with GIS (July 6 – July 10 | Daejeon)
- Workshop 3 – Event History Analysis (July 13 – 16 | Daejeon)
Participants may apply for one, two, or all three courses.
Notes:
- All courses will be conducted in person and will include hands-on exercises using R; a basic working knowledge of R and R-Studio is recommended.
- Participants should be able to follow and participate in courses conducted in English.
- Registration is free of charge Participants are responsible for their own travel and personal expenses.
Please visit our website (http://intpopstat.kr/) for more information.
CHABLIS Institute 2026
- Abstract submission deadline: May 31, 2026
- The fourth annual CHABLIS Institute takes place September 15–17, 2026 at MATTER at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
- A 2.5-day interactive workshop bringing together researchers, trainees, and data collection professionals to explore challenges and develop innovative solutions in data collection and measurement for aging research
- Abstracts are invited from investigators at all career stages on topics including methodological advancements in longitudinal aging studies, survey design and data quality, CHABLIS- or CIDMA-funded project updates, and emerging applications of ML, LLMs, and AI in aging research
- A limited number of travel stipends are available, with priority given to early career researchers
- Submit your application here
- Questions? Contact Joshua Santiago at chablis@bsd.uchicago.edu
Call for journal submissions
- Special Issue of Social Science and Medicine: “Polarization and Health Policy in a Global Context” – due April 30, 2026
- Special Issue of Rural Sociology: “Policies, Politics, and the Wellbeing of Rural People and Places” – due May 1, 2026 (5 PM ET)