Weekly News, April 4th, 2023

Congratulations to BPC Affiliate Juan Pedroza, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz, for receiving the Russell Sage Foundation Pipeline Grant! The Foundation, in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to increase innovative research advancements on economic mobility and access to opportunity nationally. The grants are focused on supporting early-career scholars. Read more about Juan’s research here and here

Our next Brown Bag Talk of the semester is this Wednesday, April 5th, at 12pm, with Jenna Nobles, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of her talk isA New Window on Human Fecundity: Converting Digital Exhaust into Demographic Parameters.” We’ve been very lucky to have Jenna visiting us this academic year, and we are delighted to host her in person. 310 Social Sciences Building. Zoom link is here.

The Census Bureau currently has an open request for comments regarding potential changes to the American Community Survey (ACS). The future of the survey’s ancestry question may be uncertain. Please respond by April 7

Registration for the 2023 ASA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, to be held August 17th-21st, is now open. Register by July 14th for Early Bird pricing. Student funds are available to defray the costs associated with attending the ASA Annual Meeting. The deadline to apply for these funds is April 24th. Learn more.

See further announcements and opportunities below.

EVENTS

April 4 | 12:10-1:00pm |  UC Berkeley School of Public Health | Latest in Public Health Research Series | Yan Long, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, will present “The Latest in Public Health Research: Fixing Digital Health Apparatus? Local Governments’ COVID-19 Vaccine Promotion on the Frontline in Urban China.” Register in advance for the series here. See full slate of talks

April 5  | 12-1:10pm | UC Berkeley Demography Brown Bag ColloquiumJenna Nobles, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of Jenna’s talk isA New Window on Human Fecundity: Converting Digital Exhaust into Demographic Parameters.” She will present in person, 310 Social Sciences Building. Zoom link here.  

Meeting ID: 960 6550 7453 

Password: DEMOG_BB 

April 5 | 12:15-1:45pm | Institute of International Studies, The Alexander Hamilton Society | Please join the Alexander Hamilton Society at Berkeley in hosting Dr. Alina Polyakova, President and CEO of the Center for European and Policy Analysis, for a discussion on the United States, NATO, and the Future of Russia’s War in Ukraine: “The United States, NATO, and the Future of Russia’s War in Ukraine.” Location: 170 Social Sciences Building. Register here.

Save the Date

April 20 | 12-1:30pm | Matrix on Point: Border Crossing | Changing economic and legal circumstances alongside humanitarian crises are shifting the politics and histories of borders today, and reshaping the interdisciplinary field of border studies. This Matrix on Point panel will feature a group of PhD candidates discussing their ongoing research on borders and migration: Pauline White Meeusen, PhD candidate in Jurisprudence and Social Policy; Gisselle Perez-Leon, PhD candidate in the Department of History; and Adriana P. Ramirez, PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley. This will be a hybrid event (both in-person and streamed via Zoom). 820 Social Sciences Building. Register here.

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, MEETINGS

Registration Now Open. We invite interested scholars to participate in a Mini-Conference on Egocentric Networks, July 6-7, 2023, at the University of California Berkeley Campus. The Conference is sponsored by the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging, the Berkeley Population Center, and UCNETS- The UC Berkeley Social Networks Study. Egocentric networks moved into the spotlight as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as personal supportive networks became a key element of how people coped, or did not, with the effects of shut-down and social distancing. Beyond that, networks are important for many aspects of health, leisure, spirituality and civic action, among others. Limited to 25 participants, this mini-conference will provide a venue to hear and share current research, get feedback and ideas, and meet other researchers. Early-stage career scholars and those from all backgrounds are encouraged to attend. The first day of the event will be a conference featuring the research presentations, and the second will also include roundtables on research topics and challenges for researchers. See attached flyer. Please register at  https://forms.gle/MQMNjqtjGvQHp4Ca8. Address any questions to Dr. Leora Lawton, llawton@berkeley.edu. Registration is open until June 26, 2023 or until full. 

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Data User Workshop. Instructors are Noura Insolera, Paula Fomby, University of Michigan. Dates: June 12-16th, 2023. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), begun in 1968, is the world’s longest-running multigenerational household panel study. It is used to investigate scientific and policy questions about life course trajectories in health and well-being, intergenerational social and economic mobility, income and wealth inequality, family investments in children, neighborhood effects on opportunity and achievement, and many other topics. This five-day workshop will orient participants to the content and structure of the core PSID interview, its special topics modules, and its supplemental studies, including the Child Development Supplement (CDS), the Transition into Adulthood Supplement (TAS), and the 2013 Rosters and Transfers Module. In addition we will discuss topics including the recently-released genomics data collected from children and primary caregivers in CDS as well as new data files which explain family relationships and demographic characteristics over time. Deadline to apply is April 18, 2023. Read the full workshop description here.

Innovative Approaches to Improve Maternal Health Workshop. Join the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Monday, May 8, and Tuesday, May 9, from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET for a free hybrid event that brings together technology developers, medical device experts, small business innovators, implementation scientists, researchers, and academic, industry, and community-based partners to address technological gaps in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity (MMM). The goal is to connect the research community with small businesses that are developing new approaches to improve MMM and its associated health disparities. Hosted by the NHLBI and sponsored by the NIH IMPROVE Initiative along with six other NIH institutes and offices, the workshop will be held in the Main Auditorium of the Natcher Conference Center in Building 45 on the NIH campus and will be videocast. Topics include technology, clinical implications, community engagement, implementation, regulatory considerations, government funding, payors and investors, and more.  Learn more and register.

OPPORTUNITIES

Call for Proposals: 2023-2024 Matrix Research Teams. Social Science Matrix invites proposals from faculty, students, and affiliated researchers for Matrix Research Teams for the 2023-2024 academic year. Matrix Research Teams are groups of scholars who gather regularly to explore or develop a novel question or emerging field in the social sciences, which may also intersect with disciplines in the humanities and sciences more broadly. Faculty-led Research Teams receive funding in the amount of $5000. They run for two semesters, meeting at least once a month around a defined research problem. Student-led Research Teams receive funding in the amount of $1500; they are coordinated by one or more graduate students and meet around 5-10 times over the course of the academic year to explore an emerging field. Deadline April 24, 2023. Learn more and apply.

The NIA’s Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) announces the RCCN Scholars Program. The Program will target early career faculty with an interest in multidisciplinary aging research. Advanced clinical and postdoctoral fellows will also be considered. Scholars will participate in a longitudinal mentoring and support program to build knowledge and confidence in pursuing a multidisciplinary research program. A secondary goal is to build connections among the scholars to promote multidisciplinary collaboration. Scholars will participate in a one-year longitudinal mentoring and support program to build knowledge and confidence in pursuing a multidisciplinary research program. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2023. Read the RFA and apply here.

Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency Program. The residency program offers academics, artists, policy makers, and practitioners an opportunity to unlock their creativity and advance groundbreaking work by completing a specific project in a residential group setting during four weeks of focused time. Rather than a retreat for private reflection, the Bellagio Center Residency offers an opportunity to advance a specific breakthrough project and a stimulating environment to forge cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural connections with other residents that can strengthen their work, shift their perspectives, and spur new ideas. The registration deadline is April 26, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET, and applications must be submitted by May 17, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Learn more and apply.

Roger Herriot Award for Innovation in Federal Statistics. Nominations are sought for the 2023 Roger Herriot Award for Innovation in Federal Statistics. The award is intended to reflect the characteristics that marked Roger Herriot’s career including:

  • Dedication to the issues of measurement;
  • Improvements in the efficiency of data collection programs; and
  • Improvements and use of statistical data for policy analysis.

Individuals or teams at all levels within Federal statistical agencies, other government organizations, nonprofit organizations, the private sector, and the academic community may be nominated on the basis of their contributions. Nominations for the 2023 award will be accepted until April 14, 2023. Read more.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Advances in Life Course Research Special Issue on Young Adult Life Courses in the Global South. Deadline for extended abstracts is April 30, 2023. For details and guidance please read the full call for papers here.

FUNDING

California HIV/AIDS Research Program – UCOP Research Opportunities. The California HIV/AIDS Research Program is pleased to share four funding opportunities for 2023. Please visit the Funding Opportunities page on our website to view the full Requests for Proposals.

Webinar on April 27th at 10am

LOIs due either May 18 or May 25, 2023

Full proposals due either July 20 or July 27, 2023

For scientific questions regarding application preparation or guidance regarding the suitability of a proposed project, contact the Program Officer for this RFP, Lisa Loeb Stanga, at lisa.loeb.stanga@ucop.edu. 

ARPA-H Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). Abstracts can be submitted, and will be evaluated, on a rolling basis, with abstract feedback anticipated within approximately 4-6 weeks of receipt.  ARPA-H opened its first Agency-wide Open Broad Agency Announcement (Open BAA), seeking funding proposals for research aiming to improve health outcomes across patient populations, communities, diseases, and health conditions. The BAA calls for proposals to outline breakthrough research and technological advancements. Proposals should investigate unconventional approaches, and challenge accepted assumptions to enable leaps forward in science, technology, systems, or related capabilities. ARPA-H also encourages concepts to advance the objectives of President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, as well as more disease-agnostic approaches. 

ARPA-H has identified four initial focus areas that are a priority for investment: (1) Health Science Futures; (2) Scalable Solutions; (3) Proactive Health; (4) Resilient Systems; as well as targeted investments in tools that enable quantitative measurements of health outcomes, promote end-user adoption, facilitate participatory research, and advance relevant Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications (ELSI) topics. ARPA-H may also consider submissions outside of these thrust areas if the proposal involves the development of a novel capability to improve health outcomes or prolong well-being, especially if it would help either a substantial number of people or a population that currently lacks effective treatment options. ARPA-H is interested in funding holistic medium and larger scale proposals which could result in transformational impact rather than funding smaller exploratory studies.  Due March 14, 2024.

The California Collaborative for Pandemic Recovery and Readiness Research (CPR3 ) is now accepting applications for the following two priority areas:

  • Social and Economic Outcomes. This RFP is focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic outcomes (e.g., those related to household finances, housing/mobility, labor markets, etc.) and evaluation of policies/interventions designed to mitigate or stabilize these effects.
  • Behavior Change and Communication. This RFP is focused on behavior change strategies to improve relevance, acceptance, and uptake of pandemic-related recommendations, policies and interventions, including public health communication approaches.

Award Type and Budget: CPR3 is offering three award types within each RFP:

  • The Pathfinder Award supports formative or exploratory research projects. Up to $100,000 direct costs for one year.
  • The Catalyst Award enhances research with existing preliminary data and/or research infrastructure that has practical application to the communities it aims to serve. Up to $200,000 direct costs for one year.
  • The Implementation/Scale Award supports implementation research and scale-up of interventions/programs with existing evidence of effectiveness. Up to $300,000 direct costs for one year.

For more information, please visit the CPR3 website or send questions to cpr3@ucsf.edu. Due date is April 17, 2023 by 6pm PDT.

Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is seeking evidence on policies and programs that improve access to nutritious food, nutrition security, and health outcomes. Up to $2.5 million is available for studies that focus on:

  • Federal nutrition-assistance programs;
  • Hunger-relief programs;
  • Community-powered food programs; and
  • Social and economic programs (nonfood policies).

Research can include strengthening existing programs, evaluating current policies, and testing new, innovative solutions that could have a real impact on improving nutrition equity and reducing disparities. Learn more about eligibility and application requirements. Apply by April 5, 2023. 

Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Climate Change and Human Health seed grant. The program aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between scholars working in largely disconnected fields who could change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. Funding: Up to $50K. Deadline is April 12, 2023. 

NIH

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is issuing NOT-HD-23-001: Notice of Special Interest (NOSI):  Mortality of Adolescents, Young Adults, and Other NICHD Priority Populations in the United States. Applications are invited to investigate:

  • Identify mechanisms, causes, correlates, and modifiable risk factors underlying recent trends in mortality during adolescence and young adulthood. Trends to be examined include the growing inequalities in overall mortality and by cause of death and manner of death (natural, unintentional and intentional injuries, including suicide and homicide, and undetermined), with attention to race, ethnicity, sex, gender, age, disability status, as well as family structure and living arrangements, income, education, and geographic location.
  • Examine trends in mortality among individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities with a particular interest in studies that identify mechanisms, explanations, and modifiable risk factors.
  • Improve the accuracy and granularity of cause of death coding, especially for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, and to improve the accuracy of manner of death coding, particularly across unintentional and intentional injuries, including suicide and homicide, for adolescents and young adults as well as for individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities.
  • Improve research on mortality among youth populations of all sexual orientations and gender identities –especially for suicide and homicide, and other intentional and unintentional injuries.
  • Examine the impact of rising mortality among adolescents, adolescents transitioning to adulthood and young adults on the health and development of the population, including demographic factors such as fertility and nuptiality, on the health and development of decedents’ offspring and other family members, and on the health, development, and well-being of populations of interest to the NICHD is of high program priority.

The NICHD populations of interest that are the focus of this Notice are adolescents, young adults, and individuals with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities. For information on the NICHD Strategic Plan 2020: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/strategicplan. First available due date is June 5, 2023.

NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional). The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the mission of NIH. For the program to support the best possible researchers and research, applications are sought which reflect the full diversity of the nation’s research workforce. Thus, individuals from all backgrounds and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions in all geographic locations are strongly encouraged to apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement. In addition, applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. To be considered pioneering, the proposed research must reflect substantially different scientific directions from those already being pursued in the investigator’s research program or elsewhere. The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) Program of the NIH Common Fund. Deadline September 8, 2023.

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program (DP2 Clinical Trial Optional). The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program supports early stage investigators of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative research projects with the potential to produce a major impact on broad, important areas relevant to the mission of NIH. For the program to support the best possible researchers and research, applications are sought which reflect the full diversity of the research workforce. Individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions in all geographic locations are strongly encouraged to apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement. In addition, applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program complements other ongoing efforts by NIH and its Institutes and Centers to fund early stage investigators. The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) Program of the NIH Common Fund. Deadline August 18, 2023.

Understanding Neurological Effects of COVID-19 and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to invite applications focused on the neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 (neuro-COVID) and Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (neuro-PASC) and on the effect of COVID-19 on pre-infection neurologic conditions. Applications investigating the pathophysiology and mechanisms of neuro-COVID and neuro-PASC and neurologically-focused human subjects research, as well as those proposing studies of scientifically compelling pathways to prevent the development of neuro-PASC or to accelerate the development of effective treatments for PASC-related neurological complications are of particular interest for this NOFO. Deadlines June 2, 2023; February 2, 2024.

Research With Activities Related to Diversity (ReWARD) (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). The NIH Research With Activities Related to Diversity (ReWARD) Program‘s overarching goal is to enhance the breadth and geographical location of research and research-related activities supported by NIH. The ReWARD program provides support for the health-related research of scientists who are making a significant contribution to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and who have no current NIH research project grant funding. The ReWARD program provides funding for both the scientific research and the DEIA activities of investigators. The grant will support scientific research in areas related to the programmatic interests of one or more of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) and ongoing DEIA activities focused on enhancing diversity in the biomedical research enterprise within the United States and territories. Deadlines are June 5, 2023; October 5, 2023.

Understanding Chronic Conditions Understudied Among Women (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

(RFA-OD-23-014) The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to invite R01 applications on chronic conditions understudied among women and/or that disproportionately affect populations of women who are understudied, underrepresented, and underreported in biomedical Research should align with Goal 1 of the 2019-2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research “Advancing Science for the Health of Women.” The awards under this NOFO will be administered by NIH ICs using funds that have been made available through the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and the scientific partnering Institutes and Centers across NIH. Earliest submission date is May 19th, 2023. Letter of intent due dates May 19th, 2023 through May 20, 2024. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-23-014.html

Notice of Funding Opportunity. RFA-AG-24-011 invites applications for research addressing the Role of Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and /AD-Related Dementia Etiology and Disparities. Letters of intent are due August 27, 2023. Applications due September 27, 2023. See RFA here.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Research to Improve Pre-Pregnancy Care and Enhance Healthy Birth Intervals (NOT-HD-23-003) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to encourage research on the processes that facilitate or hinder the achievement of healthy interbirth intervals and promote healthy birth outcomes. Because short interbirth intervals are associated with a range of risk factors and poor maternal and child health outcomes, reducing the proportion of pregnancies conceived within 18 months of a previous pregnancy is a Healthy People 2030 objective. These negative outcomes include a lack of preconception health care, delayed prenatal care, preeclampsia, prematurity, low birth weight, infant mortality, and maternal morbidity and mortality. Short interbirth intervals may also reduce the duration of breastfeeding; conversely, the continuation of breastfeeding can contribute to the lengthening of interbirth intervals. This NOSI is intended to encourage collaboration among researchers across the social, behavioral, biomedical, and public health sciences to elucidate understanding of the modifiable factors behind barriers to enhancing birth intervals. First available due date: June 05, 2023. Read the full NOSI here

NIMHD Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (R21 – Clinical Trial Optional)

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-23-111.html. NIMHD invites applications to support short-term exploratory or developmental research projects that have the potential to break new ground in the fields of minority health and/or health disparities or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications that can directly contribute to improving minority health and/or reducing health disparities in the U.S. Applications are due June 16, October 16, 2023, see here.

Interested in research on casual pathways and mechanisms through which social connectedness & isolation are associated with healthy aging? See three funding opportunities on Biopsychosocial Factors of Social Connectedness & Isolation on Health, Wellbeing, Illness, & Recovery. PAR-21-349 is an R01 Basic Experimental Studies with Humans. PAR-21-350 is an R01 where clinical trials are not allowed. PAR-21-352 is an R01 where clinical trials are required.

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.

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