I want to bring your attention to a few things in this newsletter. First, there is a new NIA funding opportunity to analyze secondary data, in either an R01 or R21 version. See FUNDING, below. Second, CEDA, along with USC, is sponsoring a “Workshop on Comparative Adult Mortality Determinants.” See the CALL FOR ABSTRACTS below.
Events and announcements follow.
Be well,
Leora
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EVENTS
We are hosting virtual and/or hybrid talks this semester. Assume virtual unless noted otherwise. All times are Pacific unless otherwise noted.
Demography Brown bag. The Population Sciences events calendar can be found here: https://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/popsci.html. View past talks on our Population Sciences channel. The Brown Bag talks have been organized into playlists: http://bit.ly/2kZvaME.
August 31, 11:40am-12:30pm. SPH Brown Bag: Layla Kwong: NORMalizing mask wearing – Science to scale-up. https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/95043139063
SAVE THE DATE – OFF CAMPUS
Thursday, September 9, 12 noon Eastern. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Florencia Torche, PhD, professor of sociology at Stanford University, will present “The COVID pandemic and inequalities in infant health.”Please register for online seminar.
Sep 10, 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT. CAPS Seminar: Ellen Meara, Professor of Health Economics and Policy, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. “Rising Geographic Disparities in U.S. Mortality” (joint with Ben Couillard, Chris Foote, Kavish Gandhi, Jon Skinner). Zoom Information:
https://syracuseuniversity.zoom.us/j/92815157662?pwd=bEZQUWJIVGJzMFgzSWpKcFgxN3lpZz09.
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Friday, September 17, 2021, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Pacific. “Leveraging Behavioral Sciences for Dementia Care” – a discussion about how the tools of behavioral sciences can be leveraged for better dementia care. Julie Zissimopoulos, co-director of the aging and cognition program at the USC Schaeffer Center will moderate the discussion with Lisa Walke, chief of the division of geriatric medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, and Joanna Lee Hart, assistant professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. The information link with registration link (at bottom) is: https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/events/leveraging-behavioral-sciences-for-dementia-care/
Friday, October 1, 2021 at 9:00am to 12:00pm EST 16th Annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography – Penn State. “Surviving Two Epidemics: Resilience and Health in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health (MLSFH) 1998-2021.” Location: State College, PA or virtual, TBD. Registration (required for attending and viewing the lecture online): redcap.ctsi.psu.edu/surveys/?s=L49FR9WEL8. Presented by Dr. Hans-Peter Kohler, Frederick J. Warren Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Population Aging Research Center, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kohler will present an overview of how respondents in the MLSFH have been affected by HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, and how they have managed to “survive” through challenging times. Discussants include Dr. Sam Clark, Professor of Sociology at The Ohio State University, and Dr. Mary K. Shenk, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Demography, and Asian Studies at Penn State. The De Jong Lecture is free and open to everyone. The decision of whether to hold the Lecture in person will be made in September and all registrants will be notified. The De Jong Lecture will be livestreamed and a recording will be available for a limited time. More information to come.
Monday, October 25, 2021 at 9:00am EST to Tuesday, October 26, 2021 at 4:00pm EST. 29th Annual Symposium on Family Issues – Penn State: “Environmental Impacts on Families: Change, Challenge, and Adaptation.” Location: State College, PA or virtual, TBD. Registration (required for attending and viewing the lecture online): https://redcap.ctsi.psu.edu/surveys/?s=E8C4JXMH7H. The Symposium is open to everyone. The decision to hold an in-person or virtual symposium will be made in September and we will notify registrants. Current Penn State policy states that all individuals are required to wear masks inside all university buildings, regardless of vaccination status. The symposium will be livestreamed and recorded for viewing. More details to come. More info: https://pop.psu.edu/events/29th-annual-national-symposium-family-issues.
Sept 9, 11 AM EDT. NACDA Webinar: HAALSI – Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa. HAALSI is a longitudinal, population-based survey implemented by the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and the Medical Research Council (MRC)/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand, and is funded by the National Institutes on Aging. HAALSI aims to examine and characterize a cohort of 5,059 men and women ≥ 40 years of age in rural South Africa with respect to health, physical and cognitive function, aging, and well-being, and is designed to be harmonized with other international HRS sister studies. This webinar will feature the HAALSI research team: Dr. Julia Rohr – Research Scientist/Project Director; Dr. Elyse Jennings – Research Scientist; David Kapaon – Research Assistant. Register HERE.
FUNDING
Network on Life Course Health Dynamics and Disparities in 21st Century America – Call for pilot proposals. Due Date: Friday, September 24, 2021 at 5:00pm EST. The Network on Life Course Health Dynamics and Disparities in 21st Century America (NLCHDD), funded by the National Institute on Aging, invites interested researchers to submit pilot proposals that have potential to better understand how US adult health and mortality outcomes are shaped by local contexts. By local, we mean the environments in which individuals spend most of their time, such as neighborhoods, or are exposed to social, economic, and physical conditions that are experienced at micro-spatial scales (e.g., neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation, industrial pollution, street and sidewalk conditions, community amenities). Please submit proposals as a single PDF file by Friday, September 24th to Kathy Forrest at agingnetwork@syr.edu . Timetable:
• September 24, 2021: Proposals due to Kathy Forrest at agingnetwork@syr.edu
• Week of October 11, 2021: Notification of decisions and request for IRB approvals.
• December 1, 2021: Estimated earliest start date after receipt of IRB approval.
Duration of Pilot Projects: Until June 30, 2022. See the FAQs page for information about timing: gero.usc.edu/nlchdd/pilot-projects/
Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Maximizing the Scientific Value of Secondary Analyses of Existing Cohorts and Datasets in Order to Address Research Gaps and Foster Additional Opportunities in Aging Research. The goal of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to encourage the use of existing cohorts and datasets for well-focused secondary analyses to investigate novel scientific ideas and/or address clinically related issues on: (1) aging changes influencing health across the lifespan (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD)), (2) diseases and disabilities in older persons, and/or (3) the changes in basic biology of aging that underlie these impacts on health (the hallmarks of aging). Activities of high priority include those addressing specific hypotheses in basic biological research, clinical aging research, behavioral or social research, and/or translational geroscience to inform: the design and implementation of future epidemiologic or human intervention studies; interventions in animal models of aging; research on behavioral and social factors over the life course that influence health (e.g., early life adversity); current geriatric practice in maintenance of health, disease management, and prevention of disability; or research testing of possible causal relationships between rates of aging and findings extracted by secondary analysis of the existing data. Existing datasets may also be used to develop and test new mathematical modeling and statistical analytical approaches. Analyses of sex and/or gender differences across health disparity groups (e.g., racial and ethnic groups, socioeconomic status, and sexual and gender minorities) are of high relevance. Use of cohorts that are linked to electronic health record systems and/or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administrative data are especially welcome. Please view the announcement (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-AG-21-020.html) for full information on topics of interest. If you are interested, we have an example of a successful R01 that uses existing data. This grant opportunity is either an R01 (larger, needs preliminary results) or an R21 (smaller, less proven).
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS AND SYMPOSIA
CANCELLED The Southern Demographic Association’s 2021 annual meeting will take place in Knoxville, Tennessee, Monday, October 4, through Wednesday October 6, 2021 at the Crowne Plaza Knoxville in the heart of downtown. This will also be a celebration of SDA’s 50th anniversary. The Southern Demographic Association was founded in 1970 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. To celebrate our 50th anniversary (minus one COVID year), we will return to the area of our founding by meeting in nearby Knoxville. Rate and reservation details are found at https://sda-demography.org/2021-knoxville.
RCMAR Symposium at APHA (Oct 25): RCMAR Scientists from around the country including Drs. Juan Banda, Courtney S. Thomas, Carrie Nieman, MD, MPH and Raheem Paxton, PhD, will present on innovative approaches to understanding the social determinants of health and health inequities for aging persons of color, with implications for programs and policies that address those issues. Dr. Nadereh Pourat, PhD, co-Director of the Coordinating Center along with Dr. Patricia Jones, NIA Director of the Office of Special Populations will facilitate the symposium. See more: https://rcmar.org/events-calendar/rcmar-symposium-at-apha-diverse-approaches-to-studying-diverse-populations-595/
Save the Date November 1-4, 2021: Fall 2021 NIH Virtual Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration (NIH). If you are an administrator, researcher, early-stage investigator, graduate student, or anyone new to working with the NIH grants process, then this seminar is designed specifically for you. More experienced? Attend our policy updates and check out our case study series. https://grants.nih.gov/2021-nih-virtual-seminar.htm
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Workshop on Comparative Adult Mortality Determinants which will take place in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California on February 25, 2022. Please find information on submission of an abstract and the workshop in the attached call. This workshop is jointly sponsored by Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging at UC Berkeley and the Center for Biodemography and Population Health at USC. Abstracts are due Oct 15.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Drop-in IT support for faculty/staff now available in Dwinelle Hall. Drop-in technical support is now available, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for faculty and staff in Dwinelle Hall, Room 128, across from the Academic Innovation Studio. You can also contact the ITCS Service Desk (510-664-9000, option 1) or submit a ticket (often the fastest) to help investigate something that stops working. Please note in your request if you cannot come to an IT support location and we will do our best to visit your location.
NextGenPop: Recruiting the Next Generation of Scholars into Population Research (co-PIs Kelly Musick and Marcy Carlson, with site leaders Ann Meier, Giovanna Merli, and Bryan Sykes). This new undergraduate summer research education program, funded by NICHD R25 HD105602 aims to significantly increase the pipeline of scholars from underrepresented backgrounds entering the field of population science. It will be an intensive nine-day summer residential program and an infrastructure for ongoing engagement of program participants. The summer program will be hosted in turn by Wisconsin, Cornell, Duke, UC-Irvine, and Minnesota. https://reporter.nih.gov/search/ucGteTnbTUSP3e0EhIHEKw/project-details/10270186. These research experiences are really important for undergrads, so when you see promising students, please let them know that this opportunity exists.
DATA
U.S. Census Bureau’s International Data Base (IDB). The IDB consists of estimates and projections of demographic indicators, including population size and growth (by sex and single year of age up to 100 and over), and components of change (mortality, fertility, and net migration) for 228 countries and areas. New features include a web map and the ability to query population pyramids for multiple countries and years. Example URLs are below:
*Map tab: www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/idb/#/map
*Population by age and sex tables (showing broad age/sex groups in 2021 and 2050, for example): www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/idb/#/…
*Population pyramids for multiple countries (showing estimated/projected pops in 2021 and 2050, for example): www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/idb/#/…
General information about the IDB is available here: www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/…
For developers, you can query the IDB API directly here: www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/…
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.
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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.