Join us this week for our next Brownbag Seminar of the semester on Wednesday February 19th, 12pm, with Jason Fletcher, Professor of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The title of Dr. Fletcher’s talk is “Moving Forward by Looking Back: New Evidence that Early Life Shapes Our Lifespan.” 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: Qualified, skilled or trained delivery care provider: a conundrum of who, where and when. BMJ Glob Health. 2024 Sep 18; 9(9). Ghosh R, Kayentao K, Beckerman J, Traore B, Rozenshteyn S, Johnson A, Treleaven E, Liu JX.
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See further announcements and opportunities below.
EVENTS
February 18 | 12:10-1pm | UC Berkeley School of Public Health Research Series | Lisa Simpson, Former President and CEO of Academy Health. “The Future of Health Services Research: Equity, Engagement, Impact.” Pre-register here.
February 19 | 12-1pm | UC Berkeley Demography Seminar | Jason Fletcher, Professor of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Moving Forward by Looking Back: New Evidence that Early Life Shapes Our Lifespan.” Room 310 in the Social Sciences Building, zoom option. Meeting ID: 985 2901 0198 Password: DEMOG_BB See the full event details here.
February 21 | 12-2pm | Brilliance of Berkeley: Week 5 | with Alex Filippenko, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, and Anu Manchikanti Gómez, Associate Professor, School of Social Welfare; Director, Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity Program.
Wheeler Hall Auditorium. On Friday, February 21, join to hear:
12:10-1pm: Alex Filippenko, “Exciting Results from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope”
1:10-2pm: Anu Manchikanti Gómez, “Reproductive Justice: A North Star for Advocacy and Research”
OPPORTUNITIES
The next BITSS Research Transparency and Reproducibility Training (RT2) will be held in Berkeley, CA from May 21-23, 2025. This is a great opportunity for students in PhD and Masters programs to gain and/or improve their research skills. RT2 is geared towards social science researchers and is open to graduate students, junior faculty, and the broader research community. Participants will receive hands-on training on open science tools and methodologies, including pre-specification and data management. Participants are expected to come prepared to present their own research project and to provide a statement on how RT2 will benefit their current research. The application deadline has been extended until Sunday, March 2nd.
Looking for cohort data collected from large, diverse, nationally representative samples of Americans followed from high school through mid/late life? These data are ideal for studying the social and biological pathways through which education and other early life factors shape later-life cognition and health. The Education Studies for Healthy Aging (EdSHARe) project has you covered and is offering a workshop at the 2025 Population Association of America Annual Meeting.
- The PAA EdSHARe workshop will be held in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, April 10, from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST in the Monument Room of the Marriott Marquis!
- Questions about EdSHARe or the PAA workshop? Please email: info@edshareproject.org.
Upcoming Russell Sage Foundation Application Deadlines. The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) offers grants and positions in our Visiting Scholars program for research. Here are the next deadlines for their programs:
• Core Research Grants (Core Programs and Special Initiatives): March 11, 2025
• Pipeline Grants Competition: October, 2025
• Dissertation Research Grants: February 2026
• Causal Research on the Criminal Justice System: March 11, 2025
• Fellowships (Visiting Scholars, Visiting Journalists, Visiting Researchers): June 25, 2025
Note: there are other opportunities available through their Summer Institutes and the RSF Journal. More information.
Summer Workshop – Panel Study of Income Dynamics – Application Portal Open. 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 genomics data collected from children and adults as well as new data files which explain family relationships and demographic characteristics over time. Eligibility: The workshop is designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and research professionals.
Software: Participants should be familiar with Stata, SAS or R, but all examples used in the workshop will be in Stata. R code will be available for each lab as well.
Fee: $100 for those accepted into the workshop. Travel stipends will be available for those who need financial assistance. Learn more and apply.
Call for Applications: The Barcelona Four Seasons School of Demography (Bcn4Seasons School) offers short courses on relevant topics and techniques in social sciences. Registrations for all the Bcn4Seasons School 2025 courses are open. Explore our courses and register!
CALL FOR PAPERS
Workshop on Health and Mortality in Latin America
Montevideo, Uruguay, 17-18 September 2025
The Health and Mortality and ProDatos panels of the Latin American Population Association (ALAP) are pleased to announce their 1st Workshop on Health and Mortality in Latin America, to be held at the Universidad de la República, Faculty of Social Sciences in Montevideo (Uruguay) on September 17 and 18, 2025. This workshop will focus on discussing recent changes in health and mortality profiles in Latin American countries, as well as the challenges these pose for different countries.
We invite you to send contributions that explore the following topics:
- The health transition in Latin America
- Economic and social determinants of health and mortality
- Spatial analysis of health and mortality
- Maternal and child mortality
- Demographic effects of violence
- Migration, health, and mortality
- Impacts of climate change on health and mortality
- Innovative methods for the analysis of mortality and health
- Challenges related to the comparability of health and mortality data in the region
The above list is not exhaustive and other topics will also be considered as long as the focus is on aspects about Latin American health and mortality.
We invite structured abstracts (e.g., background, objectives, data, methods, expected results) with a maximum length of 2 pages in PDF format. Abstracts in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French are welcome. Contributions may be based on analysis of empirical data, present innovative methods, or theoretical knowledge. Abstract submission deadline: April 20, 2025. To submit your abstract, please use the following form. The results of the selection will be communicated by May 15, 2025.
Please note that limited funding may be available to support the participation of selected paper presenters from students and researchers whose main affiliation is a Latin American institution, contingent upon availability of funds.
The organizers will select exceptional submissions for a special issue on “Health and Mortality in Latin America” to be published in the Estudios Demográficos y Urbanos journal of El Colegio de México.
Do not hesitate to contact us by email at saludymortalidad.alap@gmail.com for any questions.
Organizing Committee:
- Catalina Torres, Programa de Población, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
- Jenny García, Institut National d’Études Démographiques, France
- José Manuel Aburto, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Oxford.
- Víctor M. García-Guerrero, Center for Demographic, Urban & Environmental Studies, El Colegio de México, México
- Enrique Acosta, Centro de Estudios Demográficos de Barcelona
- Hiram Beltrán Sánchez, Community Health Sciences and California Center for Population Research (UCLA), USA.
- Bernardo Queiroz Lanza, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil.
EAPS Health, Morbidity, and Mortality Working Group Meeting
University of Luxembourg – Belval Campus, Luxembourg, 10–12 September 2025
The EAPS Health, Morbidity, and Mortality Working Group is pleased to announce its next meeting on the Theme “Living Longer, Living Better? Inequality in Health and Longevity”, which will take place at the University of Luxembourg, Belval Campus, 10–12 September 2025. The meeting will focus on how social inequalities shape health and longevity across time, countries, and population groups. Contributions on trends, inequalities, innovative methods, and theoretical advances are welcome.
Read the call for papers here.
- Submission Deadline: 15 April, 2025
- Notifications: 31 May, 2025
- All presentations will be on-site, either as posters or oral presentations (20+10 minutes).
New Ways of Transcribing, Visualizing, Publishing, and Providing Access to Data on Epidemics and Contagious Diseases
Online only, 18 June 2025
As part of the IUSSP Scientific Panel on ‘Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past’, we will be hosting a one-day online-only workshop on the topic of ‘New ways of transcribing, visualizing, publishing, and providing access to data on epidemics and contagious diseases” at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) on 18 June 2025.
The aim of the event is to bring together experts from various disciplines who are working directly or indirectly on methodological questions of how to transcribe, visualise and publish tabular or otherwise structured or unstructured data in research with handwritten or printed historical sources as effectively as possible using innovative and modern methods. The focus is on methods and sources, and workflows along the entire pipeline are of interest. Participants can focus on one of these aspect, or present work in progress, experiences or lessons learned. The aim is also to learn from each other and to provide each other with insights into best practice, and, as an overarching goal, to start new collaborations and build a community that will meet more regularly afterwards.
Submission: Please submit your abstract (300 words max) by 1 March 2025 using the IUSSP Abstract Submission Form. If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please contact Kaspar Staub (kaspar.staub@iem.uzh.ch).
WEBINARS
Cross-Center Webinar: The Pros and Cons of Virtual vs. In-Person Interaction for Older Adults
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 | 1:00pm-2:30pm (EDT). Register here. In this 90-minute webinar, NIA-funded researchers will describe how social media and new technologies may enhance—or limit—social connectedness and emotional well-being among older adults.
Daily Social Media Use, Social Ties, and Emotional Well-Being in Later Life
Karen L. Fingerman, Ph.D.
Wilson Regents Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences
Director, Texas Aging and Longevity Center
Director of Research, Center on Aging and Population Sciences (CAPS) Program Development and Pilot Core
University of Texas at Austin
Home Alone Together: Differential Links between Momentary Contexts and Real-Time Loneliness among Older Adults from Chicago during Versus before the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ellen L. Compernolle, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist, NORC
University of Chicago
Social Connection and Gene Regulation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Divergent Patterns for Online and In-Person Interaction
Steven W. Cole, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology
Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences
Director, UCLA Social Genomics Core Laboratory
University of California at Los Angeles
FUNDING
AHRQ Examining the Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Healthcare Safety (R18)
Due May 25, 2025; September 25, 2025
The purpose of this NOFO is to invite grant applications that support healthcare safety by determining (1) whether and how certain breakthrough uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems can affect patient safety; and (2) how AI systems can be safely implemented and used. AI has the potential to improve the safety, effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare. However, as with most technologies, this potential must be balanced by identifying and mitigating potential risks for patient harm and user burden.
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AHRQ Health Services Research Demonstration and Dissemination Grants (R18)
Due May 25, 2025; September 25, 2025
The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to seek health services research grant applications focused on AHRQ research priorities, including improving healthcare quality and patient safety, improving healthcare delivery and practice improvement, and enhancing whole-person healthcare delivery. AHRQ supports research in all healthcare settings, including the hospital, long-term care, ambulatory care, home healthcare, pharmacy, and care transitions between settings. Research may involve many partners and other groups, including patients, families, clinicians, non-clinical healthcare staff, policymakers, payers, healthcare organizations, providers and accreditors, local and State governments, the Federal Government, and others.
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Short Courses on Innovative Methodologies and Approaches in the Behavioral and Social Sciences (R25 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
Due April 9, 2025
This RFA is to support courses for skills development in cross-cutting methodologies and analytics that are needed to advance behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR) but are not well-addressed by existing educational programs widely available to the BSSR community. A definition of BSSR can be found at (https//obssr.od.nih.gov/about/bssr-definition/). Short courses supported by this RFA should develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate education and training focused on innovative methods for BSSR. Methodological domains of focus include, but are not limited to, innovative data collection methodologies and analytic techniques, analysis and linking of big data (“Big data” in this NOFO refers to large, complex, longitudinal, and/or distributed data sets generated from administrative data systems or health systems, instruments, sensors, devices, internet transactions, email, video, click streams, and/or all other digital sources available today and in the future), or needed but underutilized designs to advance research across the translational spectrum.
Berkeley Population Center