EVENTS
As in-person events are on hold, be sure to check out virtual talks and webinars.
Thursday-Friday, June 11-12, 9 AM – 12:30 PM. Special Event: Bayesian Analysis in Demography: A series of 6 talks over 2 mornings.
Thursday Conference
9:30 AM Jakub Bijak, Southampton University. “Bayesian estimation of uncertain migration flows: Principles and examples”.
10:15 AM Alex Stringer, University of Toronto. “Estimation of smooth, non-linear rate curves using Bayesian inference”
11:00 AM Monica Alexander, University of Toronto. “Using social media advertising data to estimate migration trends”
Friday Conference
9:30 AM Mark Wheldon, United Nationals Population Division. “Bayesian Demographic Estimation and Population Reconstruction”
10:15 AM Gabriel Borges, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Developing prior distributions from demographic estimates”
11:00 AM Leontine Alkema, University of Massachusetts. “TBA”
https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/
EVENTS
As in-person events are on hold, be sure to check out virtual talks and webinars.
Thursday-Friday, June 11-12, 9 AM – 12:30 PM. Special Event: Bayesian Analysis in Demography: A series of 6 talks over 2 mornings.
Thursday Conference
9:30 AM Jakub Bijak, Southampton University. “Bayesian estimation of uncertain migration flows: Principles and examples”.
10:15 AM Alex Stringer, University of Toronto. “Estimation of smooth, non-linear rate curves using Bayesian inference”
11:00 AM Monica Alexander, University of Toronto. “Using social media advertising data to estimate migration trends”
Friday Conference
9:30 AM Mark Wheldon, United Nationals Population Division. “Bayesian Demographic Estimation and Population Reconstruction”
10:15 AM Gabriel Borges, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Developing prior distributions from demographic estimates”
11:00 AM Leontine Alkema, University of Massachusetts. “TBA”
https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/95206197493?pwd=dEF3UlpJK1plUk5XUUR3bndERmFUUT09 (note; not the same as our usual Brown Bag zoom: full zoom info available by request).
View past talks on our Population Sciences channel. The Brown Bag talks have been organized into playlists: http://bit.ly/2kZvaME..
Wednesday, June 10, 9–10:15 a.m. (Pacific). COVID-19 in the global south: economic impacts and recovery (live webcast). COVID-19 is threatening the health and economic security of communities around the world, with dire implications for those living in poverty. As the pandemic unfolds, the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) is committed to sharing practical insights that can support evidence-based responses in the Global South. This panel will feature four experts from the CEGA research community: faculty co-Directors Ted Miguel and Josh Blumenstock, along with affiliates Supreet Kaur and Paul Niehaus. Panelists will discuss ongoing and completed research that sheds light on the economic toll of the pandemic, as well as the optimal design and targeting of cash transfer programs. We hope these insights will help to inform government and NGO decision-making in the face of what could quickly become a protracted crisis.
Live webcast: Friday, June 12, 12–1 p.m. (Pacific). Of virulent viruses and reservoir hosts. (live webcast). Bats are thought to harbor hundreds of coronaviruses, as well as many other types of viruses that are highly pathogenic in humans. Dr. Cara Brook and Professor Britt Glaunsinger will provide insight into what allows bats to exist with such an array of potentially lethal viruses, how pathogens like the coronavirus jump into the human population and how the coronavirus is able to hijack a human cell to amplify itself and evade the immune system. They will also discuss the coordinated efforts across UC Berkeley to track the virus, discover exactly how it works and develop new therapies. Speakers are: Britt Glaunsinger, Professor, Department of Plant & Microbial Biology & Class of 1963 Endowed Chair, HHMI Investigator Cara Brook, Miller Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Integrative Biology.
OFF CAMPUS EVENTS
Upcoming PAA Online Events. PAA members have organized several virtual events and sessions to keep the momentum going after PAA 2020.
Demographers of Color: Job-Seeking in the Times of COVID-19 Conversation, Friday, June 12, 6:00pm EDT. This virtual panel discussion features four PhD demographers of color who have worked in and outside academia. Panelists will share about their career and life experiences. Join us for a sincere discussion of pivots, resilience, and hope. Read more.
Rural Demographic, Economic, and Social Change. Thursday, June 18, 1:00pm EDT. This real time oral session was originally scheduled to be during the PAA 2020 Annual Meeting. Access information will be posted soon. Read more.
COVID-19 Data Collection in Longitudinal Studies. Tuesday, June 23, 1:00pm EDT. Are you interested in doing empirical work on COVID-19? This webinar session will detail how six existing publicly available longitudinal studies are incorporating new measures to capture peoples’ experiences of the pandemic. Read more.
FUNDING
Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Admin Supp – Clinical Trial Not Allowed). (PA-20-222). These grants are administrative supplements (read: much less work to prepare) to existing grants, typically R01s, but many others are reasonable provided there is at least 1 year, usually 2+, left in the project period, not including NCEs. If you are a researcher from an underrepresented group (as NIH defines them), then this is a great way to get additional funding, including salary. If you are a PI and have a promising URM scholar whose work is related to yours, this is an opportunity to provide support.
NIH Covid-related R01s to be announced. NIH institutes and centers will shortly release Funding Announcements for Covid-19 research. One will focus on health disparities for vulnerable populations, and another will focus on economic, social and behavioral aspects of the pandemic. So if you have something that could be funded more broadly, please start preparing. The due date will be mid-summer (est July 20), so not long from now. Contact me for help in strategizing and assembling any applications.
CONFERENCES
Now accepting abstracts for presentation at the UC Berkeley Social Networks Symposium. This brief two-day meeting (August 6-7, 2020) is for researchers interested in examining longitudinal data on ego-centric networks. It will be held virtually on Zoom just before the originally scheduled American Sociological Association 2020 conference. The event will be from approximately 9 AM PDT to 2 PM PDT each day. There will be a break for lunch and to be away from the screen, but the Zoom meeting will remain open during that time for networking. If you have experience with longitudinal analysis of ego-centric network data, we invite you to present on your work, including the challenges you have faced using panel data. If you are interested in conversing on these topics, we invite you to host or join one of our Breakout Rooms. Finally, let us know if you’re simply interested in attending and would like to receive a Zoom invite to join the symposium. Click on the ‘Sign Up Here’ button below to submit an abstract or to express interest in attending. All forms are due on July 1st, 2020. Submit your abstract and/or register here. Learn more about the symposium here: http://ucnets.berkeley.edu/news/.
Sunbelt is moving forward as a virtual event. The dates are July 13 to July 17. Registration will be free to members! Highlights will include our Simmel Award Keynote, INSNA Awards, Scientific Sessions with over 500 presentations, and a few other surprises to celebrate Sunbelt’s 40th Anniversary! Our Annual Business Meeting will be scheduled during the Virtual Sunbelt. A COVID-19 Satellite Meeting will follow Sunbelt, beginning on July 20. The call for abstracts is open until June 12th (https://www.insna.org/call-for-abstracts-covid-19-satellite-of-sunbelt-xl). Registration for this satellite meeting is free for our members and those who registered for Sunbelt. This meeting will be an opportunity to highlight the important ongoing COVID-related research that is being done within our social network community – we have a seat at this table! A hallmark of our annual scientific meeting is our Workshops. We are so grateful to our instructors who have agreed to donate their time to INSNA and provide their workshops virtually. Since available seats are limited, we are asking participants to pay a nominal fee to reserve their place in the workshops they would like to attend: $10 for members and $20 for non-members. We are working with our instructors to identify the best dates and times for their workshops, and updating the website daily. The website is open. To register for any of these activities, and for all the instructions with respect to online presentations, tracks, deadlines and timelines, go to: https://www.insna.org/events/sunbelt-virtual-conference. The program of the conference will be available before June 20.
The World Demographic Forum is scheduled to take place from October 22th – 24th 2020 in Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russian Federation. The aims of the World Demographic Forum are to generalize and update the problems of demographic development in Russia and foreign countries in the context of socio-economic, environmental, scientific, educational, investment and innovation development in a globalizing world; to search for ways to solve the problems of demographic, social, and ethno-cultural development of regions of Russia and foreign countries to improve the quality and standard of life of the population; to bring together researches and practitioners in an effort to lay the ground for future collaborative research, advocacy, and program development as well as to educate the adequate professionals in Demography. Note that all interested delegates that require entry visa to enter the Russian Federation to attend this conference will be assisted by the organizational committee. We are sure that this Forum will be a great opportunity for us to learn more about Your scientific activities, get acquainted with the field of your research, share our research experience, establish strong scientific relationships and have a good time. Speakers of the Forum will be leading experts, representatives of the scientific and expert community in the field of demography and sociology from Russia, as well as guests from other countries, executive and legislative authorities, leaders of civil society and the media. If you are not able to attend in person, in any case, Your article will adorn the materials of our Forum, make them more useful and in-depth. The Forum welcomes paper presentations from any interested participant willing to present papers during the meeting. For any further information you are to contact the Activities Coordinator Nataliya Yakovenko, Doctor in Geography, Professor, Head of the Department of Socio-economic Geography and Regional Studies at the Voronezh State University, Voronezh, Russian Federation. E-mail: n.v.yakovenko71@gmail.com
Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS). Virtual Conference, to be held October 5-9, 2020. Theme: “Making Sociology Actionable: Translation, Implementation, and Intervention Design for Social Change.” In order to remain a vibrant discipline and meet the topography of the current job market, the discipline of sociology must engage in more effective translation, dissemination, and implementation of its data, methods, and theory. AACS is dedicated to advancing sociological application and practice both within and beyond academia. We invite (virtual) participation in our annual meeting, which is open to all social and behavioral scientists and business, industry, non-profit, and government professionals. We offer professional development workshops, panels, paper sessions, and student competitions (paper, creative project, and problem-solving). Membership in AACS is all that is needed to unlock the door to this year’s virtual conference! Learn more by visiting AACS 2020 Virtual Conference – Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology
ANNOUNCEMENTS
NSF Proposal Changes: As you may know, beginning June 1, NSF will implement the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1) for proposals submitted or due on or after this date. As you may also be aware, NSF has delayed the requirement to use NSF-approved formats for the biographical sketch and current and pending support sections of NSF proposals until October 5, 2020. Proposers must continue to format these documents in accordance with PAPPG requirements (see PAPPG sections II.C.2.f and II.C.2.h). NSF encourages the community to use these formats and continue to provide valuable feedback as we enhance them for future implementation.
NSF has made updates reflecting this implementation to the following policy guidance, websites and frequently asked questions:
Biographical Sketch section of the PAPPG, Chapter II.C.2.f;
Current and Pending Support section of the PAPPG, Chapter II.C.2.h;
NSF-Approved Formats for the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support;
Frequently Asked Questions related to Current and Pending Support;
Frequently Asked Questions on Using SciENcv; and
Frequently Asked Questions on Using NSF Fillable PDF format.
WEBINAR
Next PAA2020 COVID Webinar: Data Collection in Longitudinal Studies. Are you interested in doing empirical work on COVID-19? PAA2020’s next COVID webinar on Tuesday, June 23 10:00 – 11:30 AM will detail how six existing publicly available longitudinal studies are incorporating new measures to capture peoples’ experiences of the pandemic. Please register in advance with this link. Session Organizer and Chair – Pam Herd Georgetown University. David Weir (University of Michigan): Health and Retirement Study (HRS) David Johnson (University of Michigan): Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Vicki Freedman (University of Michigan): National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) Carolyn Halpern (University of North Carolina): National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) Arie Kapteyn (University of Southern California): Understanding America Study (UAS) Deborah Carr (Boston University): National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1979) (NLSY) . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you have problems with registration, please email mzuletta@usc.edu.
Thursday, June 11, 1 pm PDT. “Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Policymaking: A Research Webinar”. Registration is required to join this event. If you have not registered, please do so now. Learn more and register here. This webinar describes the IES Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Policymaking grant program (84.305S) which supports state education agencies’ (SEAs’) use of their longitudinal data systems to generate evidence for making policy decisions. It also offers a potential opportunity for researchers outside of state government to collaborate with SEA staff.
ON THE WEB
“Early-warning system and response protocol for seasonal communities using San Juan County, WA” put together by Peter Morrison and David Swanson as an example. https://nwcitizen.com/entry/an-early-warning-covid-19-alert-and-response-protocol-for-san-juan-county-and-other-seasonal-resort-communities. As seasonal communities undertake to restore economic viability, they must remain alert to any harbingers of an emergent COVID-19 contagious surge so that emergency responses could be implemented. We offer a simple forecasting model for signaling such alerts that can inform day-by-day decisions about emergency preparedness and triggering pre-authorized mitigation responses. This model can derive useful “yellow” and “red” early warnings from the overall statistical trend in daily reported counts. Such a system enables detection to an impending risk, or to confirm the ongoing absence of risk as previously-imposed restrictions are gradually relaxed.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Remote instruction training program for graduate students. Graduate students may apply to participate in a Graduate Remote Instruction Innovation Fellows Program. The 8-week summer program runs from June 22 to Aug. 14. Participants will receive a summer stipend of $5,000. The program is intended for graduate students teaching discussion sections or stand-alone courses (e.g., Reading & Composition, studios, or foreign languages), and those GSIs who are assisting a faculty member in revising a course to be taught remotely in the fall. Application review will begin on a rolling basis on June 8, with the initial cohort of fellows selected by June 15, 2020. UC Berkeley plans to fund up to 200 GRI Innovation Fellows campuswide this summer. Interested graduate students should apply online.
D-LAB
All D-Lab workshop instruction, events, and consultation are moving to online delivery for the rest of the semester. The D-Lab Collaboratory and Convening Room will be closed to the public during this time. We will assess and share decisions at a later date about how and when we will return to in-person delivery. Be sure to check the D-lab calendar at the website, dlab.berkeley.edu. D-Lab offers training, individual consulting and data services for the UC Berkeley community – faculty to undergrads.
RELATED LISTS
JOBS
All jobs and postdoctoral fellowships are posted as we receive them on the Demography Department Jobs Listserv, http://lists.demog.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/jobs. This list advertises positions of all sorts relevant for social and behavioral scientists with advanced degrees.
MIGRATION MAILING LIST
Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative (BIMI.berkeley.edu) is a research center for the study of immigrants and immigration. BIMI has a mailing list which is where a good deal of immigration and migration announcements are posted, and only some of that material is posted on the PopSciences Weekly News. Sign up for it with this link
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH MAILING LIST
Tue$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.