Weekly News, June 9, 2025

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On June 9, 2025, hundreds of NIH scientists and staffers signed the “Bethesda Declaration” in protest of the politicization of science and science funding at the NIH. Read the Bethesda Declaration: A Call for NIH and HHS Leadership to Deliver on Promises of Academic Freedom and Scientific Excellence. In addition, here’s where to sign a public declaration of support for the document and its signers (scroll down). 

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NIH is moving towards a process where planned funding opportunities will appear as forecasts in Grants.gov, which is similar to NIH’s Notice of Intent to Publish or NIA’s Approved Concepts. The Grants.gov forecasts are particularly useful in terms of the level of detail about the scientific scope of the potential funding opportunity, activity code, and timeline to enable investigators sufficient lead time to form collaborations and plan proposals. Some examples of planned NIA funding opportunities:

PRB Launches Federal Data Forum Amid Rising Threats to Public Data. Amid ongoing changes to how public data are collected and shared, PRB launched the Federal Data Forum, a new online hub designed to unite the diverse community of federal data users from across the nation. This is a partnership between PRB and Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute; the forum invites people across states and sectors to share data, resources, and information and to collaborate on issues related to the U.S. federal statistical system and federal data products. This new online community will foster connection and collaboration among federal data users across sectors and states. 

Questionnaire on the use of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data. The Population Division and Statistics Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) would like your help to assess the potential impact of termination of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). If you use, or have used, DHS data, please complete this brief survey. The survey collects information about the aspects of the DHS that you have used and examples of research using DHS data. Your response will help inform the direction and key elements of future demographic and health data collection and dissemination, supporting alignment with user needs and priorities. All responses will be treated confidentially and presented only in aggregate form. Deadline for responding: June 30, 2025.

SAVE THE DATE: 2025 IUSSP General Assembly & Elections. In the forthcoming IUSSP elections and General Assembly, members are called upon to help shape the direction of the Union for the next 4 years. The IUSSP General Assembly will take place online on Thursday 13 November from 13:00 to 14:30 UTC (Save the link in your calendar). Elections for IUSSP Officers and Council members for 2026-2029 will take place from 15 September to 27 October 2025. Following the procedure outlined in the IUSSP Constitution (article 10), the Committee on Nominations has prepared a first list of candidates and, to date, one additional nomination was made by members. (See current list of candidates).

See further announcements and opportunities below.

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CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS

American Sociological Association, 120th Annual Meeting. Chicago, Illinois, August 8-12, 2025.  Registration is open: Early bird deadline is July 1, 2025. Visit the registration information page for details on rates and policies. All program participants are required to register for the meeting. A participant is anyone listed as an author, presenter, presider/table presider, discussant, panelist, moderator, leader, or any similar substantive role on the program. For multiple-authored papers, co-authors who are not presenting and who will not be attending the Annual Meeting are not required to register.

First Annual Meeting of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Coordinating Center on the Economics of AD/ADRD Prevention, Treatment, and Care.

June 12, 2025 | Rockville, MD.  Register here for the First Annual Meeting of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Coordinating Center on the Economics of AD/ADRD Prevention, Treatment, and Care on June 12, 2025 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Rockville, MD, funded by the National Institute on Aging. Join us to engage with the Center’s researchers to foster collaboration and enhance opportunities for translating findings into policy and practice. Keynotes include Courtney Van Houtven (Duke University) and Amitabh Chandra (Harvard University). Principal Investigators Rhoda Au (Boston University), Julie Bynum (University of Michigan), and Kathleen M. McGarry (UCLA) will moderate research panels on subjects ranging from the Economics of Caregiving to the Economics of Medical Care for People Living with AD/ADRD.  Registration is open and free, and the venue is metro accessible. Furthermore, parking vouchers will be available. Visit the meeting’s website for more information and registration. Any questions can be directed to Colette.li@roseliassociates.com.

Meeting of the 2025 EAPS Working Group on Register-Based Fertility Research – Call for Abstracts. The recent decline in fertility in many countries, including Western and Northern Europe, has raised new questions regarding contemporary fertility behavior. The EAPS Working Group on Register-Based Fertility Research is dedicated to promoting the use of emerging register data to study fertility and family dynamics. The upcoming meeting of the working group will take place November 17-18, 2025 at University of Antwerp, Belgium, and will feature a scientific program of research presentations and provide opportunities for informal exchange and networking. We invite submissions of research on fertility that leverages register data, whether ongoing or recently completed. Join us in contributing to this vital area of research and engaging in discussions with fellow scholars.  Abstracts should clearly articulate the research objective, methodology, and key findings in 350 words or less, and include the full names and affiliations of all authors. Submissions will undergo a peer-review process, with accepted abstracts eligible for oral or poster presentations. We encourage researchers at all career stages to submit an abstract. There is no participation fee, but participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. The deadline to submit your short abstract is August 1, 2025 by email to meeting2025@uantwerpen.be.

Online IUSSP Workshop: New ways of transcribing, visualizing, publishing, and providing access to data on epidemics and contagious diseases. The IUSSP Scientific Panel on ‘Epidemics and Contagious Diseases: The Legacy of the Past’, is organizing this online-only workshop on the topic of ‘New ways of transcribing, visualizing, publishing, and providing access to data on epidemics and contagious diseases”, hosted at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) on 18 June 2025. Online, 18 June 2025 – 7:30 to 12:00 UTC (09:30 to 14:00 CEST / Swiss time). The event is open to all interested listeners. Please register in advance. 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. 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. If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please contact the organizer of this workshop: Kaspar Staub, University of Zurich (kaspar.staub@iem.uzh.ch).

Data-Intensive Research Conference

August 6-7, 2025 | Minneapolis, MN + Virtual. Registration is open for the annual Data-Intensive Research Conference. The conference theme this year is, Understanding Health and Population Dynamics through Big Microdata. Check out the preliminary program and plan to join us virtually or in Minneapolis this summer.

WEBINARS

Challenging the Low-Fertility Panic: A New Narrative for Reproductive Health. We are witnessing an unprecedented and global shift to lower fertility. As panic over a world with fewer children grows, what are the implications for reproductive health and autonomy for women, couples, and families? PRB kicks off its virtual event series on a smaller world with a data-driven conversation on how fearful narratives around low fertility are shifting approaches to sexual and reproductive health and rights, even in countries with higher fertility. Join experts from across contexts to discuss the challenges and opportunities of this new reality—and to explore resilient, people-centered responses. Date and time: Thursday, June 26, 10-11:30am ET. Read more and RSVP here.

FUNDING

Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges is requesting proposals for a Randomized Controlled Trial on Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) and Reproductive Tract Sequelae in Non-Pregnant Women. Their goal is to support rigorous clinical research to evaluate the prevention, diagnosis, and management of STIs and their long-term reproductive consequences, such as pelvic inflammatory disease. Submission deadline is Monday, July 7, at 11:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time.  Review the full details for this opportunity on the Grand Challenges website. They are planning a webinar to provide more information and answer your questions on June 17 from 7:00-8:00 AM Pacific Time. To participate, please register and submit your questions ahead of time.

Center for Aging, Climate, and Health (CACHE): 2025 Call for Seed Grant Proposals. The Center for Aging, Climate & Health is pleased to announce seed funding for projects integrating social and environmental data to examine the intersections of aging, climate, and health. We envision 2-3 awards of $20,000 and several smaller awards at $7,500. Investigators who are eligible to be Principal Investigators of NIA-funded projects. (Doctoral students are not eligible for doctoral study support via this call.) Proposals will be evaluated in terms of merit and innovation; significance, both substantive and in terms of the potential for the resulting code and data to fuel further research; involvement of early-stage investigators; potential to lead to larger scale, NIA-funded research. The potential for external funding, primarily through NIA, is an important consideration for investment of CACHE funding. Deadline: June 20, 2025. For more details see call for proposals.


2025 LBDA Research Project Award – Economic Burden of LBD. The objective of the 2025 LBDA Research Project Award is to quantify, describe and characterize the economic impact of LBD (inclusive of both dementia with Lewy bodies [DLB] and Parkinson’s disease dementia [PDD]) in the United States. This includes the impact on 1) people living with LBD, 2) their care partners and families, and 3) healthcare systems and community resources compared to age-matched, non-LBD affected families in the United States. Application Due Date: August 11, 2025. Award Budget: Up to $150,000 total, including up to a maximum of 10% indirect costs. Award Project Period: 1 year.

CALLS

Call for Papers: Special Issue of the journal Space Populations Societies on “The Populations of Mexico.” The journal Space Populations Societies is calling for papers on “The Populations of Mexico”. The deadline for the submission of extended abstracts (1-2 pages) is 1 July 2025. Abstracts may be submitted in French, English or Spanish. Articles must be submitted in English or French. You can find all the necessary information at the following link: https://journals.openedition.org/eps/15994 Deadline for submissions: July 1 2025

Call for Proposals: Leveraging Partnerships with Governmental Agencies to Advance Prevention Science, Policy, and Practice. The journal Prevention Science is inviting letters of intent proposing manuscripts for potential publication in a forthcoming special issue, “Leveraging Partnerships with Governmental Agencies to Advance Prevention Science, Policy, and Practice.” This special issue will bring together original papers from scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the prevention science field to highlight exemplary partnership models between researchers and governmental agencies that have produced empirical research with impacts on prevention practice and policy decisions. For more information read here. 

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Call for Papers. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) announces a call for papers for the 2025 Annual User Conference. The conference encourages submissions that use data from PSID or its supplements—the Child Development Supplement (CDS), the Transition into Adulthood Supplement (TAS), the Disability and Use of Time Supplement (DUST), the Childhood Retrospective Circumstances Study (CRCS), or the Wellbeing and Daily Life Supplement (WB). The submission deadline is July 1st, 2025. Papers will be accepted for the conference, either for presentation or as posters. The conference will be held at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, September 18-19th, 2025. Travel and lodging expenses will be covered for one author per accepted paper/poster. Meals will be provided to all conference participants. Notification of decisions will be sent by July 15th, 2025. For more information, contact Noura Insolera.

Call for Perspectives on NIH-Funded Pediatric Research. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Strategies to Enhance Pediatric Health Research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is inviting pediatric health researchers to share their experiences with and perspectives on the NIH pediatric research portfolio and structure. The committee is interested in hearing about ongoing barriers for NIH pediatric research applicants, financial and administrative burdens affecting pediatric research, the inclusion of pediatrics in broader NIH initiatives and study sections, and how NIH has engaged with the research community to establish pediatric research priorities. For the purposes of this questionnaire, please consider pediatric research as research in which a) a significant percentage of participants are younger than 21 years old and/or b) the aims and public health relevance focus on conditions or developmental processes that typically originate and manifest in childhood. Please visit the project website for more information, including the committee’s complete statement of task. The call for perspectives will close at 11:59 pm ET on July 1, 2025. Please contact project staff at pediatricresearch@nas.edu with any questions.

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