The USC|UCLA Center for Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH) and the UC Berkeley Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging (CEDA) will co-host the 2026 Workshop on Determinants of Adult Mortality, Morbidity, and Healthy Aging in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). This one-day virtual workshop, held on March 6, 2026, will bring together researchers examining the biological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors that shape adult health and aging across diverse LMIC settings. Presentations will highlight empirical findings, methodological advances, and opportunities for cross-national collaboration in biodemography and population health. See attached conference schedule and also here.
The UC Berkeley Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging (CEDA) is pleased to announce a call for Emerging Scholar Pilots Awards will generally be from $25,000 to $75,000 over 1-2 years. Applications are due April 1, 2026. Details are attached, and also available on our website. Emerging Scholar Pilots will support early career researchers, including but not limited to NIH-defined early stage or new investigators (ESI/NI). As a condition of the pilot award an NIA R or K series grant must be submitted within two years of the Pilot Project award. To facilitate success, Emerging Scholar Pilot recipients will participate in CEDA’s Emerging Scholar Mentorship Program which will provide intensive, focused support for preparing grant submissions and related publications. Applicants may be at Berkeley or a nearby institution, and must be in positions eligible to submit NIH R or K series grants.
If you are in doubt about the suitability of your proposed research within the CEDA funding priorities, please email CEDA Director Will Dow, wdow@berkeley.edu, to discuss.
Please join our Brown Bag Seminar this Wednesday, March 4th at 12pm PT. Dan Zeltzer, Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy and Management, will present, “Intergenerational Correlation in Mortality: The Role of Chronic Conditions.” 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.
NIH Update: Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that Basic Experimental Studies with Humans (BESH) will no longer be classified as clinical trials for applications submitted to due dates on or after May 25, 2026. BESH studies will not be subject to NIH clinical trial requirements (including ClinicalTrials.gov registration and reporting), though all other applicable human subjects protections and NIH policies remain in effect. Read the full NIH announcement here.
Featured affiliate research of the week: Wildfire-Specific PM2.5 Asthma Risk Across a Disproportionately Burdened Pediatric Population in Northern California. (2026).
Rebecca Sugrue, Stephanie Holm, Andrew Nguyen, Morgan Ye, Rosana Aguilera, Dayna Long, Tarik Benmarhnia, Rosemarie De La Rosa, Neeta Thakur. GeoHealth. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GH001530.
See further announcements and opportunities below.
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EVENTS
March 2 | 2-3:30pm | Sociology Department Colloquium Series | Janet Vertesi, Associate Professor of Sociology, Princeton University. “The Cost of Crisis: Towards a Techno-socioeconomics of Big Science under Neoliberal Austerity.” 402 Social Sciences Building. Zoom link here; Meeting ID: 912 1296 2018. See event details.
March 4 | 12-1:05pm | UC Berkeley Demography Seminar Series | Dan Zeltzer, Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Division of Health Policy and Management, will present, “Intergenerational Correlation in Mortality: The Role of Chronic Conditions.” Room 310, Social Sciences Building and Zoom. Event details here. Meeting ID: 985 2901 0198 Password: DEMOG_BB
March 4 – 6 | 4:10 – 6:15pm | Tanner Lectures | Christopher Clark, Regius Professor of History University of Cambridge will be discussing The Moment of Decision. Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall. Learn more.
Lecture I – What is a decision?
Monday, May 4, 2026
4:10 pm – 6:15 pm
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall
Lecture II – The Decision in history
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
4:10 pm – 6:15 pm
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall
Lecture III – Seminar and Discussion
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
4:10 pm – 6:15 pm
Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall
CONFERENCES
Deadline for the Social Science History Association (SSHA) 2026 Proposals Extended to March 15th. The Call for Proposals for the 2026 SSHA in Atlanta, November 19-22, has been extended to March 15th. It will not be extended beyond that date. Members of SSHA receive a steep discount on the conference registration prices, and this year’s early bird price is lower than last year.
Our 2026 conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from November 19-22, 2026 at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel. This year’s theme is “Decentering Modernity.” The Call for Papers and conference submission system is now open. Click the button below to learn more and find the submission system. Submit here.
FUNDING
The Berkeley Collegium is pleased to issue a call for proposals to create and expand opportunities for undergraduates to engage in research and discovery. At our world-leading research institution, faculty are committed to intellectual discovery and creation, while also striving for excellence in their teaching. In its first decade, this grant program has aimed to join research and teaching by supporting faculty projects that introduce students to the methods and practices of research and discovery alongside its challenges and joys. We encourage applications that create opportunities for human-centric pedagogy.
The Collegium aims to fund up to five projects of up to $20,000 each over a 1-2 year grant period (depending on the nature of the project). More grants may be funded if budgets are under the $20,000 maximum. The grant period begins at the start of the fall 2026 semester.
Detailed information about the grant, as well as submission instructions and the submission form, can be found on the Collegium website.
All proposals must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 20, 2026. If you have questions, please email berkeley-collegium@berkeley.edu.
CALLS
Gateway to Global Aging Data announced a research hackathon for early-career researchers from July 27-30 in Washington, D.C. The hackathon is a team-based competition where participants will collaborate on a study investigating the role of education in determining risk, resilience, and disparities in non-communicable diseases, with a special interest in cognition. Winners will receive financial support for attending future conferences to present the work and journal article submission or publication costs. Learned more and submit your research proposals and CV by Friday, April 17, 2026.
Call for papers for a Special Issue on Polarization and Health in Social Science & Medicine, co-edited by Nora Kenworthy and Joseph Harris. Abstracts are due April 30, 2026. Details are available on the Social Science & Medicine website here.
Wittgenstein Centre Conference (WIC2026) – “Demography and Human Capital”
Vienna, Austria, 1-2 December 2026. Submission deadline: April 30 2026.The call for submissions for the Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2026 (WIC2026) “Demography and Human Capital” is now open. This conference aims to advance theories, data, and multi-dimensional demographic methods for modelling human capital formation and its dynamics over time, and to connect cutting-edge evidence to policy debates globally. Human capital – education, skills, health, and capabilities – is a central driver of demographic change and a key lens for understanding social and economic development, inequality, and resilience.
We invite contributions from all disciplinary background and methodological traditions.
Key information:
- Submission deadline: 30 April 2026
- Conference dates: Tuesday, 01 December 2026 – Wednesday, 02 December 2026
- Venue: Festive Hall, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
- Format: onsite participation only
Please note that the conference will take place immediately following the 50th anniversary celebration of the Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) on 30 November 30 2026 at the same venue. Conference participants are warmly invited to attend the VID’s 50th anniversary celebration as well.
WEBINARS
Toward a Demography of Crisis and Resilience
Online (Zoom), Tuesday 3 March 2026 – 13:00–14:30 Universal Time
[14:00–15:30 CET – Paris time]
Crises and shocks are reshaping population dynamics worldwide — from climate disruption and forced displacement to conflict, pandemics, and economic upheaval. What do these shocks mean for fertility, family life, migration, and health? And how can demographers support policy and crisis response when data is incomplete, delayed, or unreliable? This webinar brings the IUSSP plenary session Crises, Shocks and Resilient Populations, first held at IPC2025 in Brisbane last July, to a wider audience. Because the subject deserves broader discussion beyond the conference room, we are opening the conversation to all those who were unable to attend in person.
Join us for a lively roundtable exploring both short-term emergencies and longer-term demographic consequences — and what resilience really means in demographic terms.
Panelists & topics:
- Roman Hoffmann (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – IIASA) — The Climate Crisis
- Orsola Torrisi (McGill University) — Wars and Conflicts
- Natalie Nitsche (Australian National University) — Pandemics and Health Crises
- Cassio Turra (Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) — Economic and Political Shocks & Inequalities
- Arnstein Aassve (Bocconi University)— Resilient Populations
Moderator: Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi (Vienna Institute of Demography)
Q&A Moderator: Nico van Nimwegen (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute – NIDI)
IUSSP Debate: “When Populations Shrink: Should States Encourage Births or Adapt?”
Online (Zoom), Wednesday 1 April 2026 – 11:00–12:30 Universal Time
[New-York: 7am • Rio: 8am • Paris-Oslo-Vienna: 13:00 • Helsinki: 14:00 • New Delhi: 16:30 • Seoul-Tokyo: 20:00]
Join the IUSSP for a high-level virtual debate tackling one of the most consequential policy questions of the 21st century:
- Should nations with more deaths than births implement or increase incentives for childbearing and subsidies for child-rearing?
What does a society look like when natural population growth is no longer the default? Can financial subsidies truly compete with the powerful structural and cultural forces of the 21st century? Are there other options? Is human population decline a good thing so habitats of other species can expand instead of continuing to shrink? This debate brings together world experts to answer the ultimate question: Is population decline a policy failure to be fixed, or a new reality to be managed? Come prepared to have your assumptions challenged and to pose questions of the speakers as we consider options for countries with declining populations.
With opening insights on the question from Tomas Sobotka of the Vienna Institute of Demography, we bring together four world experts to debate:
- YES Team: Anna Rotkirch (Finland) & Reiko Hayashi (Japan)
- NO Team: Youngtae Cho (South Korea) & Vegard Skirbekk (Norway)