We are delighted to announce a new seminar series, ‘Population Biology and Ecology of Infectious Diseases,’ beginning spring semester 2026. The series is co-sponsored by the Berkeley Population Center and the Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases. Our hope is to create a sustained community of scholars working on infectious disease dynamics across disciplinary boundaries.
We welcome works-in-progress talks from students, postdocs, and faculty, and will intersperse these with a few more formal sessions from invited outside speakers. Seminars will take place every Friday from 12-1pm, kicking off on January 30, 2026. All talks will be held in Room 310 of the Social Sciences Building, and lunch will be served. We aim to additionally organize an informal happy hour to take place off campus on the last Friday of every month. If you would like to be added to the email list-serve to receive notifications about this seminar series, please fill out this form. Please help us spread the word, and encourage your students and postdocs to attend.
Thanks from the organizers!
Ayesha Mahmud (Demography)
Cara Brook (Integrative Biology)
Serina Chang (EECS & Computational Precision Health)
Mike Boots (Integrative Biology)
Charlie Whittaker (Public Health)
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Join us for our last brownbag seminar talk of the semester on Wednesday, November 19th, 12pm, with Jan de Vries, Ehrman Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at UC Berkeley, presenting “Demographic Reproduction in the Early Modern City: Testing the Urban Graveyards and Sharlin Theses.” The event will take place in Room 310 in the Social Sciences Building and available via zoom. See the full event details here. Our YouTube channel is here. Visit our Brown Bag event page for both past and upcoming talks here.
Also join us for our end of the year ‘Population Sciences Lunch,’ a gathering for our community of population researchers, co-hosted by BPC and CEDA, on Wednesday, December 3rd, 12pm in our seminar room, 310. You are all invited, and lunch will be provided. Just bring yourselves!
Featured affiliate research of the week: Narratives and destigmatization: the case of criminal record stigma in the labor market. David J. Harding, Maria S. Smith, Da Eun Jung, Stephanie Luna-Lopez & Amanda Glazer. (2025). American Journal of Cultural Sociology.
See further announcements and opportunities below.
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EVENTS
November 17 | 2-3:30pm | Sociology Department Colloquium Series | Rawshan Ray, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland. “Rotten Trees: Racism and Bad Apples in American Policing.” 402 Social Sciences Building, and zoom.
November 18 | 12:10-1pm | Public Health Research Series | Barbara Laraia, Professor, Community Health Services, UC Berkeley School of Public Health. ““Food Insecurity during Pregnancy: Life Course and Intergenerational Effects.” More information here.
November 19 | 12-1:05pm | UC Berkeley Demography Seminar Series | Jan de Vries, Ehrman Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at UC Berkeley, who will present, “Demographic Reproduction in the Early Modern City: Testing the Urban Graveyards and Sharlin Theses.” 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.
CONFERENCES
The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA)‘s annual Pacific Conference for Development Economics (PacDev) is the West Coast’s largest annual conference on development. The event brings together researchers and practitioners to present and discuss work that enhances our understanding of economic development, advances theoretical and empirical methods, and improves development interventions and policy. PacDev welcomes paper submissions in all research topics in development economics. Priority will be given to full papers, but extended abstracts will also be considered. Submissions from junior researchers are encouraged, including submissions for a Junior Researcher poster session that is open to doctoral students in their third year or below, masters students and graduates, and advanced undergraduates. The deadline for submission is Sunday, December 14th at 11:59PM PST. Authors will be notified about the results of their submission by January 16th. See the call and submit your paper.
The Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics (CPop) will host an ERC Workshop on “A Unified Perspective on Formation and Dissolution Processes in Demography,” 9-11 March 2026, at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense. We welcome contributions on macro trends in fertility, couple, family, and household formation/dissolution patterns. Abstract deadline: 19 December 2025. Full call linked here. Formal demographers are particularly encouraged to contribute.
The British Society for Population Studies 2026 annual conference will be held September 8-10 2026 at the University of Kent, Canterbury. The conference hosts researchers in population studies at all career stages working in academia, policy and other related fields. The BSPS 2026 call for sessions and strands is now open. Deadline January 16, 2026. See details and submit.