We are looking forward to hosting CSDE Affiliate Andrew Messamore from the University of Washington for the first seminar of Winter 2026 Quarter on Friday, January 9 in Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative. 

Declining sole proprietorship rates among landlords are viewed as indicators of growing corporate control of rental housing. However, declines in sole proprietorship may reflect the popularization of investment vehicles across amateur landlords, causing studies to overestimate the ownership share of firms. Moving beyond political economy, this presentation conceptualizes landed capitalism as a complex and adaptive housing system, and proposes declines in sole proprietorship reflect the emergence of ownership opacity across the landlord population. Evaluating this perspective through an enumeration of landownership in Austin, Texas, results from longitudinal analysis show that the ownership share of small landlords is stable, but that processes of portfolio consolidation, investor adaptation, and regulatory evasion are encouraging opaque ownership structures across landlords of nearly all sizes. These findings suggest ownership opacity is a form of emergent complexity created by population evolution among landlords, and demonstrate the utility of housing systems theory for both the field of comparative landownership studies and policies that aim to address disparities in housing ownership and tenure.

Happy New Year! Winter 2026 CSDE seminars will resume this Friday, January 9, 2026. Seminar posters are available here or can be picked up during seminar.  You can also subscribe to our Trumba Events to receive regular announcements about CSDE-sponsored events.

CSDE Affiliate Andrew Messamore (Sociology) will kick off the quarter on January 9 with a talk on "The Emergence of Ownership Opacity in Landed Capitalism: Consolidation, Adaptation, Evasion." See more below. Then on January 16, a panel on gun violence will feature CSDE Affiliates Avanti Adhia (Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing & Epidemiology) and Ali Rowhani-Rahbar. On January 23, Sarah Komisarow (Public Policy & Economics, Duke University) will present evidence from North Carolina on school-based support for children’s mental health.  On January 30, Bussarawan “Puk” Teerawichitchainan (Sociology & Population Studies, National University of Singapore) will present “Aging with Limited Kin: Childlessness and Care Arrangements in Singapore and Thailand.” On February 6, Michael Schultz (Public Policy & Governance) will discuss “Occupations, Careers, and Opportunity: A Structural Approach to Studying Economic Mobility over the Life Course.” On February 13, Kristin Perkins (Sociology & Public Affairs, Georgetown University) will present “The Hidden Private Safety Net: Shared Households and Older Adults’ Housing Costs.” On February 20, CSDE Affiliate Gabriella Levy (Political Science) will speak on “Gendered Dissent and Social Threat: Attitudes Towards Protest Repression in Colombia.” On February 27, Robert Crosnoe (Sociology, University of Texas at Austin) will discuss the journey into adulthood in uncertain times. Jake Watson (UCSD) will deliver the final CSDE seminar of Winter quarter on March 13, speaking on "Infrastructures of Resettlement: How Bureaucratic Legacies Shaped Racial Disparities in Post-Cold War Refugee Selection. In addition, the CSDE Winter 2026 Lightning Talks & Poster Session will take place in Raitt Hall 221 on March 6

CSDE Affiliates Vince Wang (Real Estate), Arthur Acolin (Real Estate), Rebecca Walter (Real Estate) examined employment status and wage trajectories of recipients of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program from 2005 to 2018 in a recent article in Housing Policy Debate. Drawing on a national dataset containing 22.5 million householder-year observations, the study shows most housing voucher recipients did not work while in the program, and those who did earned relatively low wages despite some growth. These results highlight that the Housing Choice Voucher program is primarily a housing stability policy for people outside the labor force. Efforts to encourage program exit should focus on the smaller group of recipients in the workforce, supporting their employment goals.

CSDE Affiliate Patricia Louie (Sociology) examined the implications of multiracial status for health by examining specific multiracial groups (Black-White, Black-Asian, and Asian-White adults) versus their monoracial counterparts in an article published in Race and Social Problems. Louie and her co-author draw on an 11-year pooled sample of the nationally representative Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (2002–2012) and find that different hypotheses fit the health risk status of different multiracial groups. The upward assimilation hypothesis applies to Asian-White adults (closer to White adults than Asian adults), the minority status hypothesis applies to Black-Asian adults (closer to Black adults than to Asian adults), and Black-White adults have profiles that differ depending on the outcome under study.  The results provide insights into how specific combinations of multiracial status fit into the racialized social structure as well as the analytic benefits of disaggregating multiracial people into their component groups.

CSDE External Affiliate Ethan Raker (University of British Columbia) and co-authors recently published an article in Demography on “Severe Tornadoes and Infant Birth Weight in the United States”. The authors merged 1991 – 2017 county-month data on singleton births with block-group-level monthly data on the paths of severe tornadoes and block-group data on the distribution of the population at risk of a birth, and then estimated difference-in-differences models in which the treatment variable is equal to the percentage of the population at risk of a birth affected by the tornado. Exposure to a tornado during pregnancy reduced birth weight for Black mothers.

Each quarter, CSDE offers 3-5 workshops on data sources, statistical and biomarker methodology, introductions to analysis programs, and more, all given by CSDE staff and faculty affiliates. These workshops can include hands-on training in novel methods and programming, lectures on innovative data sources, and discussions of important issues in research and data collection. Over the course of the academic year, CSDE will offer a diverse and exciting set of workshops, some of which will be offered in person and others remotely via Zoom.

• Survey Methods I: Online Survey Design & Administration with REDCap
  
  • Date & Time: Thursdays Jan 20 and 22 @ 10:00AM–12:00PM
  • Instructors: Matt Dunbar & Paul Litwin
• Survey Methods II: Statistical Analysis of Surveys in R
  
  • Date & Time: Tuesday Jan 27 @ 10:00AM–12:00PM
  • Instructors: Jessica Godwin
• Biomarker Lab Methods I: Immunoassay Principles
  
  • Date: Tuesday, Jan 27 @ 3:00PM-4:00PM
  • Instructor: Tiffany Pan

RSF: Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences calls for articles for a special double issue celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS).  RSF seeks papers that draw on diverse sources of data, including the FFCWS, and other data (surveys, administrative data, qualitative data), and a range of methods to engage with the major themes studied within the FFCWS: how contemporary families are structured and function; and what family and contextual factors shape their trajectories. RSF is especially interested in work from emerging scholars and on topics at the cutting edge of family, mobility, and the life course.

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double space of their study along with up to three pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM EST on January 7, 2026.

Organization: Society for Research in Child Development

Award amount: $25,000

Sponsor deadline: 01/09/2026

Description:  In tribute to Vicki’s role as a guiding light in the early careers of many distinguished scientists, the Victoria S. Levin Award has been established. Its aim is to foster early career success in achieving funding for research that is informed by developmental science to address concerns affecting the early foundations of children’s mental health. The Award will add measurably to Vicki’s dream of a society in which all children are protected from disabling mental health problems by getting the healthiest start in life. (read more)

The Young Scientist Summer Program (YSSP) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), is currently accepting applications to its 2026 program. The closing date is January 12, 2026 at midnight CET.

The program, which takes place from June to August, is designed for PhD students (ideally about 2 years prior to receiving their PhD) working on a topic compatible with ongoing research at IIASA and a wish to explore the policy implications of their work.

The call for papers is now open for the upcoming conference "Kinship Structures, Dynamics, and Inequalities," which will take place on June 8-9, 2026 at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany. The event is organized by the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Kinship Structures, Dynamics and Inequalities; MPIDR; NYU Abu Dhabi; Pennsylvania State University; and the National University of Singapore. Extended abstracts (maximum two pages, PDF) must be submitted via the conference website by January 12.

The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is inviting applications from qualified and highly motivated students for a Summer Research Visit.

The goal of the Population and Social Data Science Summer Incubator Program is to enable discovery by bringing together data scientists and population scientists to work on focused, intensive and collaborative projects of broad societal relevance. For a period of 3 months (June 8 – August 21, 2026) participating students will work in small teams, with support from experienced mentors, towards a common research goal. Apply by January 14, 2026. More information can be obtained here.

Abstract submissions are now open for the 2026 Data-Intensive Research Conference. The 2026 conference theme is Novel Data Linkages and Innovative Life Course Research. Enriching population data through data linkage creates novel data sources that can shed light on life course processes. Linking across time allows for the examination of transitions and trajectories and linking to contextual information situates the experiences of individuals and populations in their environments. Review the call for proposals and submit an abstract.

• Research Awards – up to $15,000
• Global Learning - Study Abroad/Away - up to $5,000 per year
• Global Learning - Teaching and Curriculum - up to $2,000
• Global Learning - COIL - up to $2,000

Organization: Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood

Award amount: Undisclosed award amount, but past amounts have averaged around $50,000.

Sponsor deadline: 01/31/2026

Description: The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood is an incubator of promising research and development projects that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children, from infancy through 7 years, in the United States. Welfare is broadly defined to include physical and mental health, safety, nutrition, education, play, familial support, acculturation, societal integration and childcare. (read more)

NextGenPop is an undergraduate program in population research that trains and nurtures the next generation of population scientists. The program includes a 2-week, in-person, on-campus summer experience and subsequent virtual components focused on research and professional development. The University of Minnesota is hosting the summer 2026 program in Minneapolis, MN, from June 7 – 19. Participants receive a $1,000 stipend as well as funds to cover travel and living expenses. Classroom instruction and hands-on applications address contemporary social and policy issues in population research.

The INVEST Conference 2026 is accepting abstract submissions through February 9, 2026. The conference theme is “Building equal societies: from scientific findings to societal transformation”. INVEST 2026 will take place May 8-9, 2026 in Turku, Finland.

The INVEST Conference is an interdisciplinary meeting point for researchers who are committed to understanding and reducing social inequalities. We warmly invite researchers from all career stages to submit their work and join us in Turku next spring. 

Organization: Templeton World Charity Foundation

Award amount: $5-20 million overall

Sponsor deadline: 02/13/2026

Description:  The Templeton World Charity Foundation is looking for ideas to form the basis of future funding priorities aligned with the Foundation’s purpose. Ideas should be bold and innovative, with the potential to deepen or expand our understanding of ultimate reality and what it means to be human. We seek ideas for rigorous research programs that can impact how we each see the world and our place within it. (read more)

The LIVES Centre (the Swiss Centre of expertise in life course research) is launching the ‘Good Life’ Data Challenge, a large-scale collaboration using the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) to address a key question: What predicts the feeling of having lived a happy, meaningful, and interesting (psychologically rich) life thus far?

The call can be found here. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2026.

We are inviting you to submit contributions to the Special Collection of Demographic Research on the "De/Re-institutionalization of Asian Families", organized by Lake Lui, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, and Adam Ka-lok Cheung. Submissions to this collection are possible from November 1, 2025 until February 28, 2026. Please find more information on the collection’s description and goals as well as on submission procedures here.

Submit your work for the 2026 Annual IAPHS Conference in Portland, OR!

Theme: Reimagining Population Health Science to Build Trust and Influence​
​Dates: September 29 – October 2, 2026
​Submission Window: December 2, 2025 – March 10, 2026

Join us as we explore how rigorous, relevant science can rebuild trust and drive meaningful change.

Award amount: $200,000

Sponsor deadline: 03/11/2026

Program description: The Russell Sage Foundation’s (RSF) program on Social, Political, and Economic Inequality supports innovative research on the factors that contribute to social, political, and economic inequalities in the U.S., and the extent to which those inequalities affect social, political, psychological, and economic outcomes such as educational and labor market access and opportunities, social and economic mobility within and across generations, and civic participation and representation. (read more)

Award amount: $100,000

Sponsor deadline: 04/01/2026

Program description: The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), in collaboration with the Criminal Justice program at Arnold Ventures (AV) is pleased to announce its first annual grants competition for early-career scholars. Our goal is to cultivate a pipeline of researchers conducting causal research on the criminal justice system. Criminal justice policies and practices include the work of police, courts, jails, prisons, probation and parole, and immigration detention. Proposals must include causal research designs that can reliably isolate the treatment effects of a policy. (read more)

The Vienna Yearbook of Population Research welcomes submissions for a Special Issue on “Demographic perspectives on migration”. Submit your manuscript until May 15, 2026.

The editors invite contributions expanding the state-of-the-art knowledge and methodological approaches across a broad range of migration topics, including trends and spatial patterns, innovative data and methods, socio-economic inequalities, drivers of mobility and immobility, climate-related and crisis-driven migration, and links between migration and family or health outcomes.

The December 2025 issue of Population and Development Review, a journal of the Population Council, is now available. Population and Development Review (PDR) is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal that seeks to advance knowledge of the relationships between population and social, economic, and environmental change and provides a forum for discussion of related issues of public policy.

CSDE and the UW Libraries partnered on the purchase of Dewey Data which is a research platform that provides access to third-party datasets across a variety of data categories including foot traffic, construction permits, healthcare, workforce, consumer behavior, and transportation. Follow this link to learn about how to register.

Since the start of our campus subscription in June, several new data sets have been added to the platform. NatureQuant provides access to a NatureScore dataset that estimates the amount and quality of nature and associated environmental conditions at any location in the US, as well as their NatureScore Urban Heat Index. LinkUp offers a dataset of job postings from over 80,000 companies located around the globe.

IPUMS announces the release of the 2024 1-year data from the American Community Survey (ACS) through IPUMS USA and IPUMS NHGIS

IPUMS USA: The 2024 1-year American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) data are now available via IPUMS USA. This release includes updates to RACE with new detailed codes for Black/African American and White groups.

IPUMS NHGIS: NHGIS has added the 2024 1-Year ACS Summary File,  including over 1,400 data tables for geographic areas with 65,000 or more residents.

In Winter 2025, the UW Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences had its first external review since 2002.  The review found that, “for departments that have significant numbers of faculty doing quantitative research… CSSS amplifies this strength into a viable reputational and recruiting tool… For programs that are primarily qualitative in nature… CSSS provides unique training opportunities for students and intellectual nourishment for faculty that would otherwise be unavailable.” 

Are you preparing a renewal, resubmission, or upcoming NIH grant application? Resources are now available from an October 2025 virtual workshop by ICPSR designed to help you navigate the requirements of the NIH’s Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy.

The workshop slides cover the essential components of creating an effective DMS Plan and highlight the value of transparent data sharing. You’ll gain insights into the NIH’s data sharing policies, learn how to de-identify and prepare both restricted- and public-use datafiles.