When: Friday, January 23 at 12:30 pm

Where:  Parrington Hall Room 360 and on Zoom

One-on-One Meetings: Follow this link

We are looking forward to hosting Sarah Komisarow from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University on Friday, January 23 in Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative.

In this paper Komisarow estimates the impact of specialized instructional support personnel—school nurses and social workers—on student outcomes using quasi-experimental variation from North Carolina’s Child and Family Support Teams (CFST) program. Using event-study and difference-in-differences designs, Komisarow shows that expanded access to support personnel reduced student absences and chronic absenteeism. In directly treated schools, annual absences decreased by 0.4 days (6%) and chronic absenteeism declined by 0.9 percentage points (12%) among high-risk students. In indirectly treated schools, absences fell by 0.2 days annually (3%) among all students, though effects on chronic absenteeism were not statistically significant. Thus, while large, specialized staffing increases generated substantial improvements for the highest-risk students, smaller and less specialized increases produced modest but broader benefits across all students. These findings demonstrate that school support staff play a critical role in addressing barriers to student learning.

CSDE External Affiliate Laura Lindberg (Rutgers) recently published an article in JAMA Network Open on adolescents’ and young adults’ receipt of person-centered contraceptive counseling (PCCC). Lindberg and co-authors drew on US population-based data on self-identified female respondents from the 2022 to 2023 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). PCCC was low across all age groups. Adolescents (aged 15 to 19 years) were less likely to receive PCCC than adults aged 25 years and older,

CSDE Affiliate Spencer Wood (Principal Research Scientist, eScience Institute) and co-authors built and tested predictive models for estimating recreational visits to parks, open spaces, and other protected lands. The models incorporated multiple sources of digital mobility data including geotagged posts to social media platforms, community science observations, and a mobile device location dataset from a commercial vendor, alongside other covariates. Using observational visitation data series from the United States’ National Park Service, Forest Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service, the authors quantified the accuracy of the predictive models. Accuracy was highest when on-site visitation data was integrated, and when multiple data sources were integrated, as relying solely on mobile phone location data lead to errors in measurement.

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: 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

The Center for Social Science Computation and Research (CSSCR) is offering seven workshops during Winter 2026 Quarter, open to all members of the UW community, whether student, faculty or staff.  See a full list with workshop descriptions and registration links here. 

CSSS provides free statistical consulting to current UW faculty, staff, and students working on social science problems.  They offer guidance at any stage of a project — from study design and planning through the selection and interpretation of statistical models. During Winter 2026 quarter, CSSS has two consulting options: scheduled appointments and drop-in sessions. See further details on the CSSS website.

When: January 21, 2026 from 10 – 11 am

Where: Raitt 223 and on Zoom

Title: What do we lose if we lose the DHS? Quantifying research impact with digital trace data (Dennis Feehan)

The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program has been a cornerstone of global health and demographic research for four decades, providing essential data in contexts where official statistics are sparse or unavailable. Following the unexpected termination of USAID funding in 2025,  the future of the DHS is in flux. This study investigates what the global research community stands to lose if the DHS permanently ceases.

Mortality rates differ widely across racial and ethnic populations and locations, and these patterns vary by cause of death and over time. To better understand these patterns in the US, we estimated life expectancy and cause-specific mortality for approximately 175 causes of death by county, race and ethnicity, and year (2000–2023). This seminar will focus on the methods used for this analysis and present preliminary findings.

The University of Maryland’s Social Data Science (SoDa) Center invites you to join a symposium in celebration of privacy week.  The symposium on January 28, 2026 at 11 am PT will feature two presentations followed by Q&A. The registration link for this free webinar can be found here.

The U.S. federal government has long maintained a clear line between the statistical and non-statistical uses of the public’s information. The former includes purposes such as producing the Consumer Price Index; the latter includes determinations, such as about a specific household eligibility for a program. This functional separation has guided federal data practice for 50 years, and this safeguard is encoded in federal laws such as U.S. Code Title 13 and Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA).  This Privacy Day webinar examines the origins of this boundary (statistical vs. non-statistical purposes), how it is enforced today, and what it will take to preserve this crucial principle in an evolving federal data landscape.

Join this webinar on Friday, January 30, at 12:00pm ET, with an expert panel of scientists providing a demographic overview of the U.S. immigrant population. The panel will discuss how immigrants contribute to the U.S. workforce and the solvency of social insurance programs, including Medicare and Social Security. Participants will also learn how some recent policy changes are impacting specific industries, including the technology and agricultural sectors. Read more and register.

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)

Proposals for the spring cycle of the UW eScience Institute Data Science & AI Accelerator are due Sunday, February 1 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The Accelerator program pairs eScience Institute data scientists with researchers from any field of study to work on focused, collaborative projects. We highly recommend applicants attend office hours and read our FAQ’s.

PAA looks forward to seeing you May 6-9 in St. Louis, Missouri!

All accepted presenters will be required to pre-register for the conference by February 4, 2026 to secure spot on the program. The program and schedule will not be available until mid-February. Registration is now open for you to secure your spot at PAA 2026. See all details and register here.

PAA is looking for volunteers to be chairs and discussants for some additional PAA sessions at the 2026 annual meeting. Selections will be made on a first come, first serve basis. Sign up here.

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.

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

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)

The Population Council invites applications for Editors, Population & Development Review (PDR). Individual applications as well as applications for Co-Editor teams that pair senior scholars working with mid-career scholars are welcomed by March 16, 2026. Two Editors will be appointed for a three-year term, beginning January 1, 2027. The term can be extended to five years total at the discretion of the Council

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.