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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Request for Proposals: Advancing Well-Being in the Arts and Economic Mobility (LOIs due 05/12/26)

As a part of its Advancing Well-Being in the Arts Initiative’s Field Studies program, Wallace is interested in funding a small set of research studies that investigate aspects of how community-based arts organizations contribute to the economic mobility of their communities. “Communities” may include organizational staff, artists, audiences, program participants, local constituents served, and/or others as defined in proposals. For this RFP, the Wallace Foundation broadly defines and understands economic mobility, and pathways to economic mobility, as emerging through access to training and preparation, expanded social and professional networks, high quality jobs, as well as to basic needs such as safe neighborhoods, housing, health care, and food. However, we are eager to learn, through the studies to be funded, how arts organizations themselves conceptualize, define, and support economic mobility in their communities. To be invited to submit a full proposal, you must submit a 3-4 page letter of interest by May 12. Learn more here.

Call for Papers: IJPDS Focus Issue on People and the Criminal Justice System (10/30/26)

People who have contact with the criminal justice system experience disproportionate social and health disadvantage both prior to and following their justice involvement, compared to the broader community. Achieving equity in areas such as health, housing, and education among people with justice system involvement should be a global priority. Simultaneously, the need to reduce offending and recidivism is central to improving public safety, strengthening justice system legitimacy, and reducing future victimisation.

Across jurisdictions worldwide, criminal justice policy is frequently shaped by political considerations rather than rigorous empirical evidence. Growing availability of population-based administrative data sources (including linkages across sectors) allow researchers the opportunity to generate actionable evidence that can improve not only health, wellbeing, and social outcomes for people with justice system contact, but also justice-related outcomes including recidivism, victimisation patterns, and other crime and public safety measurements.

This Focus Issue will provide a platform for high-quality research with the broad aims to:

  1. Reduce social and health inequities, as well as improve outcomes, for people with current, past, or potential future justice system involvement including outcomes directly related to crime, victimisation and justice system performance.
  2. Improve community safety, reduce recidivism, and strengthen the fairness, effectiveness, and legitimacy of criminal justice responses.

All manuscripts that align with these aims and sit within the scope of the journal are welcome. We encourage empirical and methodological research as well as reviews. We are especially interested in manuscripts which use multi-sectoral data linkage (e.g. corrections, law enforcement, courts, probation/community corrections, health, housing, education, child protection, social services, employment) to address health and social inequalities as well as key crime and justice outcomes such as reoffending, desistance, victimisation, procedural justice, diversion effectiveness, supervision outcomes, or system-level decision making.

Ensuring we showcase a diversity of perspectives is critical to appropriately achieve the aims of this issue. To do so, we encourage submissions from researchers who:

  • Are, or work with, people with lived/living experience of the criminal justice system.
  • Represent a broad range of disciplines including criminology, public health, psychology, epidemiology, law, economics, and other social and health science disciplines.
  • Engage directly with criminal justice policy, reform, system performance, or interventions aimed at reducing crime and harm.
  • Are located in low- and middle-income countries.

Submission Deadline: 30th October 2026

To Submit Your Manuscript, Click Here

Population Structures and Dynamics, and Social Change: Studies in Honor of Antonio Golini (10/31/26)

This thematic series of Genus advances comparative population research by bringing together original contributions on demographic transitions, structural population change, and their social, economic, and policy implications across diverse world regions. In a context marked by persistent low fertility, population ageing, increased mobility, and widening inequalities, the series highlights the need for rigorous, internationally comparative research capable of linking national demographic trajectories to global processes.

The collection is conceived in honor of Professor Antonio Golini, a leading figure in Italian and international demography. Golini’s work consistently combined detailed empirical analysis with a strong comparative orientation, often using the Italian experience as a lens to interpret broader demographic dynamics. His legacy includes pivotal contributions to the institutional consolidation of demography in Italy, the diffusion of demographic knowledge, and the dialogue between scientific research and public policy.

Building on this intellectual tradition, the series provides a forward-looking forum for theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions that address contemporary demographic challenges while engaging with long-standing debates in population studies.

Topics of interest include:

  • Demographic transitions and structural population change
  • Fertility decline and recovery in low-fertility societies
  • Population ageing, welfare regimes, and intergenerational inequality
  • Mortality differentials and health inequalities
  • Internal and international migration and redistribution
  • Population mobility and labor market dynamics
  • Ageing and socio-economic sustainability across development contexts
  • Demographic change, economic development, and policy responses
  • Methodological advances in population analysis

Types of contributions: 

  • Original research articles
  • Conceptual and methodological papers
  • Invited essays reflecting on Golini’s scientific legacy and its relevance today

Guest edited by:

  • Prof. Graziella Caselli, Sapienza University of Rome
  • Prof. Viviana Egidi, Sapienza University of Rome

Free Online Training in Demographic Methods and Population Analysis from IUSSP

The Population Studies Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published a self-study course Introduction to Demographic Methods and Population Analysis for students and professionals. This course contains 28 interactive lectures, grouped into 3 modules. Topics include the very basics of the measurement and analysis of fertility, mortality and migration, but also cover population projections, life table applications, and population models. No prior training in demography or mathematics is required, and students can elect to focus on a selection of the sessions only.

These materials were developed in 2014-2015 for IUSSP with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the course is now made available through LSHTM’s Open Study platform. The course can be accessed here (free registration required).

While these open access materials provide a useful substantive introduction to the subject, there is no computing support and it does not provide training in advanced methods. Interested students can pursue this through the the Demography & Health graduate training programme at LSHTM. Courses and individual modules are offered both online and in-person, making them suitable for full-time students as well as working professionals aiming to expand their skillset. The training curriculum can also be tailored to student interest and aptitude.  Students with a strong quantitative background can focus on advanced computational methods and programming in the Population Data Science pathway. Students with a social science or policy interest can pursue this through the Population Health and Policy pathway.