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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Call for Papers: Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2026 on Demography and Human Capital (04/30/26)

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 date: 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 2026 at the same venue. Conference participants are warmly invited to attend the VID’s 50th anniversary celebration as well. *

 

Call for Papers: Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2026 on Demography and Human Capital (04/30/26)

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 date: 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 2026 at the same venue. Conference participants are warmly invited to attend the VID’s 50th anniversary celebration as well. *

 

Call for Papers: Joint Ineqkill & Quetelet Conference – How Inequality Kills (05/01/26)

Health inequalities are among the most persistent and consequential forms of social inequality. Shaped by long-term historical trajectories, spatial structures, and socio-economic transformations, they have produced uneven health outcomes across regions, social groups, and historical periods. From pre-industrial mortality regimes to contemporary health transitions, these disparities have been influenced by colonial legacies, institutional arrangements, environmental conditions, and evolving demographic and epidemiological regimes.

Today, health inequalities remain deeply embedded in broader processes of social stratification and development. Their persistence has gained renewed urgency amid environmental pressures, geopolitical instability, and the long-term consequences of recent global health crises. In many contexts, health inequalities are widening within and between societies, while advances in historical data reconstruction, harmonized measures, and spatially refined methods now enable more precise analysis across time and space.

Against this backdrop, the conference invites contributions that examine health inequalities both as outcomes and drivers of social inequality across multiple spatial and temporal scales. We particularly welcome research on:

• Structural foundations of health inequalities and their long-term trends
• Spatial diffusion of inequalities in health and environmental factors
• Inequalities in health over the life course
• Health as a source of inequalities: shocks and vulnerabilities
• Data, methods, and concepts for analyzing health inequalities

We encourage contributions that employ historical data reconstruction, comparative and harmonized measurements, spatial and small-area analyses, and advanced methodological approaches. Papers reflecting on conceptual frameworks, governance structures, and policy responses that shape inequalities in and through health are equally welcome.

By convening scholars from demography, history, sociology, economics, and social epidemiology, this conference aims to advance an integrated, interdisciplinary understanding of health inequalities across past, present, and future societies.

Please submit a 250-word abstract in a PDF file to quetelet-seminar@uclouvain.be. The abstract should be structured in the following way: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Contribution. All co-authors and their affiliations should be named in the submission.

• Deadline for abstract submission: 01 May 2026
• Notification of acceptance: 15 May 2026
• Registration opens: 15 September 2026
• Conference: 18-20 November 2026
• Hosting institution: Université catholique de Louvain [on-site only]
• Organizing institutions: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Ghent University, Université catholique de Louvain
• Registration fee: €170 – Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout the meeting, with a conference dinner on the evening of the second day [€20 for undergraduate students, dinner not included]
• Conference language: English.
• Scientific committee: Sylvie Gadeyne, Isabelle Devos, Thierry Eggerickx, Sophie Vanwambeke, Philippe Bocquier, Caterina Mauri, Jean-Paul Sanderson, Catherine Linard.

Call for Papers: Northwest Preparedness and Resilience Conference (04/30/26)

The Northwest Preparedness and Resilience Conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of regional practitioners, researchers and other partners working across a range of disaster-related fields. This year’s conference will take place on the University of Washington campus in Seattle on September 16-17, 2026.
Abstract submissions are now open for those interested in presenting at this year’s conference! We invite researchers and practitioners from all disaster science and preparedness-related disciplines to submit abstracts focused on topics related to preparedness and resilience. The deadline to submit abstracts is April 30, 2026, at 11:59pm PST. To submit an abstract proposal, please click here to access our abstract submission form.
Registration for this year’s conference will open this spring. Please stay tuned for additional information, which will be posted on the conference website. If you have any questions about the abstract submission process or the conference, please visit our website or contact our planning team at cdrc-conference@uw.edu.

Patwardhan Examines Relationship Between Community Health Worker Engagement and Contraceptive Use in India

CSDE Affiliate Vedavati Patwardhan (EPAR) and co-authors recently published an article in Studies in Family Planning, examining the relationship between Indian women’s contact with a community health worker (CHW) and discussion of family planning (FP) with their contraceptive use. Drawing on data from over 306,000 women in India’s 2019–2021 National Family Health Survey, the authors found that traditional contraception use is high, particularly among married nonpregnant, non-sterilized women ages 15–49 years, and used singularly as well as concurrently with modern methods. Nearly 22 percent of women reported using traditional methods (18% exclusively and 4% concurrent with modern methods). CHW discussion on family was associated with higher traditional contraceptive use, reversible modern method use, and concurrent use. Recent CHW engagement was associated with consistent modern method use, switching from traditional to modern methods, and also discontinuation of modern contraception. Findings indicate that traditional contraceptive methods are not used by the most marginalized women – in terms of age or location – and demonstrate complex patterns of use. FP programs should consider all contraceptive method choices, and not solely modern methods, as potential outcomes of agency.

Hummer Examines How Context Shapes the Meaning of Childlessness in the United States and Japan

CSDE External Affiliate Holly Hummer (University of British Columbia) recently published an article in Social Forces comparing how women in the United States and Japan experience and evaluate childlessness. Drawing on 157 interviews with non-mothers across the two countries, Hummer finds that Japanese women were more likely to frame childlessness as increasingly normalized and attributable to entrenched gender inequalities, while American women more often described it as socially isolating and publicly contested, frequently drawing on moral logics to justify their non-motherhood. The findings highlight childlessness as a status whose meaning is shaped by cultural and demographic context — particularly women’s perceptions of what it takes to be a “good” mother and how they interpret national fertility conditions.