Over the course of the twentieth century, fertility intentions, desires, preferences, and attitudes (fertility “goals”) became key constructs for demographic research on fertility. The increasing focus in the past two decades on reproductive autonomy and reproductive justice highlights women’s (and occasionally men’s) own desires and preferences as the foundational concern for policy and programmatic activity. An upcoming webinar sponsored by the Ohio Population Consortium seek to explore the ways fertility goals have been defined and measured; how they have been used in scientific research and in policy applications; the challenges and limitations of these constructs, both theoretical and empirical; what we learn by analyzing fertility goals; and what is missed by centering individual fertility goals.

What Fertility Goals Tell Us about Fertility Trends
Monday, 24 March 2025 from 16:00 to 17:30 Universal Time (Noon–1:30 pm, EST / 17:00–18:30 CET)

• Éva Beaujouan and Shalini Singh, Department of Demography, University of Vienna
• Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
• Francis Obare Onyango, Population Council

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Energy and Environment program has a call for Letters of Inquiry related to Interdisciplinary Social Science Research on Energy System Interactions in the United States.  This call seeks research projects led by early- and mid-career scholars that analyze the systemic interactions and connections associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy in the United States. The call encourages the submission of research project ideas that examine the links and implications between different components of the energy system and how they relate to other aspects of the economy. It is expected that 4-6 grants will be awarded from the Call, and grant amounts are expected to be between $500,000 and $1,000,000 over a 2-4 year period, with start dates of December 1, 2025. Submissions are due on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at 5:00pm ET.

Population Research Planning Grants (PRPGs) are designed to provide in-kind support and/or funds of up to $25k* to support a wide array of activity types throughout the development of a research project. As part of our mission to complement rather than duplicate other campus opportunities such as the Population Health Initiative seed grants, we will consider funding things activities such as:

• Use of CSDE services beyond the standard allotments for affiliates. This could include statistical or computational consultations, administrative and logistical support, computer accounts, software purchases that contribute to the general good, virtual server capacity that contributes to the general good, communication or webinar support, etc.
• Convening a group of scholars for a grant writing retreat or to brainstorm a possible new research collaboration
• Hiring an RA to analyze data for discussion in the Preliminary Data section of a grant application
• Small pilot research, when relationship to future funding requests are clearly laid out. Note that research that is well suited to an existing pilot research mechanism on campus should be submitted to that mechanism, with an optional request of matching support from CSDE (see below).
• Publication-related fees (when no other funding is available). NEW THIS YEAR: requests for publication fees will only be considered for publications that involve at least one CSDE affiliate and at least one CSDE trainee, and which are targeted to a demography-oriented journal or comparable outlet.
• Travel (when specifically enhancing research project development)
• Many others; just ask!

* note that while proposals up to $25k are allowed, smaller proposals are more likely to be funded. There is no lower limit on funding size – we welcome requests for software, meetings publications, etc., that may be measured in the hundreds of dollars.

CSDE Matching Support includes in-kind or monetary support to accompany a submission to other on-campus funding mechanism, such as PHI, EarthLab, or Urban@UW. All projects must have a CSDE affiliate who is UW faculty and is listed as a PI or co-PI, with any number of other collaborators. Note that we require (PRPGs) or strongly suggest (matching funds) contacting either Development Core Director (Steven Goodreau) or CSDE Director (Sara Curran) to discuss possibilities for your specific proposal before submission.

Applicants must discuss their requests for matching funds with CSDE leadership and/or submit the proposal here at least 10 days before the deadline for the principle funding mechanism. Exceptions will only be made under special circumstances.