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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

CFPR Seminar Series: Trade-offs between Income, Time and Childbearing (03/12/26)

We field a seven-country survey of respondents aged 20–49 to examine how adults value income and time trade-offs when deciding whether to have a child. Respondents evaluate profiles with hypothetical couples considering either a first or a second birth, forcing trade-offs across domains. We examine whether the size of the motherhood penalty affects childbearing preferences, whether income is more salient for first versus second births, and how these effects vary by women’s age. Results should illuminate which factors most strongly shape childbearing decisions and inform policymakers about designing income transfers and regulating time constraints.
Alicia Adserà is a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer in Economics at the Princeton School of Public and International and faculty associate at the Office of Population Research (Princeton University). Her research interests are in economic demography, development, and international political economy. Her work focuses on the interplay between labor markets and fertility and on an array of migration topics. Two current projects involve multi-country data collection to analyze fertility preferences and choices, as well as the relative importance of different dimensions of successful aging. Before joining Princeton, she was an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Research Affiliate at the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center. She holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University.

Infrastructures of Resettlement: How Bureaucratic Legacies Shaped Racial Disparities in Post-Cold War Refugee Selection – Jake Watson

We look forward to welcoming Jake Watson from the University of California San Diego on Friday, March 13th, in Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative. Follow this link to sign up for a 1:1 meeting with Dr. Watson during their visit on March 13th.

This paper draws on migration infrastructure perspectives to theorize how states select refugees. After the Cold War, the United States shifted its refugee admissions program from a focus on anticommunism toward more humanitarian criteria, marked by greater need-based selection and distributional equity – including explicit efforts to increase African admissions. Yet the 1990s saw the US resettle roughly 300,000 Europeans and just 40,000 Africans despite comparably large displacement crises in Yugoslavia and the Horn of Africa. Why? While scholars explain such disparities through explicit racial preferences or geopolitical interests, I show that inherited processing infrastructure shaped which humanitarian claims could be acted upon at scale. Decades of racist migration control and Cold War foreign policy had built networks of embassies, processing centers, and NGOs that could be rapidly deployed for Yugoslav displacement. African admissions, by contrast, required building capacity from scratch in an era of diminished support for refugee resettlement. Rather than viewing bureaucratic infrastructure as simply facilitating policy preferences, I show how the machinery of refugee resettlement shapes who moves quickly and at scale, and who moves slowly or not at all. This approach reveals how racialized disparities become embedded in migration governance itself, persisting even as stated priorities shift.

Jake Watson is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC San Diego. His research examines how bureaucratic systems and organizational processes shape the governance and mobility of refugees. He is completing his first book, The Resettlement Machine: How America Selects Refugees in an Age of Migration Control, under contract with UC Press. Based on fieldwork in Uganda and the United States and interviews with government officials, practitioners, and refugees, the book traces how politics becomes embedded in processing infrastructures to create systematic inequalities in refugees’ access to resettlement and protection. Among other forums, Jake’s research has appeared in American Sociological Review, European Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, and Ethnic and Racial Studies. He completed a PhD at Boston University, and before that worked as a psychosocial case worker for a UN Refugee Agency affiliate office in South Africa.

Call for Submissions: 2026 Annual IAPHS Conference (03/10/26)

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

IAPHS is currently seeking abstract reviewers and is accepting Student Travel Scholarship applications until March 8. Join us as we explore how rigorous, relevant science can rebuild trust and drive meaningful change.

What’s Offered:

  • Panels: Present original research or lead innovative discussions on key issues in population health. Panels should include an organizer and 3–4 panelists from diverse disciplines.
  • Workshops: Interactive, skill-focused sessions designed to fill knowledge gaps. Formats may include case studies, simulations, and small group exercises.
  • Abstracts: Submit original research, theory, methods, or innovations for Poster or Oral presentations.

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EPA Grants for Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings (03/11/2026)

Award amount: $2,500.000
Number of applications UW can put forward: 1
OR internal deadline: 3/11/2026
OSP deadline: 4/6/2026
Sponsor deadline: 4/15/2026
Program Description: Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings (EPA-OAR-ORIA-25-03) is a federal grant program to enhance community wildfire smoke preparedness. This program provides grants to states, federally recognized Tribes, public pre-schools, local educational agencies, and non-profit organizations for the assessment, prevention, control, or abatement of wildfire smoke hazards in community buildings and related activities. These grants are intended to support activities that will reduce indoor exposure to pollutants in wildfire smoke and, in turn, reduce the public health burden of wildfire smoke exposure. Activities may include research, demonstrations, technical assistance, training, education and/or outreach components. Applications must target public buildings or buildings that serve the public.
This notice announces the availability of funds and solicits applications from eligible entities to improve public health protection against smoke from wildfires by enhancing preparedness in community buildings. The EPA is soliciting applications for projects that support this effort through activities such as:
•Smoke readiness planning;
•Outreach and training for smoke readiness;
•Indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring;
•Deployment of portable air cleaners;
•Identification and preparation of cleaner air spaces or shelters;
•Significant improvements to buildings such as upgrading and repairing heating, ventilation, andair conditioning (HVAC) units or systems and weatherization
Pre-Proposal Instructions:
Please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, March 11, 2026. Late pre-proposals will not be considered. Proposals are due to the sponsor 4/15/2026 so you will need to have your materials to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 4/6/2026 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee. Other open limited submissions opportunities, as well as the limited submissions review committee review and selection process, are here:http://depts.washington.edu/research/funding/limited-submissions. Please feel free to email us at limitedsubs@uw.eduwith questions or information on any limited submission opportunities that should be but are not already listed on that page. If you are interested in other private funding opportunities, visit the Corporate and Foundation funding opportunitiespage.

A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.

If the final application requires a statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.

CV (not biosketch) of the PI including past grant funding.

UW Social Sciences Data Science Summer Institute: Call for Faulty Proposals, Graduate RAs and Undergraduate Fellows (03/13/2026)

The Interdisciplinary Minor in Data Science at UW (https://dataminor.uw.edu/) is organizing its first annual “Social Sciences Data Science Summer Institute,” which pairs undergraduate and graduate students with UW faculty or staff who are engaged in social science data science research during term A of Summer 2026 (June 22–July 22, 2026).  Applications are due from Faculty/Staff, Graduate, and Undergraduate students by March 13, 2026, 11:59 pm PST.

The topic of the research projects will be determined by the faculty/staff supervisor for the research group. Projects will answer a clearly defined research question drawn from social science scholarship, involve data-intensive analysis, inclusion of Machine Learning and/or Artificial Intelligence methods for data analysis, use an open source programming language, and include key findings that can be communicated through a combination of data visualization and narrative text.

Faculty/staff will be expected to manage and direct their team for a minimum of 5-10 hours per week. Graduate student research assistants will be expected to manage their teams, communicate with their faculty mentor, and contribute to the project for a minimum of 15-20 hours per week. Undergraduate student research fellows will be expected to work for a minimum of 20 hours per week under the direction of their faculty/staff mentor and graduate student research assistant.

Greiner Authors Chapter On “What’s So Environmental About Environmental Sociology?”

CSDE Affiliate Patrick Trent Greiner (Sociology) and co-authors open a new book, Environmental Sociology Now, with a chapter titled “What’s So Environmental About Environmental Sociology?”. Greiner and co-author argue that disagreement over what is or is not “environmental”—if embraced—can be a strength for the field. They encourage scholars to cultivate multiple ways of knowing and pursue a philosophically pluralist approach.

Call for Editors of Population & Development Review (03/16/26)

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.

PDR seeks to advance knowledge of the relationships between population and social, economic, and environmental change, and provides a forum for discussion of related public policy issues. Articles span all geographies, include theoretical advances as well as empirical analyses and case studies, employ a broad range of disciplinary approaches, and address historical and present-day problems.

Population Council staff support journal operations—processing peer review, project managing workflow, and coordinating production tasks. Editors meet weekly online with Council staff, and bi-monthly with the editorial committee. PDR welcomes applications from experts across diverse identities,  regions, and academic/research institutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES
• Ensure an efficient and fair peer review process, collaborating with the editorial committee to conduct initial manuscript assessments, identifying and securing reviewers, evaluating reviews, making editorial decisions, and communicating decisions to authors.
• Maintain, develop, and refine journal vision, scope, and strategic direction.
• Proactively solicit high-quality submissions that demonstrate scholarly rigor, contribute to the discipline, and address issues of societal relevance.
• Attend online meetings with the Council’s editorial staff and editorial committee.
• Collaborate with the Council’s editorial staff on reporting, operations, and new initiatives.
• Recruit new members to join the editorial committee as existing members’ terms end.
• Advocate for the journal, developing its profile, visibility and reach.
• Communicate effectively and professionally with authors, reviewers, the editorial committee, editorial staff, and other journal stakeholders.

SELECTION CRITERIA
• Current or emeritus status at an academic or relevant research institution.
• A strong record of scholarship within the content and methodological fields relevant to PDR.
• Service and experience as a reviewer/editor/author, and scope of scientific network.
• Excellent leadership, organizational, and editorial skills to support journal operations.
• Effective communication skills and embrace of new technologies.
• Clear understanding of the journal’s mission and the ability to articulate a compelling
intellectual vision for the journal.
• Understanding of innovations and ongoing shifts in scholarly publishing.
• A commitment to ongoing diversity and inclusion efforts within our scholarly community.

Honorarium: The Population Council provides an annual honorarium. Details will be shared with finalists.

Application Deadline: March 16, 2026

Application Materials:

  • A CV for each candidate.
  • A statement (one document) that includes: 1. Your (and Co-Editor’s) relevant experience, interests, service to the field, and motivation for the position. 2.
  • A brief vision for the journal. 3. How you learned about the opportunity. 4. (Optional) Any institutional support (e.g., course releases, funds for an editorial assistant, PAA travel). Support is not required for a successful application.
  • Send questions and application materials to: Rachel Friedman, Associate Director/Managing Editor, rfriedman@popcouncil.org

The Population Council provides equal opportunity; it does not discriminate against any person with regard to age, color, creed, national origin,
disability, political belief, veteran status, religion, marital status, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Decisions on employment are
based on an individual’s qualifications as related to the position for which they are being considered. The Population Council is international in
the composition of its board of trustees and its staff, as well as in the nature and deployment of its activities.