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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Applications for the UW Global Innovation Fund (GIF) Now Open (01/31/26)

Applications for the UW Global Innovation Fund (GIF) are now open! The deadline for all submissions is Saturday, January 31, 2026 at 11:59pm. This funding opportunity empowers UW faculty and researchers to drive interdisciplinary projects and innovative approaches to global learning. GIF supports initiatives that cross academic boundaries and foster meaningful global engagement. Funding is available in two key areas, Research and Global Learning:
We have scheduled four virtual office hours for questions. For additional information regarding the GIF, please visit our website or email uwgif@uw.edu.

Request for Proposals: Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood (01/31/26)

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.
Welfare is broadly defined to support, acculturation, societal integration and childcare. Grants are only made if a successful project outcome will likely be of significant interest to other professionals, within the grantee’s field of endeavor, and would have a direct benefit and potential national application.
The Foundation’s goal is to provide seed money to implement those imaginative proposals that exhibit the greatest chance of improving the lives of young children, on a national scale. Because of the Foundation’s limited funding capability, it seeks to maximize a grant’s potential impact.
The foundation invites letters of intent in the following categories:
  • Early Childhood Welfare: According to the foundation, children can only reach their full potential when all intellectual, emotional, and physical aspects of their development are optimally supported. Providing a safe and nurturing environment is essential, as is imparting social living skills in a culturally diverse world. The foundation supports projects that aim to perfect child-rearing practices and identify models that can provide creative, caring environments in which all young children thrive.
  • Early Childhood Education and Play: Research shows that children need to be stimulated and nurtured early to succeed in school, work, and life. That preparation relates to every aspect of a child’s development and everywhere a child learns—at home, in childcare settings, and in preschool. The foundation aims to improve the quality of early childhood teaching by developing innovative curricula and research-based pedagogical standards and designing imaginative play materials and learning environments.
  • Parenting Education: The foundation supports programs that teach parents about developmental psychology, cultural child-rearing differences, pedagogy, health issues, prenatal care and diet, and programs that provide cognitive and emotional support to parents.
Eligibility:
Faculty & PIs

Korver-Glenn Examines Narrative and Performative Aspects of Immigrant and Native-born Residents’ Neighborhood Meaning-making

In a recent article in Identities, CSDE External Affiliate Elizabeth Korver-Glenn (University of North Carolina) examined the narrative and performative aspects of immigrant and native-born residents’ neighborhood meaning-making. The research team drew from 37 in-depth interviews to understand how immigrant and native-born Swedish people perceive immigrant neighborhoods in two Swedish cities. Most respondents perceived immigrant neighborhoods as stigmatized, and most of these respondents engaged in discursive destigmatization of immigrant neighborhoods. For some respondents, discursive destigmatization extended to their actions–they were current residents who preferred to continue living in their neighborhoods. For others–all of whom were non-residents of immigrant neighborhoods–discursive destigmatization remained surface-level: they reported avoiding or preferring not to live in these areas. Finally, some respondents narratively reinscribed neighborhood stigma and expressed a desire to leave or avoid these areas. The results highlight the urgency of ameliorating material inequalities between neighborhoods rather than assuming a goal of integration.

Hess Examines Effects of Heat on Pregnant Women’s Use of Health Services in Burkina Faso

CSDE Affiliate Jeremy Hess (Global Health, Emergency Medicine, EOHS) published a study in Public Health that examined the effects of heat on pregnant women’s use of health services, the health facility working environment and the impact of heat on the quality of care in Burkina Faso. Hess and co-authors conducted individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGD) with pregnant women, postpartum women, health providers and community leaders, women of reproductive age, as well as relatives and male spouses of women who recently had given birth.  Extreme heat reduced attendance and use of health services by pregnant and postpartum women. The women’s choice of delivery center depended on the quality of the health centers, notably whether they were equipped with cooling systems. All stakeholders agreed that extreme heat affected the relationship between caregivers and patients, especially facilities with inadequate cooling infrastructures or cramped spaces.

Jones and Rowhani-Rahbar Publishes Research on Mentoring Interventions to Prevent Firearm Violence

CSDE Affiliates Kristian Jones  (Social Work) and Ali Rowhani-Rahbar (Epidemiology) recently published a study in Prevention Science that examined the components of mentorship interventions in community violence intervention (CVI) programs used to prevent firearm violence among vulnerable young people, particularly Black youth who are at high risk for firearm homicide in the USA. The research team conducted interviews with mentors and program administrators of CVI programs in Washington State to examine their insights on the components of mentoring interventions that could work towards preventing firearm violence. Jones, Rowhani-Rahbar and co-authors then used constructivist grounded theory to develop a framework to capture these components.