Skip to content
Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

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.

CACHE Webinar: “Integrating Government, Consumer, and Foundation Data to Study ‘Aging Climate Movers’ Nationwide” (04/23/26)

CACHE Webinar on Integrating Government, Consumer, and Foundation Data to Study “Aging Climate Movers” Nationwide
April 23, 1 p.m MT/3 p.m. ET | Virtual Event
Speakers: James Elliott, Rice University, and Alex Priest, University of Alberta

This seminar provides an overview of how one can integrate diverse data sources to find, track, survey, and interview residents on the front lines of “climate retreat” nationwide (many of whom are aging homeowners). It highlights relevant challenges, emergent insights, and translation to web-based interactive tools.

UW Data Science & AI Accelerator Accepting Summer 2026 Proposals (04/26/26)

The Data Science and AI Accelerator pairs eScience Institute data scientists with researchers from any field of study to work on focused, collaborative projects. Collaborations may center on analysis of an existing dataset to answer a specific research question, an implementation of software for processing or analyzing data, data visualization tools, or tools for data interpretation. This program is centered around building capacity — helping researchers to learn the skills and tools they need to do their projects rather than providing people to write code for them. Projects for Summer 2026 must be received by April 26 at 11:59 PM PT.

If you are seeking professional software engineering support beyond the scope of the accelerator program, please consider UW SSEC as a partner on funded research projects in any field.

Unlike our previous Incubator program, the Accelerator program runs year-round, and proposals are accepted on a rolling basis for collaborations of variable duration (from 1 week to 6 months) and intensity (from sprints to slow burns).

Accelerator Projects may be submitted at any time. Projects for Summer 2026 must be received by April 26th at 11:59 p.m. PT.

*New* Call for Extended Abstracts for Special Issue of Social Science & Medicine – Population Health (SSM-PH) (05/15/26)

Social Science & Medicine – Population Health (SSM-PH) will publish a special issue with papers by IAPHS members on the theme “Reimagining Population Health Science to Build Trust and Influence.” This special issue will bring together a collection of conceptual and empirical papers that will identify the reasons for the current lack of trust and influence in public/population health science; provide evidence on ways to rebuild trust and influence; examine how trust and influence affect population health outcomes and disparities; and offer concrete and policy-relevant solutions based on both historical and contemporary evidence. Submit your extended abstract as a pdf by May 15 here. Extended abstracts should be a maximum of 2 single-spaced pages using 12-point Times New Roman Font and one-inch margins.

Focus of Special Issue

Recent years have witnessed a decline in public trust of scientists – especially population/public health scientists – and the governmental agencies charged with monitoring health such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The decline in trust, and corresponding decline in the influence of population/public health experts, must be rectified through better and more effective ways of conducting and communicating population/public health science. Population/public health is at a crossroads.

This special issue will bring together a collection of conceptual and empirical papers that will identify the reasons for the current lack of trust and influence in public/population health science; provide evidence on ways to rebuild trust and influence; examine how trust and influence affect population health outcomes and disparities; and offer concrete and policy-relevant solutions based on both historical and contemporary evidence.

We encourage papers focused on a wide range of countries, especially low-and-middle-income countries, in addition to the United States.

How to Submit an Extended Abstract

All abstract submitters must be IAPHS members.

If you submitted a short abstract via the IAPHS 2026 conference website, and you checked the box for your abstract to also be considered for the special issue, you will receive a separate email from IAPHS asking you to submit an extended abstract.

If you did not submit a short abstract via the IAPHS 2026 conference website, you can still submit an extended abstract for consideration in the special issue. The abstract must explain (a) the significance and contribution of the to-be-written paper, (b) its strong fit with the theme of the special issue, and (c) the theoretical frameworks and methods to be used in the paper.

Extended abstracts should be a maximum of 2 single-spaced pages using 12-point Times New Roman Font and one-inch margins.

Submit your extended abstract as a pdf here​

Key Dates

  • May 15, 2026: extended abstracts due
  • June 8, 2026: all extended abstract submitters will be notified about whether they are invited to submit a full paper to the special issue. All papers submitted to the special issue will go through the standard SSM-PH peer reviewer process
  • Fall 2026 – Summer 2027: invited papers will be submitted to the SSM-PH special issue and go through the standard peer review process

Call for Proposed Special Issues: Migration Politics Journal (05/15/26)

The Migration Politics journal invites proposals for two Special Issues through its Annual Special Issue Call, issued each February. The 2026 call will select two proposals to be published in Winter 2027 and Summer 2028. All Special Issue themes relevant to the broad scope of Migration Politics will be considered, regardless of specific focus. Prospective guest editor(s) are encouraged to consult the journal’s website for an overview of articles published to date. Proposals should comprise 7–8 articles, including a Special Issue introduction and original research articles. Proposals may be submitted by early-career or established scholars, and contributions co-authored by scholars and practitioners are also welcome.