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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025: Demographic Perspectives on Migration in the 21st Century (11/19/25 – 11/21/25)

Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2025
19 – 21 November 2025, Vienna, Austria

The conference will be held in hybrid format.

Migration is a highly debated yet divisive topic in today’s public and policy discourse. In low fertility societies, migration is the main driver of population change and is essential for maintaining a stable labour force. Although it is often presented in simplistic terms, migration is a complex phenomenon shaped by the interplay of multiple drivers and barriers, making it difficult to analyse and predict. Local and global crises, including extreme events driven by climate change, can trigger large-scale mobility both within and across borders.

Demographers have contributed significantly to measuring migration, assessing the contribution of immigrants to population dynamics, and studying population heterogeneity amidst increasingly complex and rapidly shifting migration patterns. Considerable advances have also been made in understanding the differences in migrants’ demographic behaviour, how these evolve as they integrate into host societies, and how life transitions interact with the migration process. Demographic projections and scenarios are essential tools for assessing the long-term implications for future population dynamics, labour markets and socio-cultural diversity, providing important insights for evidence-based policymaking. Much of this research has focused on the destination countries, while implications of emigration in developing regions remain less explored. Likewise, the experiences and challenges of those who lack the means to migrate and remain immobile have received limited attention, despite significant challenges to their livelihoods and well-being.

We are pleased to announce our keynote speakers:

Jakub Bijak (University of Southampton)

Yuliya Kosyakova (University of Bamberg)

Register here.

National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families Fellowship for Early Career Investigators (11/21/25)

The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families has just opened the application period for its fellowship program for early career investigators researching economic well-being or early care and education (ECE) among Hispanic children and families in the United States. The program will provide seed research funds and valuable mentoring experiences to early career investigators. Fellows will receive $7,000 for use in research and professional development activities.

 More information can be found on our website. Applications are due by 5 p.m. ET on November 21, 2025.   

Kim and Fredriksen-Goldsen Publish Article on Intersectional Health Disparities

CSDE Affiliates Hyun-Jun Kim (Social Work) and Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen (Social Work), along with co-authors Hailey H. Jung and Austin Oswald, published an article in Social Science & Medicine, on “Intersectional Health Disparities Among U.S. Midlife and Older Adults Focusing on Sexual Orientation and Race and Ethnicity: Evidence from a Population-Based Study.” The authors examined health disparities by race, gender, and sexual orientation using the 2013-2023 National Health Interview Survey data and tested for synergistic effects, that is, whether excess intersectional disparities contribute to health risks beyond the sum of disparities from single marginalizations. The data suggests health disadvantages driven by synergistic effects for Hispanic men, Blacks, and additional people of color among sexual minorities, and inverse health disparities for Hispanic and Asian sexual minority women.

Romanelli Publishes Article on Intersectional Disparities in Digital Health and Mental Health Service Use 

CSDE Affiliate Meghan Romanelli (Social Work) and co-authors recently published an article titled, “Intersectional Disparities in Digital Health and Mental Health Service Use Among US Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Analysis of a National Survey” in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, and Asian or Pacific Islander participants had lower prevalence of digital mental health use than White peers overall and among sexual minority youth. Racial and ethnic disparities in digital mental health use were pronounced among LGB and sexually diverse participants, but not heterosexual participants. Digital health use did not differ by sexual orientation. However, Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino participants had lower prevalence of digital health use than White peers overall and among heterosexual and sexual minority youth participants.

Deep Mapping Grief and Loss in the Context of Migration – José Alavez

When: Friday, November 14 at 12:30 pm

Where: Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom

We are looking forward to hosting CSDE Affiliate José Alavez from the University of Washington on Friday, November 14 in Parrington Hall 360 and on Zoom. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Population Health Initiative.

The death of a loved one is one of the most challenging episodes in a person’s life. This experience becomes even more complicated when someone dies in the context of migration. Beyond the emotional shock, family members and friends might have to hold posthumous ceremonies at a distance, organize the corpse’s repatriation, and deal with their own need to grieve from far away. In this research, Alavez aims to shed light on the potential of mapping for revealing these intimate and heterogenous posthumous geographies.

To do so, Alavez has deployed three different cartographic strategies. First, Alavez designed a series of narrative maps to focus on postmortem mobilities. These maps reveal that the movement of bodies continues to be influenced by emotional and economic decisions after death. They also display the local and global networks of communication and support triggered by the demise of a migrant. Second, Alavez mobilized a mapping approach dedicated to charting the personal and the emotional (i.e., sensibility mapping) to represent the very intimate moments associated with the experience of death in the context of migration. Finally, Alavez introduces the concept of “mapping-ofrenda” as a form of mourning and remembering. This third project emphasizes the value of the mapping process and the opportunity it offers to turn memories into maps. It also illustrates the importance to reconnect with the past and with relatives from afar. As a whole, Alavez consider deep mapping as an intimate and non-replicable practice, as a desire and a never-ending task that calls for a diversification of mapping forms and practices to reflect and face the challenges of engaging with difficult stories. This work also establishes postmortem cartographies of mobilities, grief, memory, emotions, and solidarity as essential components of the geographies of death in migratory contexts.

Rocha Beardall Publishes Article on Indigenous Data Inclusion and the Colonial Politics of Recognition

CSDE Affiliate Theresa Rocha Beardall (Sociology) recently published an article on “Indigenous Data Inclusion and the Colonial Politics of Recognition“, in Native American and Indigenous Studies. Rocha Beardall and co-author Meredith Alberta Palmer explore two consequences that arise from data inclusion within the context of Indigenous peoples’ relationship with the U.S. colonial state. First, the authors assert that data demands often lack direct collaboration with Indigenous nations and agencies, resulting in data inclusion that reifies and legitimates exploitative U.S. colonial structures. Second, the articulation of Indigenous life using statistical data analyses risks solidifying the racialization and categorization of Indigenous people in ways that obviate their political authority by rendering them as populations rather than polities. Rocha Beardall and Palmer conclude by offering two Indigenous-led examples of data collection and data communication that refuse Indigenous erasure and advance Indigenous futures.

Okonek and Wakefield Author Article on a Parametric Survival Model for Child Mortality 

CSDE External Affiliate Taylor Okonek (Macalester College), CSDE Affiliate and Executive Committee Member Jon Wakefield (Statistics and Biostatistics), and co-author Katie Wilson just published an article in Demographic Research, titled “A parametric survival model for child mortality using complex survey data.” Modern demographic methods for estimating a full mortality schedule for children have been developed for countries with good vital registration and reliable census data but perform poorly in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Okonek, Wilson, and Wakefield propose a parametric, survey-weighted (pseudo-likelihood) approach and apply it to survey data from four countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Raftery Publishes Article on Climate Change Prospects and Speaks to UW News

CSDE Affiliate Adrian Raftery (Statistics) spoke to UW News to share insights from a recent paper, “Mitigation efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and meet the Paris Agreement have been offset by economic growth,” published in Communications Earth & Environment. Raftery and co-authors used data from 2015–2024 to probabilistically assess the changes in climate change prospects associated with emissions since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015. Carbon intensity declined (i.e., improved) substantially over that period, but overall carbon emissions rose, due to the rapid rise in world GDP, which more than canceled out the progress made. The chance of staying below 2 °C remained low, at 17%. However, the chance of the most catastrophic climate change, above 3 °C, has gone down substantially, from 26% to 9%. Read more.