Nominations are now open for the 2020 PAA Annual Awards! Recognize a fellow demographer (or yourself!) who has contributed to the profession. The following four awards will be presented at the PAA 2020 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Click on the links below for individual nomination criteria. Deadline is January 31, 2020.
Dorothy S. Thomas Award – presented annually for the best graduate student paper on the interrelationships among social, economic and demographic variables.
Early Achievement Award – given biennially to scholars who have made distinguished contributions to population research during the first ten years after receipt of their Ph.D.
Clifford C. Clogg Award for Mid-Career Achievement – honors outstanding scholarly achievements of a population professional who attained their highest professional degree within the previous 10-20 years.
Mindel C. Sheps Award – given biennially for outstanding contributions to mathematical demography or demographic methodology.
More information about the awards and eligibility criteria is available at this link.
The National Center for Health Statistics announces Call for Abstracts for an Opioid Survey Question Evaluation Symposium in September 2020
The National Center for Health Statistics will host a symposium in Washington, DC in September 2020 focused on empirical evaluation of opioid-use related survey questions. In preparation for this meeting, NCHS seeks input from both federal and non-federal partners to better understand what measures are being used and how those measures have been evaluated for opioid-use related survey questions.
Fully addressing the opioid crisis requires various types of high-quality data, including survey data on opioid use, misuse, disorder and prescription practices. Yet, an inventory of opioid-related questions from various state and federal surveys reveals inconsistent questions, raising concern for construct validity and the comparability of resulting estimates.
In an effort to advance the quality of opioid survey data, the National Center for Health Statistics will bring together subject matter experts and survey methodologists, including federal and non-federal partners, to host a symposium and share information on opioid use-related measures.
The symposium will:
- Assess construct definitions and validity of existing opioid use-related survey questions
- Identify research limitations and gaps in knowledge
- Consider best practices in survey question design for opioid use-related topics
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Researchers are invited to submit abstracts on the empirical evaluation of opioid use-related survey questions to be presented at the symposium.
Papers will be discussed and then compiled in a published compendium.
Author Guidelines
Papers should pertain to the evaluation of opioid use-related survey questions, including:
- Population-based questions related to opioid-use, impairment, misuse, addiction and disorder
- Healthcare-based questions related to prescription practices, awareness and patient education
The symposium is limited to empirical, science-based question evaluation studies. Qualitative, quantitative as well as mixed-method research designs are sought. Authors should submit an abstract of less than 450 words, including objective, method, results and conclusions.Deadline for abstract submission: March 6, 2020
Notification of acceptance: March 31, 2020
For abstract submission and inquiries regarding the symposium, contact QBank@cdc.gov
IIASA offers a range of postdoc opportunities for early career researchers. These include fully funded research positions of up to two years to study topics related to the IIASA research agenda. Information on call openings and application deadlines can be found in the link below.
The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the gateway for NIH grant applications and their review for scientific merit. We organize the peer review groups or study sections that evaluate the majority (75%) of the research grant applications sent to NIH. We also receive all grant applications for NIH, as well as for some other components of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the home to a community of over 240 diverse and accomplished scientists who share a deep commitment to science and health and making sure NIH grant applications are fairly and expertly reviewed. These Scientific Review Officers (SROs) play pivotal roles in ensuring that the NIH peer review process identifies the most promising research grant applications, because the most important factor in determining whether an NIH grant application is funded by NIH is how well it fares in peer review. https://public.csr.nih.gov/sites/default/files/2017-10/SROJobsFlyer.pdf.
SROs help ensure the vitality of NIH peer review by using their scientific expertise and communication and interpersonal skills to—
- Analyze the scientific content of grant applications,
- Identify the scientists invited to serve on study sections and assign the applications each member will review,
- Organize and run peer-review meetings to assess grant applications,
- Provide applicants with a succinct written summary statement explaining how the review committee viewed the applications.
CSR is actively seeking scientists who combine a broad and current understanding of research in biomedical and behavioral sciences. We are particularly interested in the following specific expertise: Epidemiology, population research, demography, social science, health services research, health informatics, and related fields. Successful candidates will be respected, accomplished scientists with maturity, integrity and outstanding communication skills. Requirements include an M.D. or Ph.D. in the biomedical or behavioral sciences (or equivalent training and experience); American citizenship; and a record of independent research accomplishments, documented by an outstanding publication record and administrative background.
The Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health invites you to apply for a professional track currently available at CSR. The vacancy announcements can be found through the NIH Recruitment website (www.jobs.nih.gov/globalrecruitment). If interested, please contact Valerie Durrant at durrantv@csr.nih.gov.
Here are the link to the open opportunities which include both DE and MP:
The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) announced the selection of 17 Visiting Scholars for the 2020-2021 academic year, including CSDE Affiliates Heather D. Hill and Scott W. Allard. While in residence at RSF in New York City, Hill will write a book documenting the experiences of low-wage workers in Seattle during the early twenty-first century as the city experienced rapid population and job growth, skyrocketing costs of living, and a new minimum wage ordinance. Allard will work on several related projects that examine changing geographical trends in poverty and safety net availability across urban, suburban, and rural America. You can read more about the projects and initiatives that Hill and Allard will work on as RSF visiting scholars here.
The UW and UC Berkeley’s Evictions Study, a project supported by CSDE, has made great strides in finding empirical data on the effects of evictions. Last week, the study’s principal investigator and CSDE Affiliate Tim Thomas released an interactive map designed by Alex Ramiller that visually demonstrates how communities of color are disproportionately facing the highest relative risk of eviction rates across Washington State. In the map, Thomas and his collaborators show that as King County evictions concentrate in southern suburbs, Snohomish and Pierce Counties have concentrations in the urban cores and nearby outskirts of Everett and formerly redlined areas of Tacoma—these are also the most racially diverse neighborhoods in each of these counties. The team also finds that the greatest risk of eviction occurs in more rural Washington counties rather than the more urban King County.
Thomas and his team state that the “goal in releasing these maps and reports is to follow in the footsteps of other collective and scholarly researchers and reveal previously unknown patterns of eviction while inspiring more research and discussion on the links of neighborhood change and housing precarity in the United States.”
Users of the map are able to select a specific race and geographic scale to see for themselves how data such as eviction filing counts, rates, and relative risk are disproportionately higher for communities of color, especially Black communities. Click here to take a look at the map and the link below for more information.
Tim Thomas’ team includes CSDE affiliates Jose Hernandez (UW Project Lead) and Ott Toomet (UW iSchool) and CSDE Trainees Alex Ramiller (UW Geography) and Ian Kennedy (UW Sociology). Additionally, CSDE Computing Director Matt Weatherford and his team provided a powerful unix machine that allowed the project’s team to mine millions of pages of court records using natural language processing (NLP), estimate demographics, and host the maps.
Their research was featured recently on KING 5.
Does your research focus on women’s health or sex and gender differences? If it does, the OSSD Annual Meeting is coming up May 4-7 in Marina del Rey, CA. NIH ORWH (Office of Research on Women’s Health) will offer travel awards to support two junior investigators whose research focuses on this topic! ORWH requests that interested investigators submit an abstract on a policy-related matter connected to women’s health or sex and gender differences for consideration as a poster, oral session, or symposium at the OSSD 2020 Annual Meeting. The deadline to submit an abstract is February 3, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
A panel of experts will review the abstracts, and the authors of the two chosen will receive the travel awards. Attendance at the OSSD meeting will be a unique opportunity for investigators to network with leading scientists and clinicians working to advance sex and gender inclusion and policy. Click the link below for the application and more information!
Undocumented Latinx immigrants experience unique factors prior to migration, during migration, and after migration that subsequently shape their health. This Friday, CSDE Affiliate and Executive Committee Member India Ornelas from the UW Department of Health Services in the School of Public Health will summarize the limited but growing literature highlighting how exposure to trauma, immigration enforcement, changes to social networks, and discrimination negatively affect the mental and physical health of undocumented Latinx immigrants. Ornelas will also discuss how policies can promote such immigrants’ health and directions for future research including the use of interdisciplinary approaches and intersectional frameworks to address health inequities. Conducting research with undocumented Latinx immigrant communities requires community engagement, assurance of confidentiality, and creative recruitment and retention strategies.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is seeking public comments on a draft set of desirable characteristics of data repositories used to locate, manage, and share data resulting from Federally funded research. This effort is meant to identify and help Federal agencies provide more consistent information on the requirements for data subject to agency Public Access Plans and data management and sharing policies. Optimization and improved consistency in agency-provided information for data repositories is expected to reduce the burden for researchers. Feedback obtained through this Request for Comments (RFC) will help to inform coordinated agency action. To ensure that your comments will be considered, please submit your response on or before 11:59 p.m. ET on March 6, 2020.