Skip to content
Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Call for Papers: Migration Studies in the Digital Area (Antwerp, 2/14-2/15/19)

The digital is intertwined with most aspects of social life today and bears consequences for researching the social regardless of whether it is the researcher’s central topic of study or not. While questions pertaining to the importance and effects of technological innovations in social science research date back to at least the late 1990s, the speed at which new technologies and their practices develop, demands regular updates. This international workshop seeks to address how the digital features in our conception of questions about the social world with a particular focus on migration studies.

Based on empirical research, we invite papers that rethink issues of methodology in the study of mobility and `the digital´. Papers should include an inquiry into one or more of the following questions:

  • How does `the digital´ change the way we approach qualitative research, and do we need to adjust our methodological toolkit?
  • How do we engage with `the digital´ ontologically and epistemologically?
  • What are the ethical concerns and limitations in using digital methods, particularly when studying mobility?
  • What information produced online can we as researchers make use of:
  1. What data can we, ethically, collect (i.e. problem of consent vs. informed consent)?
  2. How do we critically assess digital data?

We encourage paper proposals from various disciplines including, but not limited to, social and cultural anthropology, sociology, human geography, communication studies and the digital humanities by early and mid-career scholars.

As we aim to create a platform for in-depth discussion, selected papers will be grouped into one of three sessions, each led by an expert in the field. The questions below serve as a guide.

Session 1: Studying mobility through digital tools: with Paolo S.H. Favero

  • What questions can digital research address and what answers can it deliver?
  • What insight do we gain from bringing together the study of physical mobility and digital space/digital technologies?

Session 2 Migrant trajectories and experiences of (im)mobility: with Koen Leurs

  • What can researching `the digital´ tell us about the social world of migrants? What can `the digital´ tell us about social phenomena pertaining to mobility?
  • Are there `regimes of mobility´ within digital space? And if so, how do these intertwine with the material world? How do they inform one another?

Session 3 Challenges and limitations of digital research in the context of mobility studies: with Christine Hine

  • What are the limitations and challenges in doing digital research and how can we address them? What are the limitations of the knowledge gained through digital research?
  • What errors have we committed while conducting digital research and what have we learned from them?

Abstracts for papers (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note including your institutional affiliation and position, should be sent via e-mail as Word.doc to Dr Fiona Seiger at fiona-katharina.seiger@uantwerpen.be.

Supercharge Your Research Team: The Lean Skills Every PI Should Know (ITHS Faculty Career Development Series, 11/08/18)

The Faculty Career Development Series consists of monthly lectures that are designed to provide early stage investigators with tools, a forum for discussion, and learning opportunities to help advance their careers.

Translational science research, like many other fields, struggles to find the most efficient processes for managing multiple people and projects. In this presentation, Tom Gallagher, MD and Jennifer Sprecher, the ITHS Director of Lean, will discuss the use of Lean methodology in leadership for creating a high performance research team. They will share the latest on how to improve Lean leadership skills and tools in three key areas: vision sharing, effective team communication, and continuous improvement.

BY THE END OF THIS EVENT, LEARNERS WILL BE ABLE TO:

1. Discuss the differences between a charter and a study protocol
2. Identify how a charter can support project success
3. Discuss the core skills involved in facilitating effective team communication, as the team’s leader
4. Discuss the qualities commonly found in high trust teams
5. Describe the continuous improvement needed to improve team function

Registration is limited to early stage investigators. Please sign up through the link below

Light lunch will be provided
This seminar will also be webcast for off-site participants, register to receive a link.

Anjum Hajat Investigates the Relationship Between Neighborhood-Level Segregation and Cardiometabolic Risk

Racial residential segregation has been linked to adverse health outcomes, but prior studies have not examined the effect of neighborhood-level racial segregation on cardiometabolic risk (CMR), as well as whether associations differ by race/ethnicity. CSDE Affiliate Anjum Hajat, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at UW, examines this association in the recently co-authored paper “Neighborhood segregation and cardiometabolic risk: The multiethnic study of atherosclerosis”. Using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis to estimate associations of baseline neighborhood segregation with a composite measure of cardiometabolic risk, following up over 12 years with 5015 participants, and using linear mixed effects models to estimate race-stratified associations of own-group segregation, they concluded that associations of own-group racial residential segregation with cardiometabolic risk varied by race/ethnicity. After accounting for socioeconomic status, living in a more segregated neighborhood was associated with greater risk only among black participants.

 

Steven Goodreau Studies How Addressing Gaps in HIV Preventive Care Can Reduce Racial Disparities in HIV Incidence

A recent study co-authored by CSDE Affiliate Steven Goodreau, Professor of Anthropology at UW, examines how addressing gaps in HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can reduce racial disparities in HIV incidence in the United States. Using a network-based model of HIV transmission for younger black and white men who have sex with men in the Atlanta area, the authors evaluate how race-stratified transitions through the PrEP care continuum from initiation to adherence and retention could impact HIV incidence overall and disparities in incidence between races. They find that PrEP could simultaneously lower HIV incidence overall and reduce racial disparities despite current gaps in PrEP care. Yet, they note that interventions addressing these gaps will be needed to substantially decrease disparities.

Bayesian Propagation of Record Linkage Uncertainty into Population Size Estimation with Application to Human Rights Violations

Mauricio Sadinle, Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, UW

Multiple-systems or capture–recapture estimation are common techniques for population size estimation, particularly in the quantitative study of human rights violations. These methods rely on multiple samples from the population, along with the information of which individuals appear in which samples. The goal of record linkage techniques is to identify unique individuals across samples based on the information collected on them. Linkage decisions are subject to uncertainty when such information contains errors and missingness, and when different individuals have very similar characteristics. Uncertainty in the linkage should be propagated into the stage of population size estimation. We propose an approach called linkage-averaging to propagate linkage uncertainty, as quantified by some Bayesian record linkage methodologies, into a subsequent stage of population size estimation. Linkage-averaging is a two-stage approach in which the results from the record linkage stage are fed into the population size estimation stage. We show that under some conditions the results of this approach correspond to those of a proper Bayesian joint model for both record linkage and population size estimation. The two-stage nature of linkage-averaging allows us to combine different record linkage models with different capture–recapture models, which facilitates model exploration. We present a case study from the Salvadoran civil war, where we are interested in estimating the total number of civilian killings using lists of witnesses’ reports collected by different organizations. These lists contain duplicates, typographical and spelling errors, missingness, and other inaccuracies that lead to uncertainty in the linkage. We show how linkage-averaging can be used for transferring the uncertainty in the linkage of these lists into different models for population size estimation.

NSF Solicitations: Understanding the Rules of Life (Epigenetics and Building a Synthetic Cell)

The National Science Foundation  recently announced two new solicitations: Understanding the Rules of Life: Epigenetics (NSF 18-600), and Understanding the Rules of Life: Building a Synthetic Cell (NSF 18-599). These NSF-wide opportunities are part of Understanding the Rules of Life, one of NSF’s 10  “Big Ideas” for future investment.

Understanding the Rules of Life: Epigenetics (NSF 18-600) invites proposals which investigate heritable biological or chemical mechanisms that produce a phenotypic effect without alteration of the DNA sequence.  Projects must integrate education perspectives and research approaches from more than one research discipline (e.g., biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, physics, social and behavioral sciences) to understand epigenetic mechanisms associated with environmental change, the resultant phenotypic characteristics of organisms, and the resultant robustness and adaptability of organisms and populations. Studies that cross multiple levels of organizational complexity (molecular, cellular, physiological, organismal, population) and temporal (including evolutionary) scales, and taxa within the tree of life – both unicellular and multicellular organisms,including humans — are particularly encouraged.

Full proposals are due February 1, 2019 and can be submitted in one of two submission tracks:

(1) award duration of up to 3 years and a total budget of $500,000 or

(2) award duration of up to 5 years and a total budget of $3,000,000.

The specifics of the program priorities and areas of emphasis, as well as additional limitations and guidelines, can be found in the full solicitation.

UW Bridge Funding Program

The Bridge Funding program provides bridge funding to support faculty to span a temporary funding gap in critical research programs. Bridge Funding awards are typically used to support on-going research programs that have lost funding, although these funds may also be used to support new research directions, at the discretion of the recipient.

Maximum of $50,000 may be applied for through the Provost; all funding requests must be matched 1:1 by the applicant’s college/school.

Please submit proposals directly to your Divisional Dean by Tuesday, October 30, 5:00 PM. deadline for Bridge Funding proposals is Thursday, November 1.

Internship, Population Division

Intern position — Population Affairs – United Nations – Department of Economic and Social Affairs (New York)

The Population Division of the United Nations in New York is looking to hire some interns in coming weeks/months to work on population and mortality issues in low- and middle-income countries.

To apply, see posting below for details:

The Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)/Population Division/Policy Section internship is for two months with a possibility of extension to a maximum of six months, depending on the needs of the Division. The internship is unpaid and full-time. Interns work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in the Department or Office to which they are assigned.

The Population Estimation and Projection Section (PEPS) analyzes past and future national demographic levels and trends for all countries of the world since 1950 and until 2100, and is responsible for the preparation of the 2019 Revision of the World Population Prospects, and pursues methodological research on substantive issues related to the work of the Division.

Interns will have opportunities to broaden their experience and knowledge about international population issues; exposure to the work of the Population Division and related work in other UN agencies; broaden the understanding of current demographic issues globally; and introduced to the functioning of United Nations bodies. Interns are integrated in the PEPS team, they participate and contribute to staff meetings and discussions, research issues, draft papers and reports, develop and maintain information databases, and provide support to other PEPS activities. Interns work under the supervision of PEPS’ staff. In addition, interns have an opportunity to attend lectures, and other events related to social and economic development, and other UN-related issues held in New York.

Responsibilities
Under the general guidance of the section Chief, Population Estimates and Projections Section, Population Division, the intern will be responsible to provide support on the following:

  1. Assist with data compilation, analysis and desk research on demographic data from developing and developed countries both from aggregated summary tabulations and microdata upon data availability;
  2. Assist in evaluating mortality age patterns computed from data collected in censuses and surveys;
  3. Assist in updating and assessing demographic data from a range of data sources (registration, census, survey);
  4. Contribute to populate an internal database to disseminate summary empirical demographic data for further public use and research;
  5. Identify gaps in existing demographic data on population and vital statistics.

The specific research topics will be determined after discussions between the intern and the responsible officer, and should be mutually beneficial for both the intern and the UN.

Upon completion of this internship, the intern will prepare a brief report on the experience gained.

The intern may also be asked to assist in the day-today work of the Division as required. The intern is expected to familiarize him/herself, to a limited extent, with administrative work of the Division and other tasks that are typical of the UN organizations.

For more information and to apply: https://careers.un.org/lbw/jobdetail.aspx?id=104872

Further information about the internship programme is also available at https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=ip

A Perspective on Publishing Your Research in Academic Journals (ITHS Faculty Career Development Series, 10/31/18)

Institute of Translational Health Sciences

The Faculty Career Development Series consists of monthly lectures that are designed to provide early stage investigators with tools, a forum for discussion, and learning opportunities to help advance their careers.

In this presentation, Dr. John Amory will discuss the process of manuscript preparation.  From the perspective of an author, reviewer, and editor, he will make suggestions about improving the quality of your manuscript and the likelihood of it being accepted for publication in the scientific literature. Lastly, he will review some authorship dilemmas as cases for discussion by the group.

BY THE END OF THIS EVENT, LEARNERS WILL BE ABLE TO:

  1. Describe how to write your article to maximize its chances of being accepted
  2. Identify techniques to respond to negative reviews
  3. Discuss some approaches to handling a manuscript that has been repeatedly rejected

Registration is limited to early stage investigators. Please sign up through the link below.