Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Labor Research Grants for UW Graduate Students

The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies currently seeks applications from University of Washington graduates students for grants of $2,500-$5,000 for research about work, workers, and their organizations. The purpose of these grants is to provide funding for research expenses.

Deadline to apply: Monday, February 12, 2018

Who is Eligible?

Any graduate student who is currently active and will be active the upcoming academic year (2018-2019)
Graduate students at all branches of the University of Washington (Seattle, Bothell, or Tacoma)

Applicants must demonstrate the significance of their proposed research to the interdisciplinary field of labor studies. Research may focus on any dimension of labor in the United States or abroad, including but not limited to class relations, the social conditions of work, the labor process, working-class culture or politics, work and gender, work and race/ethnicity, the relationship between labor and the state, unions, or comparative international labor relations.

Applicants will be notified with grant decisions no later than the start of spring quarter on March 26, 2018. Funds will be available immediately.

For application details, visit the Bridges Center website at http://depts.washington.edu/pcls/resources-grants-individual.html .

Past grants may be viewed here: http://depts.washington.edu/pcls/research-laborresearch.html

Questions? Contact the Center at hbcls@uw.edu or 206-543-7946.

The Challenge of Household Air Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa: Pathways to Scaling-up Clean(er) Cooking

Pamela Jagger, Department of Public Policy, UNC Chapel Hill

Co-Sponsor(s):

Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance

This week, CSDE and the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance are bringing Pamela Jagger to UW to discuss approaches to promoting clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Globally between 3 and 4 billion people are affected by household air pollution (HAP) from cooking and heating with solid fuels (e.g., firewood and charcoal) and traditional stoves, with women and children in developing countries disproportionately burdened. Over 4.3 million deaths annually are attributed to HAP, the leading environmental health risk factor for morbidity and mortality. In addition to global health burden, cooking with solid fuels contributes to global and regional climate change, environmental degradation, and constrains human well-being. The pathway to transitioning households in sub-Saharan Africa to clean cooking is complex and often severely hindered by missing markets for clean fuels (e.g., electricity and liquid petroleum gas) and improved cooking technologies. As a result, donors, governments, and private sector firms are experimenting with a range of biomass centered policies and programs to promote clean(er) household energy systems. This presentation will review the scope and scale of the challenge of HAP in sub-Saharan Africa, consider what biomass based clean(er) cooking systems can deliver for health, climate, environment, and human welfare, and present findings on adoption and impacts from a clean cooking impact evaluation study in Rwanda. We will also discuss our ongoing impact evaluation of a novel cleaner cooking program which leverages the targeting mechanism of the Government of Malawi social cash transfer program to improve energy access for ultra-poor households.

Adrian Raftery Offers a Simpler Approach to Performing Probabilistic Population Projections

Affiliate Adrian Raftery, Professor of Statistics and Sociology, and colleagues recently published an article in Population Studies that addresses the United Nations’ methods for performing probabilistic population projections. In the article, the authors offer a simpler approach to probabilistic population projections for nations with generalized HIV/AIDS epidemics, one which also happens to align better with projection methods the UN employs for other nations. In an out-of-sample cross-validation experiment, the authors’ proposed approach provided projections that were akin to but simpler than the Spectrum/Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) model the UN currently uses. The full article is accessible below.

Scott Allard Discusses Increasing Income Inequality in the U.S.

Affiliate Scott Allard, Professor at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, wrote a recent opinion piece for The Hill that addresses our nation’s rising income inequality. According to Allard, conclusions from recent findings about trends for wealth inequality and wage growth “resemble language more commonly used to describe sea level rise and climate change: The forces of inequality are becoming stronger with more intense and extreme consequences.” Allard goes on to describe the similarities between income inequality and climate change—in the context of policy making—issues which affects millions of Americans on a daily basis, are vast in scale, have complex roots, and for which “current federal policy provides no relief.” The full article is accessible below.

Study by Rachel Heath Cited in Article on Impacts of Ready-Made Garment Industry in Bangladesh

Affiliate Rachel Heath, Assistant Professor of Economics and CSDE Seminar Coordinator, was cited in a Dhaka Tribune article highlighting the positive socio-economic impacts of the ready-made garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh. The RMG industry has not only created jobs, reduced poverty, and enabled the nation to achieve its target GDP growth, but has also empowered women by providing them with employment opportunities and enabling them to build better lives for their children, particularly girls. The article points to a study by Heath and a colleague at Yale University, which demonstrated that there has been a 27% increase in the number of girls attending school in Bangladesh compared to before the RMG industry emerged. The article is accessible below.

UW Scholarship Fair

Attend the Scholarship Fair and learn more about scholarship and fellowship opportunities.

What to expect

Connect with representatives and former scholars from these scholarship and fellowship programs by stopping by their table at the fair. Be sure to check out the program information sessions offered throughout the day.

Participating Scholarships & Programs

Canadian Studies Center
Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship
College Success Foundation
Fashion Scholarship Fund
Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS)
Gates Cambridge Trust
Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA)
Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies
Leadership without Borders
Marcy Migdal Fund
Marshall Scholarship Programme
Mary Gates Endowment for Students
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration/Office of Education
Peace Corps
Phi Beta Kappa Washington Alpha Chapter
Princeton in Asia
Scan|Design Fellowship
Schwarzman Scholars
Seattle Chapter of the Association of Women in Science (AWIS)Scholarship Committee
Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
UW Career & Internship Center
UW Center for Human Rights
UW Department of History
UW Graduate School Office of Fellowships & Awards
UW Office of Merit Scholarships, Fellowships & Awards
UW School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium
Washington State Opportunity Scholarship

Information Sessions on Fair Day

Call for Applications: U.S. Policy Communication Training Program

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is now accepting applications for its 2018-2019 U.S. Policy Communication Training Program.

Please complete the online application to apply!

Applications close February 16, 2018.

Program Description

The U.S. Policy Communication Training Program builds on PRB’s 40-year legacy of training researchers to bridge the gap between research findings and the policy development process. While research often has profound practical implications, it must be communicated effectively to a variety of nontechnical audiences to influence policy and programmatic change. The U.S. Policy Communication Training Program prepares researchers to influence policy and practice through effective communication.

Through the U.S. Policy Communication Training Program, participants will:

Understand the process by which research informs the policy environment.
Learn various ways to communicate findings to U.S. and international policy audiences.
Improve their ability to communicate in written and verbal formats.

Core training sessions cover the research to policy gap, communication strategies to link research to policy, writing for policy and nontechnical audiences, and effective content for and delivery of presentations.

This program is made possible by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—National Institutes of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Who Should Apply?

The training is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents (Green Card holders) pursuing doctoral programs at reputable U.S. academic institutions and who are between their 3rd and 5th year of studies. Priority is given to applicants who are current or previous trainees of NICHD-supported population centers in the United States.

Research Requirements

Applicants may be in any field of study, but their research focus must be related to demography, reproductive health, or population health.

Demographic topics include population dynamics, distribution, growth, and decline; migration; fertility, nuptiality, and family demography; mortality and morbidity; or the causes and consequences of demographic change.
Reproductive health studies of interest are limited to behavioral and social science research.
Population health areas include human health, productivity, and development at the population level. The populations of concern may be U.S. or non-U.S. populations.

Application Information

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. The final deadline for applying is 11:59 PM ET on Feb. 16, 2018. The training program awards will be announced in April 2017.

Applicants must submit the following to PRB:

A completed application form.
An up-to-date resume with a full list of educational and other professional activities.
Two letters of reference sent directly from the person writing the reference.

To apply, please complete the online application and submit all required information and documents. Letters of reference must be emailed directly toUSPolicyTraining@prb.org. Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you have questions or need assistance completing the application, please contact Laura Bloom at USPolicyTraining@prb.org.

American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship

Application Deadline: January 31, 2018

Through its Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), the American Sociological Association (ASA) supports the development and training of sociologists of color in any sub-area or specialty in the discipline. For 43 years, the MFP has supported more than 500 Fellows in pursuit of a doctoral degree in sociology. Areas of interest for former Fellows include social psychology, gender and sexuality, education, medicine and health, inequalities and stratification, race and ethnicity, and more. All of these areas of research and expertise are not just important for the growth of the discipline, but also to address important issues facing society. Sociologists have much to contribute to these research agendas, and many former Fellows have published or presented their work at leading conferences in their specialty area.

The annual stipend for each award (August 1- July 31) is $18,000. In addition, arrangements for the payments of tuition are made with universities or departments. There are also limited funds available for travel to the ASA Annual Meeting each August, regional or aligned association meetings in the spring or fall, and professional development training programs and workshops.

Eligibility:

MFP applicants must be enrolled in (and have completed one full academic year) in a program that grants the Ph.D. in sociology. MFP Fellows are selected on the basis of their commitment to research, the focus of their research experience, academic achievement, scholarship, writing ability, research potential, financial need, and racial/ethnic minority background. Specifically, applicants must be members of one of the following racial/ethnic groups: Blacks/African Americans, Latinos/as (e.g., Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans), American Indians or Alaskan Natives, and Asians (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian), or Pacific Islanders (e.g., Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, Filipino). Fellows must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the U.S., or have been lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence and have in their possession an Alien Registration Card.

For complete information about this opportunity, including how to apply, click here.

UW GPSS Travel Grants

Application Deadline: January 30, 2018 (for conference travel February 15, 2018-April 11, 2018)

In an effort to help improve graduate and professional student life at the University of Washington, the GPSS Travel Grants Program contributes funds to qualifying individuals’ travel expenses for active conference participation in the US and abroad. GPSS travel grants contribute to the strengthening of the University and its increased prominence in the greater scholarly community through the broadening of students’ personal and academic development through exposure to the work of others elsewhere. Students whose conference participation might otherwise be unfunded, have strong academic credentials and are making fair progress towards their respective degrees are encouraged to apply. Recipients will receive awards up to $300 for domestic conferences and $500 for international conferences.

Eligibility

UW (Seattle) graduate and professional students enrolled and in good standing may apply for this travel grant. Active participation (presenting a paper or poster, chairing a session or panel, etc.) at an academic conference is required and proof of acceptance is required with this application (see below). Applicants must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2 to be considered.

Students may apply for this grant up to one term before participating in the conference event, during the term of participation. Students may not apply for funding if their conference/event will occur before the quarter deadline. Only one application per conference event/presentation is permitted, however. Though students may apply only once per conference event, one may apply many times as they like during their UW student career for different events/presentations. One may only receive GPSS travel funding once every three years (with a maximum of two awards during one’s UW student career).

For more information and how to apply, click here.

Call for Applications: UW Zimbabwe Study Abroad Program

Zimbabwe: Population Health in Action

Program Dates: July 19 – August 17, 2018 (Summer B term)

Location: Harare, Zimbabwe, and surrounding areas; Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Matabeleland North Province; Chidamoyo Hospital, Karoi, Zimbabwe.

For the second year, the Honors Program in collaboration with Global Health and the School of Nursing is pleased to offier a unique opportunity to view public health in practice. This Zimbabwe immersion experience with the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZCHS) Zichire Program, will allow evolving learners interested in global health careers to have a first hand experience learning how accruing an evidence-basis in resource-limited settings is crucial for population health. A core component of this study abroad is learning how public health research is translated to implementation of programs and policies.

Program directors will lead students on a study abroad program to observe work with a Zimbabwe public health research and implementation team (Zichire), health care services and implementation research and evaluation offered by a Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care provincial medical directorate. The Zuchire program is part of the Department of Community Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe. The Ministry of Health and Child Care Provincial Medical Directorate of the Matabeleland North Province will lead students through observations of research, evaluation, and health services in their province. Participatory learning in rural and community health will also occur at rural District Hospitals. A core component of this study abroad program is learning how public health research is translated to policies impacting population health in a lower-middle income country. Students will learn about and observe research, evaluation and implementation of public health programs, and clinical care programs all focused on improving population health.

Students will attend a one week seminar, on site at the University of Zimbabwe, College of Health Sciences, in Harare, Zimbabwe. Lectures will be the basis of observations in the field and clinic settings. They will cover diverse topics such as: clinical care training and services of ‘western’ and traditional health care practices, public health field epidemiology, public health research, implementation science, community-based health program implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of community and clinical programs. In addition, policy and health discussions led by Ministry of Health and Child Care colleagues, College of Health Sciences faculty, and UW professors will be conducted. Lectures will be focused on how one achieves population health via an integrated policy, research, evaluation, and care framework. Students will then observe this population health approach in action. Students will observe field activities in Harare and surrounding areas of the Zichire research and implementation team, and in two field settings (Bulawayo and Chidamoyo). During weeks two and three, students will be divided into two groups, which will be ‘attached’ to observe practitioners in each of two sites in consecutive order: 1) provincial medical services implementation and policy research (Provincial Medical Directorate and the Field Epidemiology Program); and 3) clinical care practice (Chidamoyo Hospital).

Student experiences will be documented in daily reflections, and in blogs or portfolios. Students will provide a final presentation of their learning and experiences in Zimbabwe. Honors students will document their experiences in their Honors Learning Portfolios.

Application Process

This study abroad program is designed for Undergraduates in the Honors Program; Undergraduates in the School of Nursing and Global Health; Undergraduates in Public Health; Select graduate students in the School of Nursing and the Department of Global Health; students in other majors with a focus on health, such as health psychology, medical sociology or anthropology, and students across campus, on a space available basis, who are interested in the topic.

Students who have taken other college-level HIV/AIDS courses (syllabus will need to be provided to Drs. Kasprzyk and Montano) are also able to sign up for the study abroad program.

Students should be ready to work with a wide variety of individuals including public health practitioners, researchers, clinicians, in both urban and rural LMICs. Students will be representing the University of Washington, and the University of Zimbabwe to communities and entities they will be working with and should be intellectually open and comfortable working with diverse populations.

Apply Now

Deadline: Jan 31, 2018