Betty Bekemeier, CSDE Affiliate and Assistant Professor of Psychosocial and Community Health at UW, recently published a study on local areas’ efforts in promoting physical activity among residents. This cluster analysis examines practices in six states and discovered that coordinated community health plans can lead to clear reductions in obesity incidence. The study also highlighted the importance of data tracking and storage, practices that made this research possible. The full report is available below.
Kam Wing Chan Featured in Discussion of Beijing’s Barriers to Migrant Schooling
Kam Wing Chan, CSDE Affiliate and UW Professor of Geography, spoke with Toronto Star about how China’s population problems are affecting the availability of education. China’s hukou, an internal passport system based on heredity, is geared toward population control. Children of migrant parents, however, exist outside that system—as a result, they face near-insurmountable barriers to a Beijing education and are often forced away from the city. You can read the full article below.
Spatial Scientist, Assistant Professor
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is inviting applicants for a tenure-line, Spatial Scientist faculty position in the School of Natural Resources. We are seeking someone with advanced expertise in GIS with skills such as programming (Python), advanced spatial analysis techniques (e.g., R), geovisualization, and/or experience with remotely sensed image data. The position will also lead the GIS component within the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT). The link with more information about this positon and to apply is below.
Introduction to R through Mediation and Moderation
This workshop will provide an introduction to R by teaching researchers to conduct mediation and moderation analyses. The morning section will focus on basic R skills and an introduction to linear models in R. The next sections will show researchers how to reproduce mediation and moderation analyses, frequently conducted using PROCESS in SPSS and SAS, but in R. Special focus will be given to writing resampling procedures and probing interactions by hand. Registration for this workshop is limited, and University of Washington personnel will be given priority. If you are interested in attending this workshop please contact CSDE Affiliate Brian Flaherty at bxf4@u.washington.edu.
PhD Studentship in Demography/Population Studies
We invite applications from qualified and highly motivated students for a 3.75-year St Andrews–Max Planck PhD studentship in Demography / Population Studies. The PhD studentship is funded by the University of St Andrews and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR). The PhD student will be working on fertility in high income countries. The aims of the project are to analyse fertility trends and patterns in a number of high income / European countries and to investigate social and contextual determinants of fertility, while potentially also making use of subnational spatial variation. The project will be part of a European network for fertility research investigating recent shifts in the relationship between human development and fertility both at the individual and aggregate population level. The PhD student will be supervised by the following team: Prof. Hill Kulu (St Andrews), Prof. Mikko Myrskylä (MPIDR), Dr. Sebastian Klüsener (MPIDR) and Dr. Júlia Mikolai (St Andrews).
More information is available below.
Labor Studies Scholarships and Grants
Are you a University of Washington student studying labor and workers rights? Working for social justice outside the classroom? Pursuing a career in the labor movement, law, public service or the non-profit sector? Apply for a scholarship or grant!
Each year, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies awards thousands of dollars to top students in Labor Studies. This year, over $50,000 will be awarded. Deadlines for this year’s awards are approaching. Apply now!
This year’s scholarships include:
- Martin and Anne Jugum Scholarship – $5,500 for undergraduate students
- Gundlach Scholarship – $5,500 for undergraduate or graduate students
- Samuel Bassett Scholarship – $5,500 for undergrad or graduate students pursuing a career in labor relations
- Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) Scholarship – $1,000 for students pursuing a career in labor relations
- Martha H. Duggan Fellowship – $10,000 for graduate students studying or providing caring labor
- Best Labor Studies Paper Prize – $500 for the best graduate and undergraduate papers
The Bridges Center also supports ground-breaking labor studies research through our annual grant funding program. For a look at past sponsored projects, visit our Featured Research website.
This year’s research grants include:
- Washington State Labor Research Grant – Up to $10,000 for UW faculty or graduate students with UW faculty sponsor.
For more information, visit the Bridges Center website at http://depts.washington.edu/hbcls, or contact Associate Director Andrew Hedden at heddena@uw.edu .
Sexual Assault and Sexual Health Among Undergraduates Online Symposium
SHIFT is the University’s groundbreaking mixed-methods study examining sexual health and sexual violence among undergraduate students. This research lays the groundwork for innovative evidence-based strategies to prevent sexual assault and to promote sexual health. Join for this daylong symposium exploring findings, policy implications, and key directions for future research.
The focus of the day will be presentations and posters about SHIFT’s research, including:
- Findings on consensual and non-consensual sex among undergraduates
- Building a safer, healthier campus: findings on modifiable dimensions of institutional and social context
- Lessons learned about translating campus-specific research into institutional policy
The program will feature a keynote address from former White House Advisor Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, JD, and a discussion of SHIFT’s findings by nationally recognized expert Martie Thompson, PhD.
For more information about the program and presenters click here.
Injury and Health Equity Across the Lifespan Symposium
You are invited to a public lecture as part of the “Injury and Health Equity Across the Lifespan” (i-Heal) symposium on May 22, 2017 at the University of Washington School of Social Work from 6-7:30pm. Dr. Adil Haider from the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint initiative of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will present. Dr. Haider, an active trauma and critical care surgeon, is credited with uncovering racial disparities after traumatic injury and establishing the field of trauma disparities research.
Please RSVP for the lecture below.
The lecture is supported by the Population Health Initiative, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center, School of Social Work, and the Institute of Translational Health Sciences.
CSDE Fellow Presentation: Hilary Bethancourt
Bacon v. Broccoli: A Nuanced Look at the Contradictory Research on the Health Effects of Omniverous Versus Plant-based Diets
Though it is widely recognized that diet and nutrition play pivotal roles in health and disease processes throughout the life course, there is limited agreement on what constitutes an optimal, health-promoting diet. A particularly contentious topic in the diet and nutrition realm revolves around the effect of meat and animal fat on cardiovascular and metabolic health, but the current debates on this topic cannot be adequately addressed without answering some important cross-disciplinary questions. For example, why, despite strong anthropological evidence that humans evolved to be meat-eating omnivores, do epidemiological studies seem to suggest that, at least in industrialized settings, vegetarians and vegans tend to experience lower rates of morbidity and mortality than omnivores? How valid are conventional nutritional recommendations to reduce fat, avoid red meat, and consume ample amounts of grains given evidence of superior cardiometabolic health among extant hunter-gatherer populations and improved cardiometabolic health observed in clinical trials in which participants are instructed to follow diets modeled off of hunter-gather consumption patterns? And in general, why is the data on the health effects of any given dietary pattern, food, or macronutrient density so inconsistent across studies and populations?
In an attempt to address some of these questions, Hilary Bethancourt, a current PhD candidate in biocultural anthropology, pursued a dissertation research project that explored the nutritional variation of periodic plant-based diets practiced by Orthodox Christians in the United States during Lent (the 48 days preceding Easter) and concurrent changes in biomarkers of cardiovascular and metabolic health. She will discuss some of her research findings while also highlighting some of the many methodological issues that limit the strength and/or validity of conclusions made from existing research on diet, nutrition, and disease. Hilary hopes researchers from a wide range of disciplines will join and contribute to this interactive conversation on how we might improve upon methods of dietary assessment, evaluation of health status, and statistical modeling of diet-disease relationships in order to address competing perspectives on which foods should or can be included in a healthy diet aimed at preventing or managing nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases.
Hilary Bethancourt is currently pursuing a PhD in biocultural anthropology with a focus on medical and nutritional anthropology at the University of Washington. She has also received a master’s degree in biocultural anthropology and a master’s of public health degree in epidemiology at the University of Washington. Her research interests throughout her graduate studies have been focused on gaining a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary perspective on how human evolutionary history, biology, ecology, and culture have influenced dietary and lifestyle behaviors and growth, development, health, and aging patterns within and across human populations. Hilary’s aim of gaining a better understanding of the complex relationships between diet or lifestyle factors and health throughout the life course is driven by the goal of helping to find more effective, accessible, and cost-effective ways of preventing and managing chronic, degenerative diseases and maintaining health and functionality throughout the aging process.
CSDE Supports Grant Applications – Check Out These New Opportunities!
CSDE provides grant application support for Affiliates submitting through our unit. This includes help with timelines, budget preparation, subawards, and application guidelines. We will help you interface with campus and online submission systems (SAGE, ASSIST, FastLane, Grants.Gov, eRA Commons etc.) to streamline your submission.
There are several upcoming opportunities through the Population Dynamics Branch of NICHD for demographers (due date in parentheses):
R21 – NICHD Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (June 16)
The NICHD Exploratory/Developmental Grant program supports exploratory and developmental research projects that fall within the NICHD mission by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of these projects. These studies may involve considerable risk but may lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models, or applications that could have a major impact on a field of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research.
R03 – Archiving and Documenting Child Health and Human Development Data Sets (June 16)
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to invite R03 applications to support archiving and documenting existing data sets in order to enable secondary analysis of these data by the scientific community. The priority of this program is to archive data sets within the scientific mission of the NICHD; highest priority is to archive data collected with NICHD support.
R01 – Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (Jun 5)
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages investigators to submit research grant applications that will identify, develop, test, evaluate and/or refine strategies to disseminate and implement evidence-based practices (e.g. behavioral interventions; prevention, early detection, diagnostic, treatment and disease management interventions; quality improvement programs) into public health, clinical practice, and community settings. In addition, studies to advance dissemination and implementation research methods and measures are encouraged.
- Compliance on medication and vaccines for children
- Contraceptive use/non use