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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

Call for Fellow Applications: Data Science for Social Good

The University of Washington eScience Institute, in collaboration with the Cascadia Urban Analytics Cooperative, is excited to announce the summer 2018 Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) program. The program brings together Student Fellows with data and domain researchers to work on focused, collaborative projects for societal benefit.

Sixteen DSSG Student Fellows will be selected to work with academic researchers, data scientists, and public stakeholder groups such as government officials, academic researchers, non-profit organizations, and the general public, on data-intensive research projects.

Who: Graduate students and advanced (junior/senior) undergraduate students are invited to apply. Spring 2018 graduates are eligible for this program. Students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply as long as their visa status allows them to work in the U.S. We cannot sponsor student visas for this program.

What: Each student will be part of a team working full-time on a research project that has concrete relevance and impact. Students are expected to work closely and collaboratively with team members onsite for the duration of the 10-week program. Projects will have an applied social good dimension and involve analysis and visualization of data from areas such as public health, sustainable urban planning, environmental protection, disaster response, crime prevention, education, transportation, governance, commerce, and social justice. Click for summaries of projects from the Summer 2015 and Summer 2016  and Summer 2017 DSSG programs.

Where: Most work will be conducted on the UW campus in the WRF Data Science Studio, but some field excursions in the City of Seattle or King County may also be involved.

When: This is a 10-week long, full-time program beginning June 11th and ending August 17th 2018.

Compensation: Students will be given a stipend of $6,500 for the 10 weeks.

Desired qualifications:

  • Demonstrated experience in issues related to social good
  • Research experience with quantitative or qualitative tools
  • Strong academic record
  • Previous programming experience

How to Apply: CLICK HERE FOR THE APPLICATION FORM. Please note: a copy of your CV and unofficial transcripts are required to complete the form.

Questions may be directed to exec-director@escience.washington.edu.

Application Deadline: February 12th at midnight Pacific Time

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

FLAS Fellowships support undergraduate, graduate and professional students in acquiring modern foreign languages and area or international studies competencies.   Students from all UW departments and schools are encouraged to apply.

Contingent on funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the eight National Resource Centers of the University of Washington will offer Academic Year and Summer FLAS Fellowships in the following languages:

Arabic –Bangla- Bulgarian –Burmese –Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian –Canadian First Nations, Métis & Inuit –Chinese –Czech –Danish –Estonian -Tagalog – Finnish –Hebrew –Hindi–Indonesian–Italian –Japanese –Kazakh –Khmer –Korean– Latvian –Lithuanian–Polish –Norwegian –Persian–Portuguese–Russian Slovenian– Swahili –Swedish–Tajik –Thai –Turkish –Uighur–Urdu–Uzbek -Vietnamese Graduate Students Only: French–German–Spanish (intermediate or advanced only)

Eligibility 

The FLAS Fellowship is available to current and incoming UW students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.  It is available to students who will study one of the listed foreign languages at the intermediate or advanced level while receiving the fellowship.  More on eligibility…

FLAS Fellows receive

  • Academic Year Graduate: $18,000 tuition, $15,000 living stipend
  • Academic Year Undergraduate: $10,000 tuition,$5,000 living stipend
  • Summer Graduate/Undergraduate: $5,000 tuition,$2500 living stipend

Applicants should carefully read all FLAS guidelines, including Center-specific guidelines, before applying.  If you have any questions, contact flas@uw.edu.

 

UPCOMING FLAS INFORMATION SESSIONS

Th Jan 11, 10-2 (FLAS Table), Study Abroad Fair, HUB Ballroom

Th Jan 11, 10:30-11 AM, 2:30-3 PM, ‘Funding Your Study Abroad Program,’ HUB 214

Wed Jan 17, 3:30-4:30 PST Web Chat (see website for access instructions)

Tu Jan 23, 2:30-3:30 PST Web Chat (see website for access instructions)

Th Jan 25, 2-5:30 PM (FLAS Table), Scholarships Fair, Mary Gates Hall Commons

Th Jan 25, 2:30-3 PM ‘Last-minute tips for FLAS Applicants,’ Mary Gates Hall 171

Junior Research Associate

Interface Demography seeks a full-time junior research associate with interest in quantitative social science research to work on a challenging research project.

Project
Green and quiet Brussels? Analysis of social inequalities in the health-related outcomes of environmental characteristics in the Brussels Capital Region: a mixed method intersectionality approach

Project background
Urban areas are growing fast worldwide and there is an increasing concern about the relations between urbanization, environmental threats, the quality of living spaces and human health. A healthy living environment is a prerequisite for good health. Research in environmental epidemiology clearly illustrates a direct health impact of indoor and outdoor pollution. Living in healthy and green areas is associated with better self-assessed health, better mental health, lower risks of cardio-vascular and respiratory diseases and lower mortality from related causes. To date, there are few studies dealing with the association between the in- and outdoor living environment and health in Belgium, let alone in the Brussels Capital Region. The current project will disentangle the interrelations between (indoor and outdoor) environmental factors, social background factors and health in the Brussels Capital Region. It will investigate the impact of social stratifiers – socioeconomic position, migrant background, age and gender – on the association between environmental quality and health and mortality.

Aim of the project
The researcher is expected to conduct quantitative research on socio-economic inequalities in health-related outcomes (subjective health, all-cause and cause-specific mortality) related to indoor and outdoor environmental factors. The aim of the project is to map social inequalities in health-related outcomes of indoor and outdoor environmental exposures in detail via statistical, demographic and epidemiologic analyses using a census-linked follow-up study, starting at the beginning of the 2000s until the mid-2010s. The findings should result in the submission of a doctoral dissertation in the social sciences and in publications in scientific journals. The researcher will be part of a small research team on this topic situated within the Interface Demography research group, working in close collaboration with the Centre for Environment and Health (KU Leuven) with expertise in conducting epidemiological studies on the relationship between environmental exposures and health.

General information
The duration of the project is 2 years, with an additional 2 years after positive evaluation.

Profile

• Master of science (Master in Sociology, Master in Health Sciences, Master in Public Health or related and Master in Environmental Sciences or related)
• Passion for scientific research
• Sound knowledge of and/or experience with quantitative research methods and data analysis
• Ability to conduct research both independently and collaboratively
• Ability to learn new statistical techniques
• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills (English)
• Willingness to prepare a PhD based on the research findings
• Commitment to high quality academic research

We offer

• Full-time appointment for 2+2 years (starting at the beginning of 2018) with a research grant
• High-quality guidance in an academic environment
• Challenging research with great societal and scientific relevance

Research group
Interface Demography is an excellent multidisciplinary research group within the Department of Sociology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The main aim of Interface Demography is gaining sound empirical and theoretical insights into demographic evolutions as well as into their interaction with societal challenges. One of the key areas of study is inequality in health and mortality.

Location Department of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Solvay Business School Department of Sociology – Interface Demography 5 Pleinlaan, 1050 Brussels

How to apply?
E-mail a motivational letter and curriculum vitae before January 31, 2018 to:

Professor dr. Sylvie Gadeyne Vrije Universiteit Brussel Department of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Solvay Business School Research group Sociology – Interface Demography 5 Pleinlaan, 1050 Brussels For further enquiries please contact Sylvie Gadeyne by e-mail (sylvie.gadeyne@vub.be) or phone (+32 2 6148129/+32 498 236043). Additional information on the research group Interface Demography can be found on: http://www.vub.ac.be/demography

Research Fellow: Population, Health & Wellbeing

The WorldPop programme, based at the University of Southampton, is seeking to recruit two researchers to assist with spatial demographic analyses in a number of low-income countries around the world. We require enthusiastic statistical analysts to work on a range of research projects relating to high-resolution predictive mapping of population distributions and demographics based on household survey, census and bespoke survey data, along with high-resolution geospatial covariate data layers. The work will be foundational to a new collaborative programme entitled GRID3 (Geospatial Reference, Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development) with partners at National Statistics Offices, the Flowminder Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, CIESIN and UNFPA, and will be used to guide projects ranging from population enumeration to delivery of health programs and alleviation of poverty. As well as joining the vibrant and well-connected WorldPop and Flowminder Foundation teams, you will have opportunities to lead high-impact publications.

The project work to be undertaken will include some or all of the following:

  1. Developing spatial statistical approaches, including uncertainty quantification, for the production of high resolution gridded estimates of population counts and demographic characteristics in the absence of national census data across countries, through the integration of geospatial covariate layers and survey data
  2. Contributing to the design of sampling strategies to obtain additional survey data
  3. Responding to ad-hoc analysis and modelling requests from governments and agencies
  4. Supporting national statistical offices in the analysis of existing census data or future census planning
  5. Contributing to the development and delivery of workshops aimed at training outside staff (i.e. at national statistics offices, international agencies) in the methods developed

You will have a PhD *or equivalent professional qualifications and relevant industry experience in a statistical/computational/quantitative discipline strong experience in spatial statistical analysis and computer programming skills would be advantageous.. The project work will be highly interdisciplinary and as such there is some flexibility to accommodate expertise from a range of cognate disciplinary backgrounds (e.g. geography, demography, statistics, computer science, ecology, epidemiology etc).  A willingness to travel overseas occasionally is also required.

* Applications for Research Fellow positions will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD qualification.  The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon successful completion of the PhD.  Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Andrew Tatem.

Application procedure:

You should submit your completed online application form at www.jobs.soton.ac.uk. The application deadline will be midnight on Thursday January 18, 2018. If you need any assistance, please call Charlene Tyson (Recruitment Team) on +44 (0) 23 8059 6803. Please quote reference 952617WR on all correspondence

Christine Leibbrand and Stewart Tolnay Explore Outcomes of the Great Migration for the Next Generation

During the Great Migration, African Americans left the South to seek better fortunes in other regions of the U.S., which had repercussions for both their communities and the nation. Affiliate Stewart Tolnay, Professor of Sociology, and CSDE Trainee Christine Leibbrand, graduate student in the Department of Sociology, —along with colleagues at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan—co-authored a recent study on the outcomes of the Great Migration for the children of migrants.  The study, published in the December issue of Demography, looks beyond the immediate aftermath of the Great Migration to its effects on the next generation, and finds that children of African American migrants fared better than those whose parents stayed in the South. The full article is available below.

Emilio Zagheni Presents a Model for Estimating Subnational Mortality

Affiliate Emilio Zagheni, Associate Professor of Sociology and CSDE Training Director, co-authored a recent article that estimates subnational mortality rates using a Bayesian hierarchical model. Published in the December issue of Demography, the article presents this approach as a means of overcoming difficulties in producing reliable estimates of subnational mortality due to stochastic variation in death counts among small populations. When tested, the model produced plausible estimates and levels of uncertainty for both real and simulated data, demonstrating its potential application for research efforts focused on subregional health. The full article is available below.

Kam Wing Chan Addresses Beijing’s Campaign to Clear Out Migrants

Affiliate Kam Wing Chan, Professor of Geography, was quoted in a recent New York Times article on Beijing’s major campaign to oust rural migrants. This initiative has led not only to widespread evictions and the destruction of entire neighborhoods, but also to the shutdown of schools that serve migrant communities, leaving up to 15,000 children without a means of receiving education. “You are basically destroying a whole generation of children,” said Chan of the repercussions of government crackdowns on these schools. You can access the article below.

From Housing Research to Housing Policy

Gregg Colburn and Rebecca J. Walter, College of Built Environments, UW
Rachel Fyall, Evans School, UW
Anaid Yerena, Urban Studies, UW-Tacoma

Moderated by Lynne Manzo, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, UW

Join us on Friday for an engaging session focused on housing! Each of our expert panelists will present on their housing research, followed by a discussion of the research and its role in informing policy.

Researcher in Social Behavior Science

Provides expertise in support of research projects in social science, behavioral science, or humanities, including psychology, sociology, education, etc. Performs advanced testing procedures, data collection, and analysis. Prepares reports. May work with human subjects and contribute to grant proposal development. Ensures experiments are performed according to specifications. May make recommendations to changes in procedure, processes, or experimental design. May prepare and/or edit research papers, proposals and reports. Possesses, understands, and applies a comprehensive knowledge in area of specialization. Develops understanding and skills to allow for completion of assignments that cross fields of specialization. Develops leadership and management skills.

Duties: Reviews progress and evaluates results of experiments under control or supervisory responsibility. Recommends changes in testing or experimental procedures. May be responsible for a single research project or a segment of a large research project.

Qualifications: Master’s Degree with 3 years experience.

Assistant Professor of Geography

The Department of Geography at the University of Cincinnati (UC) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in health and medical geography. Duties will include teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in health and medical geography, and GIS applications in public health; conducting and publishing research on medical geography, spatial epidemiology, and environmental impacts on public health using GIS, geovisualization and other geospatial analysis techniques; advising graduate student theses and dissertations; and, undertaking committee service assignments. The position offers opportunities for research collaboration with Department of Environmental Health in the UC College of Medicine, the local branch of the EPA, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Minimum requirements for the position are

  • A PhD in Geography or related field is required prior to the start of employment.
  • A strong record of publications in areas of medical geography, spatial epidemiology, and environmental impacts on public health, which demonstrated the use of GIS, spatial analysis, and geovisualization in his/her scientific research.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted online by visiting https://jobs.uc.edu (Search Requisition #24570). In addition to the online application, applicants must include a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and statements of research and teaching plans. Applicants must also provide the names and e-mail addresses for three professional references.  Applications will be considered until the position is filled.