Training Program in Population Studies

Summary/Abstract The Population Research Center (PRC) of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) requests a 9th renewal of its T32 NICHD-funded Training Program in Population Studies. The dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dobbs decision reversing Roe, spikes in teen suicide and other threats to youth well-being, and the global increase of displaced persons are just four of the many pressing social issues heightening the critical importance of demography and population perspectives. Our training program benefits from an outstanding interdisciplinary faculty with scientific expertise in four key areas of Reproductive Health, Population Health, Family Demography, and Work, Education and Inequality, along with new depth in Biosocial methods. The PRC provides the infrastructure, training opportunities, and research environment necessary to train the next generation of population scientists and is supported by a strong extramural funding trajectory. PRC predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows are supported by state-of-the-art administrative, computing, scientific, and program development resources; expert faculty collaborators and mentors; topical working groups and a seminar series that provide an intellectual idea exchange and access to well-known scholars from across the country and world. We request training funds for 5 predoctoral fellows and 2 postdoctoral fellows per year for the 2024- 2029 grant period to maintain the size of the program. The center provides an outstanding training environment with notable accomplishments including predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows’ high research productivity in terms of articles and conference presentations, as well as their success in securing external funding for their own work and in securing leading academic, postdoctoral, and research positions around the country. Reflecting the growing interdisciplinarity of population research, our program trains students from Sociology, Human Development and Family Sciences, and Economics and we expect to continue to draw students from other disciplines including Psychology and Public Affairs. Through this program, our goal is to continue to support, develop and produce intellectually and demographically diverse independent scholars who produce work of the highest quality and ethical standards. In sum, we request support to continue our success in serving the mission of NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch to support highly trained, ethical, productive researchers who will impact society’s understanding of our most pressing national and international public health issues.