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August 10, 2012 - International Conference on Methods for Surveying and Enumerating Hard to Reach Populations
"H2R 2012" will be held Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 in New Orleans, LA. The conference will bring together survey methodologists, sociologists, statisticians, demographers, ethnographers, policy analysts and other professionals from around the world to present new and innovative concepts and techniques for surveying hard to reach populations. DuPRI faculty members M. Giovanna Merli and James Moody will both be presenting papers. The conference aims to address both the statistical and survey design aspects of including hard to reach groups. Researchers will report findings from censuses and surveys and other research related to the identification, definition, measurement, and methodologies for surveying and enumerating undercounted populations. The deadline for registration is Sept. 20. H2R 2012 Homepage. | Registration Form

July 09, 2012 - Supercentenarian Researchers Meet in Rome
Over two full and lively days, researchers from Europe, Scandinavia, the U.S., Canada, Japan and Brazil presented their latest data and analyses of the phenomenon of "supercentenarians" — people who reach the age of 110 or more. Read the full article

May 08, 2012 - Anatoliy Yashin Receives Sheps Award for Mathematical Demography
Anatoliy I. Yashin, Scientific Director of the DuPRI Center for Population Health and Aging, received the Mindel C. Sheps Award in San Francisco for his contributions to the methodological foundations of demography. Read the full article

May 08, 2012 - DuPRI Faculty Spotlight: Anatoliy I. Yashin, PhD.
Whether the secret to long life turns out to be a positive attitude, lucky genes, or highly complex interactions among a multitude of factors over a lifetime, Anatoliy I. Yashin will likely capture those forces at work in a sophisticated mathematical model. Yashin, the scientific director of DuPRI’s Center for Population Health and Aging, applies advanced mathematics to understanding the complexities of human aging. The new methods and models he has devised, and the results they generate, continually influence the course of research in the field of aging studies. Read the full article.

April 30, 2012 - PAA 2012: DuPRI Students, Faculty Highlighted at Duke Economics
Five economics Ph.D. students head to the Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting this week. The conference will be held May 3 - 5 in the heart of San Francisco. These students join Duke Population Research Institute (DUPRI) faculty who continue to represent Duke at the PAA meeting year after year. Duke Economics Professors Seth Sanders and Duncan Thomas will be in attendance this week. Read the full article.

March 01, 2012 - DuPRI Faculty Spotlight: M. Giovanna Merli, Ph.D.
In a recent interview, DuPRI Associate Director M. Giovanna Merli explains how she blends classical demographic methods with tools like social network modeling to challenge assumptions about the world’s most populous country. Read the full article

February 13, 2012 - PAA 2012 Annual Meeting
This year's Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting is taking place in San Francisco on May 3-5. Are you a DuPRI student that is interested in attending? Let us help! Conference Details

October 04, 2011 - New DuPRI Training Website Launches
For students who wish to learn more about Training in the Population Sciences at Duke, DuPRI has launched a comprehensive Training website. The site aims to answer any questions prospective students may have regarding courses, grant funding, and conference attendance. Training Link

August 23, 2011 - Population in focus at Science
A recent issue of the popular journal Science examines the opportunities and challenges created by demographic changes around the world. News stories by the journal's staff and research assessments by leading experts- accompanied by online videos and dynamic graphics- explore the past, present and future trajectory of the world's population. More Info

July 27, 2011 - DuPRI's Anatoli Yashin among those skeptical on retracted paper's findings
A prominent paper originally published in Science on the genetics of longevity in centenarians has recently been retracted. Research professor and DuPRI Associate Anatoli Yashin was skeptical from the start. "I didn't believe it," he says. "Any model that plans to predict lifespan based only on genetic components is not quite correct. The environmental contribution to longevity is huge." Read the entire article here.

July 15, 2011 - Population Reference Bureau Reviews May's Biodemography Conference at Duke
With support from the U.S. National Institute on Aging, a group of U.S. and European scientists met in May at Duke's Population Research Institute to share findings from their ongoing work. The eventual goal is to identify interventions—public health policies, medical treatments, behavior advice—that prolong survival so more people lead longer, healthier lives. Full article

July 13, 2011 - More on US Life Expectancy: James Vaupel on Obesity vs. Longevity
America's obesity epidemic is so called for a reason. Roughly one in three adults is obese, yet Americans are living longer than ever. In a June 30 article featured in The Economist, DuPRI professor and founding director James Vaupel expresses cautious optimism on rising obesity rates in the US having a negative impact on future progress in life expectancy. Read the entire article here.

July 12, 2011 - CPHA Senior Investigator Weighs in on US Life Expectancy
A recent article posted by BBC News examines the widening gap in life expectancy rates between the US and other Western countries. Risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure and tobacco use have been linked to a slowed increase towards longevity in Americans when compared to that of Britons or Canadians. "When you look at life expectancy at 65 or 75, the US performs rather well" says Duke researcher Svetlana Ukraintseva. Where the US lags behind is what happens at a much younger age. Full Story

June 01, 2011 - DuPRI Professor brings a collaborative spirit to the science of Ethnography
James B. Duke Professor of Sociology Linda M. Burton studies Americans “who don’t have a voice, who are under the radar of our society.” Burton directed the ethnographic component of the monumental Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study, managing a team of 215 research scientists, ethnographers, data analysts and staff. Full Story

May 05, 2011 - DuPRI Faculty Awarded Grant to Improve the Utility of Respondent Driven Sampling
M. Giovanna Merli, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, has been awarded a four-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Totaling $1,067,457 over four years, this grant addresses efforts to obtain valid estimates of the prevalence of sexually transmitted disease infection and risky and preventive health behaviors among female sex workers in China, with possible extensions to other hidden populations in different contexts. Merli and her research team, which includes Jim Moody of the Duke Department of Sociology, will work to improve the utility of Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS), an increasingly popular sampling method used to recruit samples of hidden populations, with data collected in China as part of various collaborative efforts with Ersheng Gao of Shanghai Fudan University, Sharon Weir and Gail Henderson of the Carolina Population Center and Xiangsheng Chen of Nanjing National Center for STD Control. Dr Merli is the Associate Director of DuPRI and directs the institute’s Developmental Core, and is also a member of the Duke Global Health Institute. View Abstract

April 05, 2011 - International AIDS Economics Network (IAEN) online forum – join the dialogue!
The International AIDS Economics Network (IAEN) is an organization founded in 1993, with the objective of encouraging economists and policymakers to discuss issues of AIDS and economics. IAEN will be holding an online discussion forum on Efficiency and Effectiveness in the context of HIV and AIDS in April and May. Experts from a variety of organizations and disciplines will be posting short discussion pieces on various aspects of this topic. This forum is designed to encourage online discussion among members, and IAS members are also invited to join the dialogue. There will be the opportunity to read the discussion papers by leaders in this field, as well as to share experiences and opinions with others. In order to receive updates, and join the discussion, please go to the website and enter your name and email address. More Info

November 04, 2010 - Can the Census Accurately Count Same-Sex Couples?
DuPRI Director, Seth Sanders works with other research professors on the topic of gay and lesbian couples living in committed relationships across the country had two options when filling out the 2010 Census: “husband/wife” or “unmarried partner.” Their decisions on which box to check could have serious policy implications. Full Story

October 28, 2010 - DuPRI Can Help with Grant Process
DuPRI offers assistance to faculty associates and affiliates through all stages of the grants process: from proposal development and submission, through research administration responsibilities, to close out activities. For more information or assistance, please contact the Grants staff at dupri-grants@duke.edu Read More

October 26, 2010 - Married With Degrees
All two-career couples face concerns, but when each spouse is an academic, there are particular problems to resolve. They can range from finding jobs at the same or nearby institution to conducting joint research. It's a common issue for universities. One recent book reported that 40 percent of female faculty and 35 percent of male faculty have partners who are also faculty members. Full Story

January 05, 2010 - James Vaupel: an innovator in the demography of ageing
James W Vaupel's career has always been about transcending the limits of his field, demography. As the founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, Vaupel has helped to revolutionize the statistically bound field by taking a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates both human and non-human biology, mathematics, genetics, and public policy. His findings, which have often provoked debate, have changed perceptions about the demography of ageing. Lancet Article