Population Geography Research Group

PhD Studentship – Creating better Area Classification for the 2011 Census of the Population

A Ph.D. studentship is available commencing end September 2010 for three years to create an updated methodology for the creation of a new area classification that will be employed on the 2011 Census of the Population, when the output data are made available. The current classification can be viewed as the ‘OAC interactive map’ at www.areaclassification.org.uk.

This provides an excellent opportunity to address a range of important methodological issues with geodemographic classifications, and to build better visualisation methods for dissemination that will maximise engagement and create more opportunities for public feedback. As such, the key research deliverables of this award will be: to evaluate alternate clustering methodologies that create more stable assignments of areas into clusters; to design new geographically sensitive methods of measurement that inform the underlying indicator variables used to create the classification; to develop and evaluate new modes of dissemination which better utilise web based technology and new advances in GIS.

The successful candidate is likely to have a background in GIS or computer science, and will have as a minimum an upper second or first class degree. The applicant will be a home (UK) or EU student. Applicants should email a curriculum vitae and supporting statement to Professor Paul Longley at the Department of Geography, University College London: plongley@geog.ucl.ac.uk. The closing date for applications is Friday 27 August 2010, with interviews planned for the following week.

6th International Conference on Population Geographies Umeå, Sweden

6th International Conference on Population Geographies

Umeå, Sweden, 14 – 17 June 2011
We would like to welcome you all to the Sixth International Conference on Population Geographies, to be held at the University Campus in Umeå, Sweden next June.
Call for papers and more information, including link to our website, will be send out during the fall of 2010.
*Deadline for abstract submission February 2011 *

Preliminary programme in brief:

*Tuesday 14/6 *Registration, reception and pre-excursion for early arrivals
*Wednesday 15/6 *Registration, keynotes and parallel sessions Evening activity
*Thursday 16/6 * Keynotes and parallel sessions Conference dinner

*Friday 17/6 *Parallel sessions and closing session,
*Friday – Sunday 17-19/6* Post-conference excursion to Kiruna

We hope to see you here in Umeå next June. Please help circulate this call amongst your colleagues and on your mailing lists!

Very welcome!!

Gunnar Malmberg

http://www.geo.umu.se/om-institutionen/personal/malmberg-gunnar/

4th Cycle National Metropolis Research Competition

4th Cycle National Metropolis Research Competition

The Call for Proposals for the 4^th Cycle of the National Metropolis Research Competition is now available on the National Metropolis website: http://canada.metropolis.net/competition/4th_researchcomp_e.html.

A recent Statistics Canada Study projects that by 2031 approximately one-third of all Canadians will be visible minorities. (Visible minorities include those who identify/self-select as non-white, but does not include Aboriginals). This projection adds insight to recent studies that show that:

• Socio-economic disparities between racial groups have been growing.
• Visible minorities, particularly those newly immigrated, are consistently overrepresented among the poor in Canada.
• Poverty is increasingly concentrated in visible minority communities and this spatial concentration of poverty is particularly acute in urban areas.

In light of Canada’s demographic trends, an examination of the economic outcomes and consequences of poverty amongst growing visible minorities in Canada, as well as the policies that could prevent and support emergence from poverty, is necessary.

The standard explanation of the factors that can lead to poverty amongst Canada’s growing visible minority communities, these often being immigrant communities, is usually cited as a combination of country of origin; immigration applicant class; literacy and official language capacity; quality of education; time spent in Canada; foreign credential recognition; access to child care and other gender-related factors; urban/rural factors; access to social capital; inter-generational considerations; and discrimination and racism.

This call for research proposals seeks assessments of the adequacy of these standard explanations of poverty and of enduring economic disadvantage amongst growing visible minority communities in Canada.

Proposals should:
A) Articulate an approach to assessing the adequacy of the standard explanations of poverty amongst growing visible minority communities, showing how the standard explanatory factors are understood and how they will be assessed. Proposals will also articulate how the research will determine whether or not there is a need for alternate explanations or enhanced conceptualizations of poverty.
Emphasis should be placed on consequences and outcomes of poverty as well as on the possible solutions. It is suggested that proposals refer to/consider the following components: geographic/spatial concentration of poverty, differences between rural and urban contexts, provincial and territorial differences, age considerations in consequences and outcomes, reactive/protective behaviours and subsequent outcomes (e.g., radicalization), difference due to religious minority contexts, and the role that gender plays in economic outcomes are all welcomed.

B) Indicate as precisely as possible the policy linkages of the proposed research project, based on consultations with relevant policy-makers in Citizenship and Immigration Canada and/or in partnering federal departments; or with policy-makers at the provincial or municipal level. Where appropriate, applicants are also encouraged to indicate the specific implications of the research project for the concerns of, or for programs and services provided by, other relevant stakeholders (e.g., multicultural groups, NGO’s and other immigrant serving groups) based on direct consultations and/or involvement with these stakeholders. Letters of support from Federal, Provincial or Municipal policy-makers are recommended.

To Apply: Click here for application forms available on the SSHRC website.

Submission deadline: October 4, 2010

Erste Foundation Social Research Fellowships 2010/2011

The Erste Foundation has published a new call for expression of interests, this time focusing on “Migration and its effects on demographic and economic development in Central and Eastern Europe”.

Submission deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is 20 July 2010. For more information please visit: http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/research/regions/europe/east/opportunities .

LSE Health reproductive morbidity and poverty seminar – call for papers

LSE Health is hosting a ESRC-funded seminar on ‘Reproductive morbidity and poverty’ on the 6th of November, 2010. They invite the submission of abstracts from now, with the deadline on the 31st of July.

Poverty reduction is a core target in the international development agenda. Reproductive morbidities include physical disorders such as fistula and infertility, as well as maternal depression and mental ill-health. For every maternal death, there are an estimated twenty women with maternal morbidities. Although these morbidities cause widespread disability and reduce the quality of life, they receive little attention as public health problems. The burden of reproductive health morbidities falls heaviest on the poor who often do not have access to essential health care and services.

More informaiton on the seminar, and the call, can here found in this pdf.

Lecturer in Geography, School of Global Studies, Sussex

The University of Sussex invites applications for a permanent Lectureship in the Department of Geography, within the School of Global Studies. They are seeking a scholar with outstanding potential to contribute to a Department that ranks in the top 10 in the UK for its publications. Candidates must have expertise in the human or physical dimensions of environmental change, and be able to take a leadership role in relation to the School’s interdisciplinary Masters in Environment, Development and Policy. Expertise in quantitative methods and/or GIS would be an advantage.

More details can be found here: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/staffing/personnl/vacs/vac896.shtml

Salary: Grade 8: (£36,715 to £43,840 pa)

Expected Start date: 1 October 2010

Full-time, permanent

BSPS Day meeting – Demography of London

RGS-IBG Conference Sessions Sponsored by PGRG

The Population Geography Research Group (PGRG) is sponsoring four sessions at the RGS-IBG 2010 Annual Conference in London  1-3 September 2010.

Further details on the RGS-IBG 2010 Annual Conference www.rgs.org/AC2010

• 2011 GB Census: looking ahead
  Friday, Session 2, 11:10 – 12:50

  Convenors: Prof Phil Rees and Dr Oliver Duke-Williams (University of Leeds)

  • 2011 Census Outputs Design and User Requirements
    Joe Traynor, Office for National Statistics
  • Getting ready for 2011: issues in harmonizing analysis across three censuses using the ethnic and health questions
    Phil Rees, Paul Normal and Oliver Duke-Williams (speaker: Paul Norman), University of Leeds
  • Uses and abuses of the census question on religion
    David Voas, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester
  • Census data delivery for the future
    Oliver Duke-Williams, University of Leeds
• Migration and migrants in a time of crisis and thereafter: economic repercussions, strategies to cope and beyond.
  Wednesday, Session 2, 11:10 – 12:50

  Convenor: Dr. Demyan Belyaev (Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon)

  • Migration in a time of crisis: a simple conceptual framework applied to East Asian migrations
    Anthony Fielding (University of Sussex)
  • Should I stay or should I go? Transnational migrants dealing with economic crises in Spain and Argentina
    Tanja Bastia (University of Manchester)
  • Europe’s new migration destinations in a time of crisis: East European labour migrants in Portugal
    Demyan Belyaev (Lusophone University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon)
  • Confronting an uncertain future: experiences of Hungarian immigrants in Scotland
    Eva Becsei-Kilborn (University of Edinburgh)
  • Changing migrant employment patterns: Latvian migrants in the United Kingdom
    Elina Apsite (University of Latvia)
  • More details
• Travelling faith : exploring the intersections of religion and migration (1)
  Thursday, Session 1, 09:00 – 10:40

  Convenors: Dr. Clare Dwyer (University College London) and Dr. Betsy Olson (Edinburgh University)

  • The Christian Palestinians and Arabic Church in London
    Suha Shakkour, Dept of Geography, University of St Andrews
  • Embodied migrations: socio-cultural and religious practices of diasporic Tamils in Greater London
    Dr Ann David, Dept of Dance Studies, Roehampton University
  • “Ibi Gbogbo Ni’lë ọwọ: Evereywhere is Hallowed (Habitable) Ground”: Gender, Identity and Nigerians in the UK, Negotiating the Diaspora and Forging New Christian Communities and Identities.
    Dr Bolaji Bateye, Dept of Religious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
  • Religion, home and identity: exploring the ‘making of home’ by Somali women in Bristol
    Imogen Wallace, Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London
  • Orthodoxy on the move: Serbian Orthodox communities in Switzerland
    Maria Hämmerli, Institut de sociologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Travelling faith : exploring the intersections of religion and migration (2)
  Thursday, Session 2, 11:10 – 12:50

  Convenors: Dr. Clare Dwyer (University College London) and Dr. Betsy Olson (Edinburgh University)

  • Interpretations of Salvationism: international and UK contexts of The Salvation Army’s expressions of faith
    Gayle Munro, Research & Development Unit, The Salvation Army, UK & Department of Geography, University College London
  • Exploring the Spiritual Self: Travel Narratives as Conversion Narratives in Early Republic New York City
    Dr Kyle B. Roberts, Queen Mary, University of London
  • Itineraries of Ādam Nabi: Immigrant Memories and the Meanings of a Sacred-Spot in South Asia
    Abhilash Malayil, Center for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India
  • Histories of migration and the role of religion: the case of sea travel and the Dharma Shastra
    Mukesh Bhatt, School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London
  • Discussant
    Dr Claire Dwyer
  • More details on sessions 1 & 2

Lecturer in Human Geography – Liverpool

The University of Liverpool are advertising for a lecture in Human Geography, specialising in the areas of Human Migration and Mobility, and Global population change. The position is based in the People, Space and Place research cluster within the school of Environmental Sciences. The principle research thems of this cluster are: spatial planning and governance, population and the life course, environment and development, cultural geographies and advanced research methods in the social sciences.

The ideal candidate will already have begun to establish an international reputation in this field and will have particular expertise in qualitative methods enabling them to contribute to developments in social science research methods. Preference may be given to those working on international labour migration and/or the effects of environmental change.

The salary is £30,747 – £35,646 pa

Closing data for applications is the 10th of May, 2010.

More information is available here.

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Social Statistics – Manchester

The School of Social Sciences is offering a lectureship/ senior lectureship in the area of social statistics. Social Statistics is a key area of development within the School of Social Sciences and became a separate discipline area (DA) in January 2009. For this post, we welcome applicants in any area of social statistics who have a commitment to research leading to publications in high-level journals and to teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to specialists and non-specialists alike.

The successful applicant will join a highly-rated and thriving research environment with strong links to the Centre for Census and Survey Research that will enable them to build up their own research and teaching profile and that of the Social Statistics DA at Manchester.

The salary is likely to be: £32,620 – £45,155 p.a./£46,510 – £55,535 p.a.

Closing date: 21/04/2010
Reference: HUM/10155

Informal enquires can be made to Professor Ian Plewis: ian.plewis@manchester.ac.uk

More information is available here (pdf).