Overview
The Institute for Population Research [IPR] is a multi-disciplinary research center that nurtures population and health research at The Ohio State University.
IPR has four major thematic emphases:
- Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Family Demography (including union formation/dissolution and transition to adulthood)
- Mortality and Health Over the Life Course
- Migration
Beyond these four themes, IPR supports research in all facets of population and health, broadly defined.
IPR faculty and graduate student affiliates span six colleges and sixteen departments, and IPR serves as a bridge between behavioral and biomedical scientists at OSU.
Activities and services include: seed grant program; rapid response grants; administrative assistance in the submission of applications for external funding; data services (with emphasis on secure/restricted data); travel support for participation in conferences; weekly seminar; office space. IPR prioritizes investments in multi-disciplinary projects and in junior faculty.
To be added to the IPR email list and get announcements about events and opportunities, please email IPR Business Operations Manager Corinne Rubright.
If you are interested in becoming a student, faculty, or postdoctoral affililate of IPR, send a brief summary of your population research interests to IPR Director Sarah Hayford.
Leadership and Staff
The current Director is Dr. Sarah Hayford, Professor of Sociology. Dr. Maria Gallo serves on the IPR Leadership Committee.
Ms. Jill Morris serves as Senior Grants Specialist. Dr. Bethany Boettner is Senior Research Associate, and Dr. Jason Thomas is Research Scientist.
Infrastructure and Services
IPR occupies a 7300 sq ft suite of offices in OSU's Townshend Hall, comprising a dedicated seminar room, several small meeting rooms, offices for faculty affiliates, graduate student suite, and space for hosting research projects including projects requiring special consideration for restricted or sensitive data.
IPR Manager Corinne Rubright provides administrative and operational support for the unit.
Senior Grants Specialist Jill Morris provides assistance in the submission of proposals for external funding (especially NIH).
Senior Research Associate Beth Boettner provides assistance with the management of restricted data.
Research Scientist Jason Thomas provides statistical advice and computing (including programming) assistance.
Activities
Seminars - Weekly seminars provide a forum for scholars from other universities and OSU faculty to present ongoing research to a multidisciplinary audience. The annual Huber Lecture in the Spring features an eminent scholar from outside OSU.
Seed Grants - IPR annually extends 4-8 seed grants to affiliates for work towards submission of applications for external funding. Priority is given to multi-disciplinary projects and to more junior faculty.
Rapid Response Grants – small grants are available to cover last-minute costs in the construction of an application for external funding.
Workshops– Periodically IPR offers workshops on grantwriting, interdisciplinary research, and technical tools for conducting transparent and reproducible research.
Graduate Students - IPR provides office space for fifteen graduate students, and graduate students are active participants in all IPR activities. Each fall, IPR organizes a graduate student conference jointly with the population center at Bowling Green State University. In 2015, IPR began offering the Graduate Interdisplinary Specialization in Demography.
History
The Institute for Population Research was established in 2000 as the Initiative in Population Research with the goal of building excellence at Ohio State in population and health research.
IPR has grown enormously in the twenty years since its creation, thanks in part to internal and external grants. An initial five-year R21 infrastructure award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) was received in 2004. The OSU Targeted Investment in Excellence (TIE) in Population and Health, launched in 2006, supported crucial faculty hires and provided funds for the renovation of IPR’s office suite. In 2009, IPR successfully competed for a five-year $2.2 million NICHD R24 infrastructure award. This grant (P2C-HD058484) was renewed in 2014 for $2.2 million and again in 2019 for $2.7 million.
In 2012, the OSU Faculty Senate approved IPR’s proposal to become a university center, and IPR was renamed Institute for Population Research.
Successive Directors of IPR have been: Daniel Lichter, 2000 – 2005; Randall Olsen, 2005 – 2009; John Casterline, 2009 – 2021; Sarah Hayford, 2021-.
Racial Justice
Racism is a core determinant of the outcomes studied by demographers, and understanding and addressing the causes and consequences of racial inequality is a vital goal for population science. IPR strongly endorses the statement on racial justice issued in June 2020 by The Population Association of America [PAA] and the Association of Population Centers [APC].
Statement from the Presidents of PAA and APC
As the presidents of the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers, we want to express how profoundly recent events have affected us as individuals, the organizations we lead, and our members. The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black Americans due to police violence–and in the context of a long history of such incidents–vividly demonstrate the insidious and pervasive effects of racial inequality. These recent deaths come during a public health crisis in which Black Americans, Native Americans, and Latinx Americans die at disproportionately higher rates and experience greater economic hardship than White Americans. We mourn with the nation and stand in support with the millions of individuals who are demanding an end to systemic racism by making clear that Black Lives Matter.
Population scientists are committed to understanding how factors, including educational opportunity, income and wealth, psychological stress, the social and physical environment, and public policies affect health and well-being. We endeavor to develop research findings that will inform policies designed to rectify racial inequality and improve the lives of all Americans. Our organizations are also dedicated to mentoring and promoting the careers of population scientists and to addressing racism that we know, unfortunately, exists within our own field. To this end, the PAA is leading several efforts. First, the PAA Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is developing a range of initiatives, including a webinar series that will focus on research related to this topic. Within the population research centers, initiatives are underway to address pipeline challenges by introducing underrepresented undergraduates, through in-depth summer programming, to the theory and methods of population scientists, and to the careers they may explore with such training.
While these are important steps, we know much more action is needed. We encourage members to share their thoughts and suggestions through the PAA Engage online forum. We underscore that listening is also extremely important. Thus, PAA and APC pledge to consider input from members in a transparent, inclusive manner and to take action to promote equality, enhance professional engagement, and, critically, contribute toward broader efforts to end the scourge of racism that divides our nation and limits opportunity for all.
