2009 WLS Pilot Grant Program
The 2009 Pilot Grant competition has been canceled because of a delay in funding.
The Center for Demography of Health and Aging (CDHA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will award two to three pilot grants to investigators using the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) data for scholarly research. The WLS provides an opportunity to study the life course, careers, retirement, intergenerational transfers and relationships, family functioning, physical and mental health and well-being, morbidity and mortality, and gene-environment interactions from late adolescence to the retirement years. Selected recipients will receive $10,000 to support their research, along with a travel stipend to WLS training workshops.
The WLS is a long-term study of a random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 and of their siblings, spouses, and children. The WLS provides an opportunity to study the life course, careers, retirement, intergenerational transfers and relationships, family functioning, physical and mental health and well-being, and morbidity and mortality from late adolescence to the retirement years.
Survey data were collected from the original respondents or their parents in 1957, 1964, 1975, 1993, and 2004 and from a selected sibling in 1977, 1994, and 2005. The most recent wave of data includes interviews of the graduate’s siblings and spouse and surviving spouses of deceased graduates. The data include information on social background, youthful aspirations, schooling, military service, family formation, labor market experiences, health, and social participation. All rounds of the WLS are available to all scholars regardless of whether they are awarded a pilot grant. Grant recipients have the extra benefit of intense training on using the WLS data.
Eligibility: Applications are welcomed from investigators in such diverse fields as anthropology, demography, economics, epidemiology, family studies, genetics, gerontology, human development, medicine, nursing, psychology, public health, and sociology. Applicants must have a doctoral-level degree. This grant program is intended to support new users and new uses of WLS data. We encourage applications from junior researchers (i.e., with fewer than five years since completing their doctoral-level degree) as well as more experienced researchers who have not previously used WLS data. Applicants must be affiliated with either educational institutions or with 501(c) (3) nonprofit organizations.
Carol Roan Center for Demography of Health and Aging University of Wisconsin-Madison 1180 Observatory Drive, Room 4430 Madison, Wisconsin 53706 roan@ssc.wisc.edu
More information about the WLS and the pilot grant program including questionnaires, codebooks and public data may be found at the WLS pilot grant website: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/pilot. Please contact Carol Roan by e-mail roan@ssc.wisc.edu or by telephone (608) 265-6196 if you have further questions.