2025 Data-Intensive Research Conference
August 6 - 7, 2025 | Minneapolis, MN & online
The IPUMS Big Microdata Network and NDIRA, a collaboration between IPUMS and the University of Minnesota Life Course Center, are currently accepting submissions for the 2025 Data-Intensive Research Conference, to be held in person in Minneapolis, Minnesota; key components of the program will also be available to virtual participants. The conference theme is Understanding Health and Population Dynamics through Big Microdata. The deadline to apply was January 31, 2025.
Understanding Health and Population Dynamics through Big Microdata
There has been an explosive growth in the quantity of census microdata available for social science and health research. Researchers now have access to full-count individual-level microdata from the U.S. Census spanning 1850 to the present when combining IPUMS full count data with resources available through the Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC). Similar resources exist in other countries with full count census data and population registers. Full count microdata are a powerful resource for operationalizing historical and present-day contexts; linking persons, families, or communities to examine trajectories; and elucidating experiences of small demographic groups that often cannot be studied with the available sample in other data sources. We look forward to a conference that features multi- and interdisciplinary research and demonstrates the flexibility and power of big microdata for understanding the demographic and health landscape.
We welcome submissions that apply any big microdata sources to examinations of health and population dynamics. We are actively seeking submissions that use full count census data from IPUMS or big microdata from a Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC). We are particularly interested in projects that link persons, families, or communities across censuses or link full count data to other sources, including the creation of place-based measures or person-level linkages to external data. Potential topics include health, community, and population outcomes situated in historical, life course, or intergenerational contexts, such as:
- Early life conditions and later life outcomes
- Structural disparities in health and healthcare services
- Individuals at the nexus of work, family and community participation
- Life-course population trends
- Place-based conditions and policy impacts
All submissions will be considered for both paper and poster sessions. We strongly encourage submissions from new and early stage investigators, scholars who identify as being members of systemically excluded groups, and from new interdisciplinary teams.
Key Dates
- October 31, 2024: Abstract submissions open
- January 31, 2025: Abstracts due
- March 4, 2025: Notification about selection for research sessions (including travel support to attend)
- March 18, 2025: Program published, registration opens
- July 18, 2025: Conference Registration closes
- August 4-5, 2025: Pre-conference workshop
- August 6-7, 2025: Data-Intensive Research Conference research presentations