Graduate Student Affiliate (GSA) Program

The Graduate Student Affiliate (GSA) program at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies is designed to facilitate and supplement a student’s independent research toward a doctoral degree related to “population sciences” or “population health.” We welcome students from all disciplines with interests in at least one of our Research Focal Areas.

Sorry, but we are no longer accepting applications for the fall, 2026.
Please check back later in the spring, 2027.

Benefits to becoming a Pop Center GSA

• Funding: GSA mini grants are available to support travel to facilitate presentations at professional conferences as well dissertation research. Calls for Applications are circulated in January of each year.
• Center involvement: GSAs are urged to become involved in the Pop Center community and research projects. GSAs are informed, often first, of all open research assistant positions and are given preferential access to invite-only events.
• GSAs can apply to participate in the Doctoral Traineeship in Demography and Population Sciences at the Center.
• Presentations: GSAs are encouraged to present at least once at either the Thursday Social Demography Seminar (SDS) series. This is a great opportunity to garner feedback from an interdisciplinary audience.
• Promotion: Publications by GSAs will be promoted in the e-newsletter as well as via our social media channels.
• Residence: The Pop Center offers part-time, private “hoteling” (flex) workspace to all of our GSAs. If accepted into the program, GSAs should contact Deputy Director Laura Price (lprice@hsph.harvard.edu) for more details.

Harvard Pop Center Graduate Student Affiliate Policy

• Students must complete and submit an application plus CV. These are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.
• Students must be pursuing a PhD, although they may not have reached candidacy at the time of application.
• Applicants must have a Harvard Pop Center faculty member willing to recommend and/or serve as a sponsor
• Students must be registered and in good standing in a doctoral program at Harvard University
• GSAs will be affiliated with the Pop Center until they have graduated or no longer enrolled at Harvard
• It is expected that GSAs participate as much as possible in our Thursday Social Demography Seminar (SDS) series and other events and gatherings
• GSAs are highly encouraged to present their research at least once at the Pop Center, especially those in the latter years of their doctoral programs

Do you have questions about the Harvard Pop Center Graduate Student Affiliate Program? Feel free to contact Associate Director Daniel Schneider (dschneider@hks.harvard.edu).

Graduate Student Affiliates (GSAs)