EAPS Working Group on Equity and Diversity in Demography and Demographic Research

EAPS Working Group Equity and Diversity in Demography and Demographic Research
Bologna, Italy, June 03, 2026

EPC 2026 Side meeting
📅Wednesday, 3 June 2026
🕑14:00 – 17:00
📍Room D

Program

14:00 – 15:00
Past and future activities

Organisation of the working group
Achievements and goals of the three subgroups on community, research and teaching

15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 17:00
Interactive keynote by Mao-Mei Liu (University of California Berkeley)
Nurturing Diversity in Science As Resistance

Abstract

Together, diversity and courage strengthen science and society and are crucial for answering longstanding questions about health and inequalities in aging societies. Societies need a systems approach to understand and improve population health. Instead in the Americas, Europe and beyond, a systems approach is being used to attack and diminish Science, Public Education, the Free Press and other institutions which - albeit imperfect - are essential for nurturing a curious and conscientious citizenry, a robust scientific workforce and a healthy democracy. Hence, we sacrifice scientific advancement and progress in the fight to cure scourges like dementia; and are then left less healthy and worse off as a society. NIH-funded sociologist and dementia researcher Mao-Mei Liu, PhD, invites us to embrace a learner's mindset, celebrate scientific discovery and evidence-based community innovations, and develop silo-breaking, life-giving partnerships across the sciences, arts, humanities and communities for the benefit and health of all. Liu will describe specific efforts by her and her team to nurture diversity at multiple levels, including: community-based data collection and research cohorts (e.g. Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study - CADAS); among researchers (e.g. the Demographers of Color collective - DoC); and via initiatives that bridge the academy and communities (e.g. Nurturing Diversity in Science As Resistance - NDSAR).

Mao-Mei Liu, PhD, MA, MEd, (University of California, Berkeley) is a National Institutes of Health-funded sociologist and social demographer who studies color, race, migration, and life course disparities in cognitive aging. A proud member of UAW Local 4811 and 2021-2023 NIH Re-Entry scholar, she trained at Yale University (B.S.), Four Corners in Dorchester, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Ph.D.) and Brown University (NICHD postdoc). A community organizer at heart, Mao-Mei leads Nurturing Diversity in Science As Resistance, the Demographers of Color collective (DoC) and has trained students in Barcelona, Wellesley, Berkeley and in the NIH Advancing Diversity in Aging Research at UC Berkeley (Cal-ADAR) R25 program. Mao-Mei thanks her beloved community, including the teams and participants of EC-funded Migration between Africa and Europe (MAFE), NIH-funded Caribbean American Dementia and Aging Study (CADAS) and Health of Mexicans Aging on Both Sides of the Border (HAMSB).

For more information about the working group, see the working group webpage.

Back to list of events

News & Events