Joint webinars in association with the
IUSSP-PAA Webinar Part 1 - 16 October 2026 14:00-15:30 Universal Time (Los Angeles: 7:00 am / New-York: 10:00 am / Rio: 11:00 am / Lagos: 15:00 /
The rapid development and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is opening new possibilities for demographic research and practice, while also raising important methodological, ethical, and practical questions.
In two webinars, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the Population Association of America (PAA) will bring together demographers and other experts to explore how AI is already being used in demographic research, how it may shape the field in the coming years, and the opportunities and challenges it presents. The discussions will consider emerging applications of AI in data collection, analysis, estimation, simulation, and dissemination, as well as its potential to make demographic research more efficient and accessible.
The webinars will also address some of the challenges accompanying the growing use of AI, including data security and confidentiality, bias, transparency and accountability, and unequal access to AI tools, data, and infrastructure. Particular attention will be given to what these developments mean for demographic research and data systems in different parts of the world, including the Global South.
Each webinar will combine brief presentations with moderated discussion and questions from the audience. Participants are encouraged to help shape the conversation by submitting, when they register, questions or topics they would particularly like the speakers to address. Questions may relate to the overall theme of AI and demography or to the topics of individual speakers. These advance submissions will help identify issues of particular interest to participants and inform the moderated discussion.
Part 1: Friday, 16 October - 14:00–15:30 UTC Moderator: Vissého Adjiwanou, Université du Québec à Montréal
Ridhi Kashyap, University of Oxford
Emilio Zagheni, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR)
Andrew Tatem, WorldPop, University of Southampton
Matthew Hauer, Florida State University and Aaru Inc.
Register for AI & Demography (Part 1) - Friday 16 October
See also "Part 2". Speaker bios:
Vissého Adjiwanou, Université du Québec à Montréal
Vissého Adjiwanou is Associate Professor of Demography, Quantitative and Computational Methods at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where he directs the SSAPOPLAB, a laboratory on the population dynamics of Africa and its diaspora. He holds a PhD in demography (Université de Montréal) and an MSc in statistics (ENSEA). He has organized several editions of the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) in Cape Town, Ouagadougou, and Montréal, building computational capacity among a new generation of demographers. His research combines causal inference with family dynamics, reproductive health, and the integration of sub-Saharan African immigrants in Canada, with work in Population Studies, Demographic Research, and Social Science & Medicine. He holds adjunct appointments at the Université de Montréal and serves on the IUSSP Council.
Ridhi Kashyap, Professor of Demography and Computational Social Science, University of Oxford
Ridhi Kashyap's research spans different areas of demography, including questions linked to mortality and population health, gender inequality, marriage and family, and migration and ethnicity. A central interest of her research has been to leverage computational approaches for demographic research within the growing area of Digital and Computational Demography, and forge links between demography and a growing interdisciplinary community of computational social science. From a methodological standpoint, she is interested in how computational methods (e.g agent-based models, microsimulation, machine learning) and new data streams (e.g digital trace data from the web and social media), can contribute to the study of population dynamics and social inequalities. She chairs the IUSSP Panel on Digital and Computational Demography (2022-2026).
Emilio Zagheni, Director, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR)
Emilio Zagheni is Director of MPIDR and head of its Laboratories of Migration & Mobility and Population Dynamics & Sustainable Well-Being. His research has made foundational contributions to digital and computational demography through the integration of demographic theory, statistical and computational methods, and novel data sources to address fundamental questions about population change. Zagheni has played a leading role in advancing interdisciplinary population research by fostering collaboration among demographers, statisticians, computer scientists and computational social scientists. In 2016, he received the Trailblazer Award from the European Association for Population Studies in recognition of his pioneering contributions to digital and computational demography. He co-chaired the IUSSP Panels on Big Data and Population Processes (2015-2018) and Digital Demography (2019-2022).
Andrew Tatem, Professor of Spatial Demography and Epidemiology, University of Southampton & Director of WorldPop
Andy Tatem is Professor of Spatial Demography and Epidemiology at the University of Southampton and the Director of WorldPop, leading a group of 40 researchers. He is interested in how populations, their characteristics and their dynamics can be mapped at high resolution across low and middle-income countries. His research has led to new approaches to the integration of satellite, survey, cell phone and census data to map the distributions and movement patterns of populations for disease, disaster and development applications. He runs international collaborations with national governments, UN agencies and data providers, and leads multiple research and operational projects funded by the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and others.
Matthew Hauer, Florida State University and Aaru Inc.
Mathew Hauer is the Head of Population Simulation at Aaru, a company that's rethinking the science of prediction using AI to simulate human behavior at scale. He is also the Charles B. Nam Associate Professor of Sociology at Florida State University and Assistant Director of its Center for Demography and Population Health. His research spans demography, migration, climate change, generative AI, and simulation. He received the Population Association of America's 2024 Early Achievement Award and the National Academies' 2023 Cozzarelli Prize, and his work has appeared in over 800 media outlets.
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