About the Workshop

Social and biological processes that shape cognitive aging unfold across decades, yet the mechanisms linking early-life exposures, structural environments, and inequities in later-life cognitive health remain poorly understood. By cognitive inequality, we refer both to how social and structural factors create differences in cognitive trajectories across groups, and to how these disparities may widen over the life course. At the same time, rapid growth in available data sources, such as longitudinal cohorts, neuroimaging and biomarkers, digital cognitive assessments, geospatial and administrative linkages, and new methods, such as machine learning and LLM, offers unparalleled potential to advance the science of cognitive inequality.

The workshop "New Data, Methods, and Theory: Life Course Cognitive Inequality" will chart a forward-looking agenda for aging and disparities research by integrating rigorous social theory with computational innovation, causal inference, and new measurement strategies. This workshop will bring together more than 20 presenters across sociology, epidemiology, psychology, economics, neuroscience, statistics, and data science to drive the next wave of conceptual and methodological breakthroughs in the field. The two-day program features a keynote, six thematic sessions, and a mentoring session. Those who are interested in the workshop can refer to the detailed program and register to participate. 

Organizers

Keynote Speaker