E.1 Research Support Cores Administrative Core Dr. Boyce?as senior UBC professor in HELP and co-Pi on this proposal?along with Dr. Catalano?co-Pi, senior Berkeley professor in the School of Public Health, and Director of the Berkeley Consortium?will serve as the heads of the Administrative Core. Dr. Clyde Hertzman-Director of HELP and coinvestigator on this application?will serve as PI for the UBC subcontract and as the head of the UBC Administrative core. This project component will comprise administrative oversight of the Consortium's collective proposals to granting agencies, coordination of various projects in which members are engaged, and leadership for the Berkeley Consortium-HELP alliance's short- and longer-term research directions. Administrative staff from the Berkeley Division of Community Health and Human Development and HELP will support Drs. Boyce, Catalano and Hertzman in the week-to-week oversight of alliance activities. Data Management and Analysis Core As co-Pi, Dr. Catalano will function as the head of this core activity, providing coordination of the analysis and data management aspects of Consortium projects. Especially in regard to the scope and magnitude of the linked databases, these functions will have a central role in the successful implementation and completion of our proposed population-based studies. A graduate student will assist Dr. Catalano in this function. Dr. Hertzman, at UBC, will lead the person-specific, population-based longitudinal data linkage across biological, health, development and societal factors. Through both HELP and the Population Health & Learning Observatory (PHLO), investigators will have access to a team of co-located programmers and analysts. Space and Physical Resources Because many of the Berkeley Consortium-HELP alliance members have primary appointments in the Berkeley School of Public Health, the space and physical resources accessible to the them will be primarily those allocated to individual faculty by the School. Each member has dedicated research space for the housing of graduate student researchers, research assistants, and laboratory activities. We anticipate that each of these resource cores?provided or supplemented by the proposal budget?would offer critical developmental support for the alliance's research program. The provision of administrative and research assistance will offer key organizational support to a busy faculty. Likewise, HELP Scholars have primary appointments at the University of British Columbia, and have allocated research space and physical resources for research staff and graduate students and laboratory facilities. In addition, HELP provides core research facilities through a) the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory, which oversees EDI data collection, spatial analysis and mapping, b) the Population Health and Learning Observatory (PHLO) which manages the high security zone and facilitates data analysis and linkage, and c) The Child & Youth Developmental Trajectories Research Unit (CYDTRU), which manages HELP'S databases, facilitates data linkages and provides core statistical support. These labs or units are funded both through long-term provincial and federal grants from both government and research foundations, and through cost-sharing with other grants, facilitating effective HELP will serve as the research and administrative hub for the NIH activities at UBC. HELP is a formal research institute at UBC with a Director, Associate Director, and Managing Director who oversee core research and all administrative operations. Its leadership structure also includes a Leadership Team of faculty and senior staff, and an Executive Committee of Faculty Affiliates who represent the 6 partner universities. HELP has an experienced administrative team who assist in administering HELP research activities, oversee day-to-day operations, monitor deliverables and fund disbursement, and prepare reports and financial statements. HELP receives core funding ($2.5M/yr) from the BC Ministry of Child & Family Development to implement the Early Development Instrument across BC and to conduct research that fulfills HELP objectives. In addition to core research activities, HELP funds 30-40 research projects annually across 6 universities, including both pilots and expansions of provincial and nationally-funded grants. HELP is building a cell to society research program that can trace the neurodevelopmental, cognitive, socioemotional and behavioural implications of the environments where children grow and learn. A primary objective is carrying a series of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies on the socio-economic, familial, peer, biological, cognitive, community and cultural factors in child development. The common thread running through these studies is understanding how different nurturant environments in our schools, families and communities interact with biological characteristics and predispositions, and how they serve as both risk and protective factors that create different developmental trajectories. The structure of HELP provides the integrative framework and """"""""intellectual greenhouse"""""""" for cutting-edge biological embedding research - fostering intellectual exchange and academic challenge. An interdisciplinary team of expert faculty and researchers meet regularly through seminars and theme-based retreats to advance relevant research, identify synergies and build common understandings overtime. Through innovative institutional relationships, HELP fosters active collaboration between a range of leading researchers provincially, nationally and internationally.
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