This award will support the travel and participation of at least 12 young scholars (primarily doctoral students but all within 7 years of obtaining a PhD) from the United States in one of three cutting-edge research training workshops on central topics in developmental science held as pre-conference events for the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) Biennial Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. They will be joined in these workshops by many other young scholars from about thirty countries around the world, including many developing countries, especially in Africa. The topics for the training workshops are as follows: (1) Social Change and Human Development, led by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA and Heidi Keller, University of Osnabruck, Germany. These distinguished professors will present the latest thinking about culture, social change, and human development from the fields of anthropology, psychology, and sociology. Participants will have the opportunity in break-out sessions to discuss their research and apply the theories and methods. (2) Introduction to Methodology and Analyses of Longitudinal Data, led by Marcel vanAken, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands and Jaap Dinessen, Humboldt University, Germany. These outstanding researchers are known for their research on methods as well as their expert application of them to developmental data. Development involves change and recent advances in computer technology as well as statistics have yielded powerful new methods to analyze data on individuals in groups such as families sampled repeatedly over time. This workshop will present important methods and will provide opportunities for participants in small groups to use these methods on their own data. (3) Developmental Origins of Aggression from Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, led by Richard Tremblay, University of Montreal, Canada and Steven Suomi, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. These eminent scientists will present the latest knowledge about aggression, broadly construed, among humans and other animals including neuroscience, genetic and epigenetic factors, and other individual and group difference factors.
As past ISSBD training workshops have demonstrated, the participants form strong bonds with other young scholars that provide a base for pursuing collaborative research, particularly international collaborations, with junior as well as more senior investigators participating in these meetings. The young scholars from past workshops, selected as highly promising, have proceeded to become engaged in rigorous collaborative research that is important to global society because of their exposure to other cultures. The young researchers funded on this grant are expected to become leaders in developmental science that makes a difference globally.
This award is being co-funded by the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Directorate's Developmental and Learning Sciences program and the Office of International Science and Engineering's Africa, Near East, and South Asia program.
This small grant provided a contribution to travel expenses for fifteen young US scholars (doctoral students or post-doctoral fellows/junior faculty), to participate in the 21st biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development (ISSBD) in Lusaka, Zambia. The purposes of funding were (1) participating in a preconference workshop in one of three cutting edge scientific areas, (2) forming collaborative research relationships with scientists from other parts of the world. In addition, each young scholar made at least one scientific presentation at the meeting. ISSBD has since its inception assumed a responsibility to advance the field of behavioral development in global context by engaging the next generation of young scientists as a major strategy. The biennial meeting is one of the major ways that ISSBD advances science. The 2010 Biennial Meeting of ISSBD was held at the University of Zambia, in Lusaka, the first ISSBD meeting in Africa. There were 20 invited lectures and 15 invited symposia, representing outstanding developmental scientists. The competitively-selected program included an additional 50 symposia, 10 poster symposia and 50 poster groups each including 10-12 posters. (The final conference program is on the conference website: www.issbd2010.com. ) Preconference Workshops. The purposes of workshops include: (1) providing advanced understanding of important scientific issues and (2) providing opportunity to network with junior and senior scientists from >60 countries. Workshop provided broad training to >80 young scientists from around the world, most with no access to this information otherwise. The workshop leaders were distinguished scientists. Developmental origins of aggression: Interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, Richard Tremblay (McGill U, Canada & Steve Suomi, NIH, US.) Aggression among humans is a major social, health and economic problem. Understanding the developmental origins of aggression is crucial for finding effective early preventive interventions.The workshop objective was to give an interdisciplinary overview of human and non-human animal research in evolutionary, genetic, and environmental developmental perspectives. Social Change and Human Development, Patricia Greenfield, UCLA, US; Heidi Keller, U Osnabrueck, Germany; Camilo Garcia, Veracruz U, Mexico. Social change - in the form of increasing urbanization, growth of commerce, growth of formal education, and development of technology – is globally pervasive. While these trends affect the Minority World (e.g., United States, Western Europe), the Majority World (e.g., Asia and Africa) change is much more dramatic. Greenfield’s empirically grounded theory of social change and human development provides a predictive framework for transforming trajectories of human development globally as well as for understanding social change.The workshop goal was to enable young researchers to develop research projects and programs using the theory. Introduction to methodology and analyses of longitudinal data, Marcel van Aken (U Utrecht, Netherlands) & Jaap Denissen (Humboldt U, Germany.) Longitudinal designs and analyses are the hallmark of studies on development and change, used to model trajectories of mean-level change across age and to study patterns and determinants of intra-individual changes. Conceptual and statistical tools for conducting longitudinal research have recently improved enormously. This workshop aimed to provide an introduction to new methodologies and analyses for longitudinal data. Five distinguished global scientists reviewed applications for ISSBD travel funds. Competition was especially intense for NSF funds supporting US young scholars. Selected young scholars raised additional funds for travel expenses given the ISSBD Executive Committee decision to cap support at $2500, to reasonably distribute the funds (average airfare for NSF-fund recipients=$2562.) All NSF-fund recipients reported that they learned tremendously from the workshops, and met many new colleagues working on similar scientific questions, with research collaborations underway. Typical quotes from the young scientists follow, with significant detail on collaborations and learning provided in their complete evaluations: I am very grateful for having participated in this year's ISSBD meeting. Through this meeting I was able to interact with a completely new group of researchers from different areas of the globe, something that provided a fresh perspective on my and others’ work. This was an opportunity of a lifetime for many of us, including myself. The meetings and pre-conference workshop have helped me immensely in regards to my research. Attending the ISSBD conference was a very valuable experience for me. I was able to meet other scholars and researchers examining similar topics. I also met other individuals who were examining completely different topics that I thought were important and potentially relevant to my area of interest. As represented by these brief excerpts, all awarded travel funds found the experience highly rewarding. They reported learning a great deal, advancing their research, and making excellent contacts that resulted in new (or in the case of the few who were already doing international collaborative research because of their mentors, extended) research collaborations. These results suggest that the field of developmental science has been advanced globally, and our knowledge about human development will be increased. This was an excellent investment of NSF funds.
