LCIRN Year 2 in Review

Photograph of an empty playground in a park during midday.
By LCIRN Staff
1 min read

Project Year 2 (Sept 2019 – Aug 2020) started out as planned for the Life Course Intervention Research Network (LCIRN), with 35 collaborators gathering in Los Angeles for the first all-network meeting in November 2019. This meeting laid the foundation for development of a life course intervention research agenda, and kicked off the work of our initial research nodes (Family Health, Schools, Early Childhood Mental Health).

As it did for so many, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 required us to rethink both our methods and our priorities. We quickly shifted most of our activities to virtual formats and opened up our pilot and feasibility funds to COVID-related projects. We also took a step back and realized that the seismic shifts caused by the pandemic left an opening for transformations to how we think about wellbeing and intervene to improve kids’ lives.

Highlights from Year 2

  • Doubled our network membership, with over 70 active members and 2000+ listserv members
  • Launched three new research nodes (Neurodiversity; Family Measurement; Adversity, Adaptation and Resilience); with three more in development for Year 3 (Youth Engagement; Race, Class, Place, and Gender; ADHD)
  • Node research teams submitted nine proposals for external funding, including 2 R01s, 1 R03, 1 R21, 1 R34 and 3 small/seed grants
  • Funded five pilot studies for researchers to conduct preliminary research and data collection that will help them to secure external funding for life course intervention research.
  • Developed a collaborative Child Well-Being COVID-19 Research Agenda (more to come on this soon!)
  • Ran a 6-webinar series on children’s mental health with the National Academies’ Forum for Children’s Well-being Webinars covered topics related to epidemiology, policy, developmental origins, prevention, and health systems.
  • In collaboration with the Lifespan Enterprise Committee, the LCIRN partially supported a webinar series designed to build a visual toolkit for life course researchers
  • Launched our website in June 2020

Year 2 in Review

The full 2-page LCIRN progress report that outlines our COVID research agenda and the work of our research nodes is available below.

Year 2 LCIRN Year in Review