Duke Population Research Center

Overall: Summary In the ten years since its first NICHD award in 2009, the Duke University Population Research Center (DPRC) has grown into a vibrant, interdisciplinary research organization bringing together scientists from the social and behavioral sciences and the biological, health, and statistical sciences at Duke. We now have a network of population scientists whose interests encompass health and well-being over the life course and extend to primate species as well as humans, or who use social network analysis to model health, human development, and demographic outcomes. New population science at DPRC is being generated by established and early career scholars with diverse disciplinary backgrounds who have taken advantage of the services of the Development Core to launch new, successful projects. DPRC's impact is greatest in two primary research areas: (1) Foundations of Lifelong Health, and (2) Interconnected Social Systems and Population Health. In pursuit of these questions, we facilitate and promote (a) longitudinal data collections that follow cohorts from childhood and reach across generations; (b) innovative data collection that rely on social connectivity to recruit rare and hidden population samples or to map complete population networks; (c) the utilization of linked administrative data that lengthen, broaden and deepen the view of life course health and human development processes; and (d) the development of new tools and approaches for “big” population and health science. This application requests renewal funding from the NICHD Population Dynamics Centers Research Infrastructure (P2C) to support three cores— administration, development and science. The proposed cores will lower administrative costs while providing tools and technical support to create synergies and efficiencies in seeking, securing and managing external funding that will free up and enable DPRC scholars to concentrate on science. Our goal is to continue to increase external funding to develop science that would not be possible without DPRC, by taking advantage of: (a) the number and quality of population researchers at Duke; (b) our successful record of developing the next generation of population scientists; (c) our unique data resources; (d) our proven track record of rigorous, high impact science; (e) our collaborations with local and international academic institutions and regional government partners to accelerate the impact of population studies on policy and society.