NAVIGATION
18th Annual Society for Prevention Research Sloboda and Bukoski SPR Cup
Congratulations to the Winning Team: Team 4: Penn State Research Policy Collaboration, Patrick O’Neill, MA Student, team captain, Casey Cunningham, PhD Student, Whitney Becker, PhD Candidate. Mentor: Ashley Linden-Carmichael, PhD
Significant advances in prevention science are often due to a team of individuals working closely together across many years. In recognition of the importance of the collaborative process to the field, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) will sponsor a friendly competition amongst teams of early career researchers for the honor of bringing home the Sloboda and Bukoski SPR Cup. The Cup is named for two of the founders and long-time active members of SPR, Dr. Zili Sloboda and Dr. William Bukoski. The competition is an opportunity for a unique experience: several independent teams of scientists, each working with the same data set, problem solve together for a brief period of time and then jointly present the results of their work to each other and to a panel of senior prevention scientists and the SPR membership.
Competition
The competition will take place during the annual SPR meeting, May 30 through June 2, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington, Washington, DC. Two months before the meeting, each team received the competition data set. Leading up to the meeting, each team conducted a literature review, generated hypotheses, conducted analyses, and prepared for a 15-minute symposium talk on their results. Teams will present their results during this highlighted, invited symposium at the SPR annual meeting. A panel of senior prevention scientist judges and the audience at the symposium will rate the quality of the research work and of the presentation. The highest scoring team will be recognized and awarded the 2023 SPR Cup during the SPR Awards Ceremony.
Team 1: University of Oregon Quack Attack, Tracy Zehner, team captain, Abbie Sanders, Avery Turner, Xiaoqi Ma
Team 2: Penn State PAMT, Danny Rahal, Veronica Richards, Miglena Ivanova, team captain, Kristin Perry, Muntasir Masum
Team 3: University of Virginia Blatantly Awesome, Lex Budavari, PhD, team captain, Toshna Pandey, PhD, Lycdia Beahm, PhD, Xavier Elzie, Doctoral Student. Mentors: Katrina Debnam, PhD, Amanda Nguyen, PhD
Team 4: Penn State Research Policy Collaboration, Patrick O’Neill, MA Student, team captain, Casey Cunningham, PhD Student, Whitney Becker, PhD Candidate. Mentor: Ashley Linden-Carmichael, PhD
Judges:
Kathryn Bruzios, PhD, Washington State University
Deinera Exner-Cortens, PhD, University of Calgary
Nisha O’Shea Gottfredson, PhD, RTI
Lor-Ann Palen, PhD, Data Soapbox
Jaime Grant, PhD, Transformations Consulting
Zili Sloboda, ScD, Applied Prevention Science
Organizers/Chairs:
Brittany Cooper, PhD, Washington State University
Larissa Gaias, PhD, University of Massachusetts
Rashelle Musci, PhD, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Call for Team Applications SPR Cup
Applications are due by 11:59pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
Significant advances in prevention science are often due to teams of individuals working closely together across many years. In recognition of the importance of the collaborative process to the field, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) sponsors a friendly annual competition amongst teams of early career researchers for the honor of bringing home the Sloboda and Bukoski SPR Cup. The Cup is named for two of the founders and long-time active members of SPR, Dr. Zili Sloboda and Dr. William Bukoski. The competition is an opportunity for a unique experience: several teams of scientists, each working with the same dataset, will develop a research question, analyze the data accordingly, and present their work to each other and to a panel of senior prevention scientists and the SPR membership.
Competition
- The presentation component of the competition will take place during the annual SPR meeting, on May 30 through June 2, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
- At least one representative from each team must be in Washington, DC to present on behalf of the team. Travel funds are not provided, although all team members are encouraged to apply for travel funds through SPR’s ECPN travel awards. See SPR website for details: https://preventionresearch.org/2023-annual-meeting/
- Approximately three months before the meeting, each team will receive the competition dataset. Leading up to the meeting, each team will conduct a literature review, generate hypotheses, and conduct analyses using the competition dataset. Teams will be asked to prepare a 1-page research proposal outlining their research questions and analyses.
- Four teams will be chosen as finalists based on their research proposal and will present a 15-minutes talk based on their results during a highlighted, invited symposium at the SPR annual meeting. A panel of senior prevention scientist judges and the audience at the symposium will rate the quality of the research and of the presentation. The highest scoring team will be recognized and awarded the 2023 SPR Cup during the SPR Awards Ceremony.
Teams
Teams should include at least two and no more than five team members. Eligible team members are individuals who are currently enrolled in a masters or doctoral training program, or a postdoctoral position/training program. Each team should include participants with knowledge and practical experience in research methodology, data analysis, and conference presentation.
Dataset
A public dataset from the University of Michigan’s Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) or similar data archive will be released to teams on Friday, March 3, 2023. The dataset and SPR Cup theme will align with the 2023 conference theme: “The Role of Prevention Science in Achieving Social Justice and Health Equity for All.”
Mentors
An experienced prevention science mentor should be identified. If needed, we can help to identify a mentor. This person should be available for consultation in person or via videoconference, phone, or email on an as-needed basis – and especially during the month leading up to the conference. Mentors may advise, but may not conduct work for their team. All mentors must be acknowledged during the presentation. Teams are invited to engage mentors from multiple disciplines to consult with them as they work.
Criteria
Presentations will be judged on eight criteria: 1) Innovation of Project, 2) Depth and Usefulness of Statistical Analyses, 3) Ability to Draw Meaningful Conclusions from the Data, 4) Significance of the Project to Prevention Science, 5) Quality of Verbal Presentation, 6) Quality of Visual Presentation, 7) Quality of Responses to Judges/Audience Questions, and 8) Connection with the SPR Annual Meeting Theme.
Publication
All participating teams are encouraged to refine their analyses after the meeting and to generate publishable products. The highest scoring team may be invited to submit a manuscript to be considered for publication in SPR’s flagship journal Prevention Science. If so, the manuscript will undergo the regular peer review process.
Application and Acceptance Process
Step 1. Submit Team Application and Verify Eligibility To apply, one person for each team should complete this Google Form: https://forms.gle/1y5jY4erAwPecsqbA
In the form, you will be asked to provide each team member’s name, email address, mailing address, highest academic degree, current position, primary institutional affiliation, and a brief summary of research skills and expertise. You will also be asked to specify a team name and designate a team captain and a team primary mentor (or request assistance in finding one).
Applications are due by 11:59pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
Step 2. Develop Research Proposal
• Teams who complete the application form in Step 1 will be informed by email on or before Friday, February 24, 2023 regarding their eligibility to continue in the application process.
• After receiving the dataset on Friday, March 3rd, teams have until Friday, April 14, 2023 to submit their 1-page research proposal (more details to come). Proposals will be assessed based on the quality of their research questions and relevance to this year’s conference topic.
Step 3. Present at SPR
• Finalists will be notified of their acceptance by Friday, April 22, 2023. A maximum of four teams will be accepted to present during the invited SPR Cup symposium and the other teams will be offered the opportunity to present their work as a poster during the conference.
Questions can be sent to:
Brittany Cooper, brittany.cooper@wsu.edu
Rashelle Musci, rmusci1@jhu.edu
Larissa Gaias, larissa_gaias@uml.edu
Chairs, 2023 Sloboda and Bukoski SPR Cup