Supporting the Next Generation of Prevention Scientists Worldwide

The aim of this roundtable is to highlight the essential nature of international collaborations to support and train the next generation of preventionists, while striving to reach several of the goals set forward in the strategic plan adopted by the SPR membership in 2016. Local or national initiatives are a good start, but seem insufficient in the long term to reduce issues of disparities and inequities (Goal 4), to communicate important information and findings to the entire community of prevention scientists and policy makers (Goal 5), and to make SPR’s membership significantly more diverse (Goal 6). We need partnerships with prevention scientists and organizations around the world to gain new insights into inequities that exist outside of America and ideas on how to solve them. With the increasing accessibility of communication channels (social media, webinars, open-access publications) we can work together toward this goal and share scientific information about prevention to a wider range of end-users than ever. The new SPR strategic plan will provide a structure for this discussion, while the participation of several non-U.S. preventionists as panelists will help us identify both opportunities and barriers to international collaborationss. Our panelists will represent various countries, disciplines, and career levels, and all of them share an active engagement in promoting the future of prevention science worldwide. Discussants will be active members of SPR’s Training Committee, Early Career Preventionist Network, and International Committee, and of the European Society for Prevention Research, including their Early Careers Forum. Specific questions to be discussed in the roundtable include: (1) Why and how can we further diversify the prevention science workforce regarding race/ethnicity, gender, and region/country of origin? (2) What are the main training issues and challenges for the future of prevention science? For example, how can we address the heterogeneous training of preventionists with regard to research methodology and translation methods, across institutions, cultures, and countries? (3) How can we use new communication technologies to lift barriers (including time and money) to the exchange of expertise between prevention scientists around the world, especially for those who feel isolated because they belong to geographic areas or disciplines where other prevention scientists are rare? We invite prevention scientists from all countries, disciplines, and career levels to come participate in this scientific dialogue. Participants will be invited to actively contribute with experiences to further explore these areas, and to take part in discussing potential action plans to address these challenges.