Suggested roles and responsibilities for GCTS theme leaders
10 Sept 2024

About the GCTS
Welcome theme leaders to the GCTS! On the About page of the website you can read more
about the history, background and leadership structure. Most importantly, however, are thefollowing principles: we enjoy collaborating, we collaborate respectfully with others fromdifferent cultural and scientific backgrounds around the world, and our collaborations aim tobenefit trauma survivors. We welcome colleagues from all over the world, regardless of theirreligion, minority status, or political stance, and regardless of the political leadership of theircountry of origin or residence. Please read the aims described below carefully, as these areat the core of the GCTS and the responsibility of theme leaders.
Aims of the GCTS
To identify topics of global importance, facilitate development, and coordinate activities that
benefit survivors of trauma or stressful events around the world.
To create a community of traumatic stress researchers, practitioners, policy makers and trauma
survivors and develop collaborations, and ultimately structures, that enable us to optimally support
trauma survivors.
We commit to- Open Science practices: share the products we create for free, make the data we collect available,
and enhance dissemination of evidence-based interventions.
- Consideration of demographic diversity of participants: we encourage consideration of sex and, if
applicable, gender aspects across all projects, as well as representation of participants who differ insocioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.
- Cross-cultural sensitivity across all projects, e.g., in study design (including measures),
implementation, evaluation, publications.
- Inclusivity across all practices.

Roles & responsibilities
Below please find some information that you may find helpful in assuming and fulfilling yourrole as a GCTS theme leader. Please consider the below as suggestions.
•As a GCTS theme leader you are overseeing projects related to your specific theme orsubject. You are invited to shape the content for your GCTS page and regularly
provide updates of the content.

•Consider whether new project ideas are suitable for your theme. Project criteria
include global collaboration (i.e., involvement of several countries, and/or

translations or adaptions for global use). We try to be inclusive and help lessestablished researchers become involved.
New projects may be submitted through the Register page, or may be actively invitedby the leader(s).
You may or may not be involved in the projects yourself.
•Create a network of persons who are interested in this specific theme. All project
leaders and project members are invited to be part of your theme’s network. Anyone
who registers on the GCTS website can join.
The network meets (online) on a regular basis (i.e., once or twice a year). During
those meetings, you may jointly develop new project ideas around the theme, workon a position paper, or simply present progress / developments on the theme. Thesemeetings are usually very much appreciated by participants.
All network members are expected to register as GCTS or project member.

•Every three months, the GCTS Newsletter comes out. Please ask the project leaders
if there are any updates both for the webpage and, if interesting enough for a wider
audience, for the Newsletter.
Newsletter content is to be submitted through a form in the email that will be sentout by the Newsletter editor.

•Once a year, you have an online meeting with the GCTS chairs to discuss needs/ideas/progress/cross-theme collaborations, etc..

•Theme leaders are encouraged to maintain communication and coordination withGCTS's partner traumatic stress societies, in terms of being responsive to specificneeds or wishes or with regard to implementation of outcomes.

•Theme leaders are encouraged to facilitate the engagement of student members ofGCTS, e.g., through the student representative.

•Theme leaders are expected to join the biannual GCTS steering committee meetings.

•You are very welcome to GCTS events, e.g., as an invited speaker if the program
allows.