GCRF: Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences Springboard (TrACES) GCRF: Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences Springboard (TrACES) is a programme of pump priming funding that will be competitively allocated to academics and groups of academics within the University of Exeter to develop sustainable relationships with specified LMIC countries as part of an evolving global research platform.  The primary aim of this platform is to harness existing expertise and knowledge among UK researchers on early life trauma (including adverse childhood experiences) and the mechanisms and pathways leading from such trauma to a spectrum of mental health, substance and violence-related outcomes, and expand this into collaborative research partnerships with LMIC researchers working in this field. Such collaboration across diverse global settings will allow for adaptation of existing methodologies and co-creation of new approaches and research understanding in this neglected but critically important field.    The life-course trajectories leading from early life trauma to mental illness, substance use problems, and violent behaviours, have devastating personal and societal outcomes; and these impacts have particular importance for LMIC contexts where the burden is heaviest. These health and behavioural outcomes carry a huge human and socio-economic cost and threaten to undermine these nations' ability to achieve sustainable development targets.    There is an imperative therefore to collaborate across global contexts and across scientific disciplines to broaden and enrich the evidence base in this field. This future evidence-base needs to answer questions including how early experiences of trauma may lead to harmful mental health outcomes; how some individuals are resilient and remain well despite early adversities; and how these developmental pathways may differ between varied social, economic and cultural contexts.  The TRACES programme of funding will be for the first stage of establishing this global research platform. TRACES aims to springboard the building of global relationships and networks across disciplinary boundaries with the goals of a) making these partnerships sustainable b) prioritising the strengthening of research capacity across collaborations c) generating necessary pilot data and d) and winning large-scale competitive research awards that will support long-term programmes of research in this field. Ultimately, this research will provide the evidence for developing interventions that are effective and relevant to context. While TRACES has a particular emphasis on partnerships with South Africa, we are also partnering with other LMICS (Uganda, India, Jamaica, Guyana and Colombia. Within the bounds of this funding, our emphasis on South Africa is strategic as we have particularly strong existing relationships with researchers in that country and are thus confident of success and realising immediate impact within the 12-month period of the award. Our funding programme comprises three different funding mechanisms or entry levels that can springboard relationships with LMIC research partners. These are: - Strategic Fund: 3-9 month pilot projects of £20-30k that will be used to collate preliminary data or developing methodologies in relation to specific research questions where a relationship within an LMIC is already established. - Network Development: This stream will fund a series of workshops and network events, £10-30k, with LMIC partners and collaborators. - Link Funds: These funds are about scoping the potential for further collaboration within LMICs. The award will fund up to £10k for a single workshop/meeting or exchange with an LMIC partner where there is not already an established relationship; and, if successful, awardees will be encouraged to upgrade to application for a network development award if feasible. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.