Project description
How genes and environment interact to determine the mental health of refugee children
Refugee children having experienced traumatic situations are at increased risk of developing psychological disturbances. While some refugee children develop emotional and behavioural disorders (post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, for example), others exhibit remarkable resilience. This variability is linked to the complex interplay between individual traits, such as genetic factors, and characteristics of the environment. The EU-funded CARINGTrauma project will develop an innovative statistical approach to explore the complex and interactive causal relations between the various determinants of mental health across multiple domains. It will use a unique dataset from a large and recent study of Syrian refugee children and their caregivers (BIOPATH). The data includes demographic, genetic, epigenetic, neuroendocrine, social, psychological and environmental variables, allowing a comprehensive evaluation of the causal determinants of mental health of refugee children.
Objective
Exposure to war-related traumatic events as well as displacement have been found to increase refugee children’s vulnerability for the development of mental health problems. However, there is substantial variability, with some presenting with mental health disorders, while others show remarkable resilience. One reason for this observed variability is the complex interplay between individual traits, such as genetic factors, and characteristics of the environment in determining mental health outcomes. However, the extent and nature to which individual and environmental factors causally interact to determine mental health outcomes in children remains unclear as most studies rely on correlational designs. Hence, we propose the development of an innovative statistical approach, combining advanced machine learning techniques and concepts of statistical causality, to investigate the complex and interactive causal relations between the various determinants of mental health across multiple domains. In order to achieve our objective, this new statistical approach will be applied to recently collected data from a unique longitudinal study on Syrian refugee children based in Lebanon (BIOPATH). The available data includes comprehensive demographic, genetic, epigenetic, neuroendocrine, social, psychological, and environmental variables collected from Syrian refugee children and their caregivers at two time-points (N=1600 at the baseline and N=1009 at a one year follow-up). The Experienced Researcher, Dr Claudinei Biazoli, a trained psychiatrist expertise in developing innovative models and analysing complex data, will acquire knowledge and skills in Developmental Psychology, Behavioral and Psychiatric genetics under the supervision of Prof Michael Pluess, a leader researcher in the field of Differential Susceptibility and Principal Investigator of the BIOPATH study, with additional support from Dr Robert Keers, with expertise in the analysis of whole-genome data.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence machine learning
- social sciences sociology demography human migrations
- social sciences psychology developmental psychology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
E1 4NS LONDON
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.