GRK 2804: Women's mental health across the reproductive years

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The proposed International Research Training Group (IRTG) assembles scientists from the University of Tübingen and Uppsala University, Sweden. The IRTG strives to enhance interdisciplinary research and education on a topic of high clinical and societal relevance: women’s mental health across the reproductive years. Women undergo hormonal transitions several times throughout their lives that can impact brain plasticity and their cognitive and emotional processes, thus ultimately influencing mental health. During these transition phases (puberty, pregnancy and menopause), the risk of mental illness increases dramatically, especially with regard to affective, anxiety and stress-related disorders. Within our IRTG we aim to better understand the associations between hormonal transition phases and women’s mental health by addressing specific hypotheses in the context of sex hormone variation. We will emphasize on negative and positive valence as many mental disorders are characterized by the so-called emotional bias, that is high levels of negative emotion and/or loss of positive emotional experience. To do so, we will orient all projects along a translational approach to human behavior and (afflicted) mental health. This will enable us to target specific (neuro)biological processes underlying psychopathology in the realm of negative (stress reactivity) and positive valence (reward), and to cover different system levels (from behavior to brain plasticity). Our long-term perspective is to improve prevention, detection and treatment of mental disorders in women. To fulfill this aim, applicants from Tübingen and Uppsala will combine their strong scientific expertise and clinical experience, collaborate across disciplines, jointly collect and analyze research data and most importantly educate young scientists. Since mental health of women involves many aspects that transcend disciplinary boundaries, the applicants have developed a comprehensive and unique qualification program centered on clinically relevant research, international exchange and synergy. We will foster scientific excellence and independence while at the same time guaranteeing maximal support. The qualification program emphasizes innovative aspects such as the systematic integration of digital networks and platforms to allow an intense German-Swedish exchange. Doctoral candidates will be supervised by a German and a Swedish researcher and mentored by German/Swedish teams, enabling them to profit from an elaborate mentoring program. Thus, our IRTG strives to establish a productive and interdisciplinary environment for high-level education of young scientists putting Tübingen and Uppsala at the forefront of research and education in women’s mental health across the reproductive years.