Doris Duke Fellowships Expand to Child Well-Being Research Network

The Doris Duke Fellowships for the Promotion of Child Well-Being were launched in 2010 by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation. Over 10 years, the program engaged 120 fellows from diverse disciplines in a peer-learning network that fostered interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration while promoting actionable research.

Toward the end of the fellowships program, Chapin Hall conducted an Equity Study to assess how staff members, national advisory board members, academic and policy mentors, and Doris Duke Fellows experienced diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) during their participation in the Doris Duke Fellowships.

In 2021, Doris Duke Fellows built on the network built via the fellowships program by transitioning and expanding into the Child Well-Being Research Network (CWRN). The CWRN is focused on improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in the child well-being research field. Network activities include a mentoring program, writing retreats, learning and networking activities, support for strategic research translation and dissemination, and leadership development opportunities for network members. It engages researchers from diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and disciplines to advance the field of child well-being and child maltreatment prevention. The Network is housed at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. Dr. Lisa Schelbe, associate professor at Florida State University, serves as the Network’s director.

As a part of the fellowships program, Chapin Hall administered the Research to Action (R2A) Grants, a small grants program also funded by the Doris Duke Foundation. The grants were an opportunity for teams of researchers and their policy or practice partners to design and implement an applied research, translation, and dissemination project. Nine teams of fellows chosen by a national Selection Committee received funding for 15-month projects. Projects focused on a specific child well-being policy or practice question and expressly addressed principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.