Structure of the IBR

The Institute for Behavioral Research operates under the leadership of a Director, Dr. Steven Beach in consultation with an Executive Committee. Housed within the Institute are the Center for Research on Behavioral Health & Human Services Delivery(CRBHHSD) the Center for Integrative Conservation Research (CICR) , and the Center for Family Research (CFR) . There are also work groups of researchers (Fellows) who share interests in focused areas of societal concern or developing areas of basic research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. At present IBR houses the Neuroscience Behavior, and Cognition Group , Race, Class, Place, and Outcomes , Gene-Environment Interaction Work Group , Migration Work Group , and the Violence Work Group . In addition the Institute encourages other emerging working groups.

Each Center/Study Group has a Director and provides both a focus for intellectual stimulation and support for individual research initiative. Each Center/Group Director brings expertise in his or her area of scholarly activity and, in most cases, success with extramural funding. Formats vary, but typically members of each Center/Study Group meet formally or informally throughout the year to discuss recent scholarly work, review research proposals, and exchange information about grant writing and grant proposals.

Supplementing these meetings are regular IBR seminars, conferences featuring nationally recognized speakers, the annual William A. Owens Lecture, and workshops on research techniques, statistical methods, and grant writing. Seminars, conferences, lecture series, and workshops are widely publicized and open to the public.

Administrative Processes

The executive committee of the IBR reviews the activities of the Director and approves spending for research support and infrastructure. In addition, the executive committee chooses new Fellows and mentoring Fellows from those who apply each year. New members of the executive committee are nominated by the Director based on their past record of funding and service to the Institute and are approved by the executive committee. There is no set number of members of the executive committee, but an effort is made to be broadly representative of the membership of the Institute.

All members of the University Community are encouraged to affiliate with IBR and forms for applying to become a Fellow http://www.ibr.uga.edu/join/fellows.html or mentoring Fellow http://www.ibr.uga.edu/join/mentoring.html are available for download. Those judged by the executive committee to have strong potential for success in securing funding from major Federal Granting agencies (e.g. NIH, CDC, NSF) are invited to join.

Self-nominations are welcome for both the mentoring program and to become a Fellow, but we request that all applicants seek the support of their Department Head before applying. Applications to the mentoring program must be accompanied by a letter from the dept head detailing how the department will assist the mentoring fellow in making time for mentoring program activities.

Applications to become a Fellow should be accompanied by a vita indicating success in funding as well as other scholarly achievements. Fellows are typically expected to have a track record of securing extramural funding as a principal investigator and are expected to serve as mentors for new mentoring fellows working in similar domains.