Research

In her current position Prof. Ravens-Sieberer is responsible for coordinating and conducting national and European health surveys on mental health, health related quality of life, and health behavior in children and adolescents. Trained as psychologist and epidemiologist, her work focuses on prevention and health promotion, on social determinants of child health, and on the evaluation of supportive programs for mental health promotion.

This work also includes developing methods for assessing well-being and quality of life in children and adolescents in order to promote cross-cultural research and assessment as well as the application of well-being measures in health reporting and health surveys.

Her involvement in the field of child and adolescent health and well-being started in 1990 – since then she has been active in developing own instruments and indicators, translating existing international instruments, and introducing mental health and quality of life assessment into clinical trials and epidemiological studies both in children and young people. She is member of several professional societies and has published over 100 scientific papers.

Prof. Ravens-Sieberer took part in coordinating and conducting several key European projects and surveys on child health and well-being:

• she is coordinator of the Pan-European “KIDSCREEN - Screening for and Promotion of Health-related Quality of Life and Well-being of Children and Adolescents in Europe” study (EU Research Framework Program 5, kidscreen.org);

• director of the German national “Child Mental Health - BELLA” cohort study (bella-study.de);

• is on the board of directors of the coordinating committee of the international WHO “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)” study (hbsc.org);

• member of the Pan-European “DISABKIDS – Quality of Life in Children with Disabilities in Europe” study (disabkids.org);

• member of the advisory board of the European “Measuring Health and Disability in Europe” study (MHADIE);

• member of the European “RICHE - Research Inventory for Child Health in Europe” project (EU Research Framework Program 7, childhealthresearch.eu) where she leads the Work Package “Roadmap for the future of child health research in Europe”;

• member of the European “ROAMER project – A Roadmap for Mental Health Research in Europe” (EU Research Framework Program 7, roamer-mh.org), taking part in the Work Package on identifying gaps and advances in well-being research in Europe.

• she designed the KIDSCREEN indicator on quality of life and mental well-being for conducting the Flash Eurobarometer (No 246) “Parents’ views on the mental health of their child” for the European Commission, Health and Consumers DG, and

• was part of the group of governmental experts on mental health and well-being, invited by the European Commission to prepare the European Pact for Mental Health and Well-being (http://ec.europa.eu/health/mental_health),

• and is now involved in the European “Horizon 2020” planning.

The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Research Unit “Child Public Health”

The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) is affiliated to the University of Hamburg and one of the largest faculties of Medicine in Germany. It is a leader in research and medical treatment, science and research at the UKE enjoy an excellent international reputation. In more than 80 clinics and institutes research and teaching is actively accomplished by more than 2200 physicians and scientists. The Medical Center is involved in many EU projects as coordinator as well as project partner and has gathered many years expertise in all areas of project management of EU contracts.

Lead by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer, the Child Public Health research unit is part of the Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at the UKE and is also tied to the Center for Psychosocial Medicine. Successfully developing and applying evidence-based knowledge to promote child public health is the main goal of the research unit "Child Public Health" of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

For more information please see http://child-public-health.org/english/.