Research Strategy

The key concept underpinning our research strategy is that the developing organism responds to its environment from the earliest stages of life, a concept known as developmental plasticity. 

Our research themes fall within four research domains mandated by Gravida’s funder, the Tertiary Education Commission. The four domains address key aspects of developmental plasticity.

These domains are:

  1. the origins, evolution and fundamental mechanisms of developmental plasticity;
  2. the impact throughout the life-course of environmental factors that induce, mitigate or reverse plastic responses;
  3. the prevalence of plasticity-related changes in livestock and humans, and the application and effectiveness of interventions that predict, reverse or mitigate their consequences across the life-course;
  4. the economic and societal impacts of plastic responses in humans and livestock, and the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed interventions.

 

research strategy diagram