Having been through the preliminary stages of our renewal with the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, we have now submitted our full application for support over the next five years. It is our ambition to work with our participants, funders, the University of Bristol, collaborators and industry colleagues to maximise the impact of ALSPAC. To quote from our long-term research vision:

“The underlying motivation for this bid and the long-term objective of the ALSPAC team is to ensure that ALSPAC is an invaluable and open UK-based resource for the international research community.”

The process of bringing together a case to maintain and make the very best of ALSPAC now and in the future has been fascinating. We have engaged our participants, academics, industry and those who support us in order to achieve the overriding principles of our renewal design – scientific utility, engagement, recruitment and retention of our participants.

We have learnt a huge amount along the way and have been able to bring together a design for the future which we hope captures the great energy of ALSPAC and demonstrates the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.

For now…we will keep you posted with updates and developments of our application, and where possible share material, plans, dates and opportunities as they arise.

At ALSPAC, we can contribute to a broad range of epidemiological investigations (be they biomedical or otherwise) and want to get collaborators (new and old) and participants involved in our dynamic, population-based, study.

The more science is conducted, the more valuable the resource is. So, if you have a research question you think we can help with please don't hesitate to get in touch, either by emailing ALSPAC's Principal Investigator, Professor Nic Timpson (n.j.timpson@bristol.ac.uk), or by checking the main ALSPAC contacts page.

Anyone can get in touch and help us to shape our research - we want to ensure that we reach out to all.