SUMMARY ABSTRACT BACKGROUND. Since 1990, the global annual rate of change in exposure to intimate partner violence has stagnated at 0·07%, and that for child sexual abuse and peer victimization has risen to 0·65%. Peer victimization remains a top-10 contributor to disability in adolescents and young adults (10-24 y), and global attributable deaths and disability from these exposures predominate in women and girls. These estimates suffer from limited data on these and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children (VAC) and over- aggregation to binary gender groups. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals to eliminate all forms of GBV against women and girls and all VAC require capacity to study and address such violence in low- and middle- income countries, with attention to local gender variance. AIMS & APPROACH. Emory University (USA), Hanoi Medical University (Vietnam), and Atlanta/Vietnam partners propose the Consortium for Violence Research, Implementation, and Leadership Training for Excellence (CONVERGE) to strengthen research and action on GBV and VAC in Vietnam. CONVERGE addresses three synergistic programmatic aims: 1) To develop a diverse pipeline of mentors for research on GBV and VAC in Vietnam by implementing an annual mentorship program that prepares productive researchers to be strong scientific mentors (15 long-term; 40 short-term); 2a) To strengthen capacity for relevant GBV and VAC research in Vietnam by providing long-term post-doctoral research training and career development to a diverse group of researchers with exceptional potential (15 long- term); 2b) To support fast-tracking of evidence into practice with implementation science and leadership/science dissemination short-courses that connect scholars and practitioners (15 long-term; 45 short-term; 60 practitioners); and 3) To implement a training evaluation plan that assesses the implementation reach, fidelity, and effectiveness of our four training components and applies findings iteratively for greater success. INNOVATION & IMPACT. Over 10 years of research partnerships among CONVERGE members confirm the feasibility of achieving our aims. Our mentor training will create a pipeline of researchers who are skilled mentors for future trainees. Our long-term post-doctoral research training adapts successful integrated, inter-disciplinary training programs to develop a cadre of researchers skilled in GBV and VAC research. Our implementation- science and leadership/science-dissemination training will nurture a researcher-practitioner network that fast- tracks evidence into practice. Our training plan supports research priorities of Vietnam and the NIH on women’s health, child health and human development, mental health, minority health and health disparities, alcohol abuse and alcoholism, drug abuse, and general medicine. CONVERGE will train a critical mass of 115 mentors, post- doctoral scholars, and practitioners in Vietnam in GBV and VAC research, implementation science, and leadership/science dissemination. We will promote, using tested strategies, trainee retention and institutional capacity to lead relevant GBV and VAC research, training, and best practice for Vietnam and the region.

SUMMARY NARRATIVE Low- and middle-income countries experience a high burden of gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children (VAC); yet, institutional and investigator research capacity is limited, and large data gaps limit the ability to monitor violence-related Sustainable Development Goals. To address this need, Emory University, Hanoi Medical University, and a multidisciplinary network of experts will create CONVERGE, The Consortium for Violence Prevention Research, Implementation, and Training for Excellence. We will implement a four- component program to train a critical mass of long-term post-doctoral fellows (n=15), short-term mid-career research trainees (n=40), and short-term practitioner trainees (n=60), creating a pipeline of professionals skilled in research mentorship, research in GBV and VAC, implementation science, leadership/science dissemination for sustained capacity in GBV and VAC research and practice in Vietnam.