Find Your People: SAVIR’s Special Interest Groups Connect Researchers Around Shared Priorities

Science advances faster when researchers aren’t working in isolation. That’s the idea behind SAVIR’s Special Interest Groups — focused communities within the broader SAVIR membership where researchers, clinicians, practitioners, and policy scholars can connect around specific topic areas, share methods, and build collaborative momentum.

SAVIR currently has two active SIGs, each addressing a distinct and urgent area of injury and violence prevention research.

Drowning Prevention Research Interest Group (in partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide)

Drowning is a preventable tragedy — and one that remains stubbornly underaddressed in the injury research landscape. The Drowning Prevention Research Interest Group was born out of an organic moment at the 2024 SAVIR conference, when researchers working across drowning prevention found themselves in the same room, realized they shared common ground, and decided to stay connected.

The group’s discussions are anchored in the US National Water Safety Action Plan (USNWSAP) research agenda, which draws on evidence gaps identified by USNWSAP working groups and a 2022 childhood drowning prevention research summit hosted by the National Drowning Prevention Association. The agenda is designed to guide researchers and funders toward the applied questions most likely to move the field forward.

The SIG meets quarterly in virtual sessions, with one in-person meeting at the SAVIR annual conference each year.

Interested in joining? Contact Morag MacKay at mmackay@safekids.org.

Global Gun Violence Prevention SIG

Firearm-related harm is one of the most pressing public health crises of our time — and it doesn’t stop at national borders. An estimated 250,000 people die from firearm-related causes each year globally, with six countries in the Americas accounting for more than half of those deaths. In the United States alone, gun violence death rates vary by a factor of seven between states. Among youth, bullets are now the leading cause of death in the US, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.

The Firearm Violence Research Special Interest Group exists to match the scale of that problem with the breadth of the response it demands. It’s a multidisciplinary forum connecting researchers, clinicians, practitioners, and policy scholars working to prevent firearm-related harm — with an explicit emphasis on both domestic and global perspectives, recognizing that cross-country collaboration is essential to advancing the field.

Members of the SIG have the opportunity to:

• Network across disciplines and career stages
• Identify shared research priorities and collaboration opportunities
• Exchange methodological approaches and data resources
• Discuss strategies for prevention, intervention, and clinical care
• Help shape the future direction of the SIG itself

The group is open to everyone with an interest in firearm violence research — from seasoned investigators to trainees and those just entering the field.

Interested in joining? Contact Stephen Hargarten at Hargart@mcw.edu.

Why Join a SIG?

Membership in a SAVIR Special Interest Group is one of the most direct ways to plug into a community of colleagues who share your research focus. Whether you’re looking for collaborators on a grant, a sounding board for methodological questions, or simply a regular touchpoint with others working on the same problems, the SIGs are built for exactly that.

Both groups welcome members at all career stages. If you’re working in drowning prevention or firearm violence research — or curious about either field — now is a great time to get involved.

Visit the SAVIR SIG page to learn more:https://thesavir.org/about-us/special-interest-groups/