From 2004 to 2012, the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) established its first funding programme for the promotion of prevention research. 60 projects on primary prevention and health promotion and the meta-project entitled "Cooperation for Sustainable Prevention Research" (KNP) received BMBF grants under this programme during this period. The experience and knowledge gained and recommendations arising from the research funded under this programme are compiled in memorandum format. The "Memorandum on Prevention Research - Research Areas and Methods" highlights 5 research areas that are considered to be especially relevant from the perspective of the involved scientists and practice partners.The promotion of structural development and sustainability enhancement in disease prevention and health promotion are central areas that should branch out from existing nuclei of crystallization. Improving the health competence of the population and of specific subpopulations is another major area. Research in these areas should contribute to the development of theoretical concepts and to the empirical testing of these concepts. The transfer of knowledge for effective use of developed disease prevention and health promotion programmes and measures is still a scarcely researched area. Among other things, studies of the transfer of programmes from one context to another, analyses of the coop-eration between politics and science, and the continued theoretical and conceptual development of transfer research are needed. Long-term data on the effects of intervention studies are also needed for proper evaluation of sustainability. The latter dem-onstrates the importance of method development in disease prevention and health promotion research as an area that should receive separate funding and support. This research should include, in particular, studies of the efficacy of complex interventions, health economic analyses, and participative health research.

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Aim The issue of excess weight and obesity among our young people is currently under discussion as one of the most serious problems in public health. Extensive work has been done to analyse the problem, to indicate the drivers, and to create prevention programmes. Much research remains to be done in the field of modelling the complex impact network of familial and societal influences on juvenile obesity. To achieve this, the forecasts and results issued by the various disciplines must be integrated. The aim of our work has been to create a causal-loop model of obesity in socially disadvantaged children and adolescents that allows qualitative simulation, group-specific risk assessment, as well as the identification of key factors for prevention. Subjects and Methods The model was created in cooperation with 18 experts from the field of obesity research. The participants were drawn from eight different disciplines including medicine, sociology, and prevention. Four expert workshops pinpointed 43 main obesity drivers at the individual, familial, and societal level; these were rated according to their causal interdependence and impact. The computer-based method of cross-impact balance analysis was used to evaluate the model and to produce risk profiles for different societal and individual context situations. Results The model analysis reveals that there is no one single key factor that can be expected to act as an effective prevention factor for every scenario. Instead, both the risks and the effectiveness of prevention measures depend strongly on the specific characteristics of an individual's own environment. Conclusion Consequently, it would appear sensible to approach the design of prevention programmes from a groupspecific, multi-factor and multi-level perspective.

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Comprehensive community-based health promotion is still in its infancy. An explicit legal mandate including the commitment to provide funding does not exist. There are clear indications that children's health prospects vary widely according to urban neighborhood and educational institutions. It is becoming evident that preschools and schools require need-based funding.