The basis of this project is the Collaboration for Attachment Transmission Synthesis (CATS), started in 2013 out of discussions between Carlo Schuengel, Sheri Madigan, Pasco Fearon, next with Marije Verhage and Mirjam Oosterman, then with Marinus van IJzendoorn and Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg. This core group was later expanded with Glenn Roisman and Robbie Duschinsky. In particular with an eye on developing the Collaboration for Attachment and Parenting Intervention Synthesis (CAPIS), Mary Dozier, Kristin Bernard, and Daniel S. Schechter joined the group.
The project is called Collaboration for Attachment Research Synthesis, given preliminary ideas to spawn further projects building on the same workflow and methods.