Souljourner MVP Student Build Kit: Container Specification, IRB Packet, Regulatory Architecture, and Distributed Coherence Observatory Framework

This document establishes the complete student-facing research infrastructure for the Souljourner University Research Challenge — a distributed build initiative inviting university teams across the United States to construct Souljourner-compliant observational containers as contributions to the emerging field of Human Flourishing Science.The specification defines a minimal viable container architecture consisting of three domain modules (Interior, Relational, Environmental), a unified output schema (SJ-MVP-v1), and a coherence display layer. The container performs no interpretation, diagnosis, or behavioral inference. It functions as a non-interventional observational software interface — equivalent in regulatory profile to a journaling or survey instrument with a standardized export format.The document is organized in four parts. Part I provides the complete container specification including canonical JSON schema, UI wireframes, QA test cases, a Python schema validator, and a local SDK simulation stub for development without live engine access. Part II provides the IRB language package, compliance checklist, and compliance certificate template. Part III establishes the regulatory architecture, including the non-interventional software classification, three-layer IP separation (container / research / measurement engine), thermometer analogy, and a distributed observability infrastructure argument. Part IV develops the research vision including cohort-based observation methodology, the distributed coherence observatory model, Stage 1 observability boundary conditions, and a staged SDK development roadmap.Two parallel student challenge tracks are defined: domain-focused teams building observational containers, and engineering-focused teams building the SDK infrastructure that connects containers to the measurement engine. Both tracks produce citable, Zenodo-depositable artifacts contributing to the measurement foundation of Human Flourishing Science.The Souljourner measurement engine — including the coherence mapping function F, domain coupling geometry, identity trajectory invariants, and calibration stack — remains protected and is not implemented within the container layer. The SDK functions as the controlled bridge between open container implementations and the protected engine.Companion documents: Theoretical framework manuscript (Brogdon, 2026, Zenodo) and the National Hospital Portfolio Drift Instrument (NHPDI) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18736503.