Early Childhood
Newsletter February 2024
Dear Early Childhood community members,
We hope you have all had a pleasant holiday and a happy new year. To start off the new year, we would like to share some interesting and exciting news of what is to come in 2024.
Funding application
Do you also have an idea for a project related to the values of the Early Childhood community? You can obtain support to set up various projects, including an expansion of your current research, a new collaboration you wish to undertake, a public engagement activity and more.
Click here to read about the criteria for applying.
SAVE THE DATE: Joint Postdoc/PhD meeting of Child Health (UMCU) and Dynamics of youth
5 March 2024, 15:00 – 17:00
Botanical gardens; de Serre
Are you a postdoc or assistant professor researching child or youth development, or almost done with your PhD on this topic? We are very happy to invite you to a joint meeting of Child Health (UMC Utrecht) and Dynamics of Youth (Utrecht University). This event offers an opportunity to connect with early-career researchers from all kinds of disciplines.
Dynamics of Youth and Child Health have fostered a long-standing collaboration. However, we found that early-career researchers in the field of child development are not always aware of each other’s existence, while a lot of you have shared interests, methodologies, and face similar scientific challenges.
In this upcoming meeting, our aim is to help you expand your professional network. Imagine finding that one person that could jumpstart a new (part of your) project, solve a problem, or simply provide a fresh perspective on your research question.
For whom? Postdocs, assistant professors, and 3rd/4th year PhD students
Where? Botanical gardens – de Serre
When? 5 March 2024, 15:00 – 17:00, followed by a borrel
What? – Introduction of DoY/CH collaboration
– Interactive activity to meet other researchers
– Drinks and snacks
Should I prepare?
Not really. We will ask you to give a short introduction about yourself and your research. It would be helpful if you already think about the following questions:
What part of your work gets you out of bed in the morning?
What challenge are you most proud to have overcome in your research?
Bring an object or photo of something that characterizes your research and tell us why you brought it.
The whole setting will be informal, so no PowerPoint or poster presentation is needed. Just be there, meet new people, and have fun.
If you would like to attend, please sign up by using this form. If you have any further questions, just send us an email and we’ll get back to you.
Feel free to forward this message to other colleagues who might be interested. Looking forward to seeing you!
SAVE THE DATE: Summer school “Early Childhood”
Coming summer, the Early Childhood community is organizing a summer school. During the summer school, participants will be updated on the state-of-the-art knowledge and methods in the field of Early Childhood research. Besides theoretical lectures, every day will comprise an in-depth workshop about frequently used techniques.
For more information, see the Early Childhood summer school course.
Spotlight
Do you also want to nominate someone (or maybe yourself) for our newsletter spotlight, send your story to early.childhood@uu.nl.
Symposium – Neonatal intensive care: What do we think is really important?
On the 21st of March, 2024, Karen de Bijl will organize a symposium about “value-driven care within the neonatology” on the occasion of her thesis defence.
The knowledge and expertise of research experts in the field of value-based healthcare, along with the experiences of parents of severely ill newborns, will be shared and brought together.
This symposium, organized with the assistance of Dynamics of Youth, is dedicated to the defence of Karen de Bijl-Marcus’s dissertation. The dissertation is titled “Baby steps forward on the pathway towards improvement of neonatal care.” It explores the concept of “value” within neonatal care, emphasizing that measuring treatment outcomes is fundamental to enhancing value for the patient, i.e., the sick newborn and their parents. The research provides insights, promotes patient-centred care, and has the potential to transform healthcare systems. In summary, the dissertation advocates for a collaborative, patient-centred approach to healthcare, focusing on outcome measurement, care improvement, and adding value to patient interactions. It encourages individuals and organizations to reflect on how they can contribute to enhancing “value” in patient care.
The maximum number of places for in-person participation is almost reached, but there is also an opportunity to follow the symposium online. You can sign up for online participation by using the QR-code below.
Conference – SIG conference “Fostering empathy, creativity and resilience for a sustainable future”
From the 10th to the 12th of July, the University of Warsaw organises an EARLI (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction) conference for the special interest group: learning and development in early childhood (SIG 5).
This conference will focus on new contexts for children’s development in todays dynamically changing circumstances. For example: the increasing number of armed conflicts forcing migration that challenges especially refugees but also host communities, the consequences of the COVID pandemic, climate change and the development of artificial intelligence all change children’s environments. These contexts require a special effort on the part of researchers, professionals, policymakers and society as a whole to create conditions that foster the empathy, resilience and creativity of children, without which these challenges cannot be met. Their aim is to meet in Warsaw to exchange research findings, experiences and reflections on this topic.
The conference will take place from Wednesday, 10th July 2024 to Friday, 12th July 2024 in Warsaw, Poland, and will be preceded by a variety of activities and field trips to be held on Tuesday, 9th July 2024. For more information see: https://www.pedagog.uw.edu.pl/earli2024/conference/
Department visits – A PhD’ers experience during our visit to the neonatology department
PhD student Julia Raijmakers tells us about our visit to the neonatology department. Do you want DoY to join your department meeting as well? Send an e-mail to early.childhood@uu.nl.
“Starting my PhD journey in the neonatology/child health department, I recently got acquainted with the Dynamics of Youth community during a research meeting. As I aim to establish an interdisciplinary long-term follow-up study focusing on premature infants, I found the content of Dynamics of Youth to be highly relevant to my research goals. As a new researcher, navigating through various information channels can be a bit intense. However, the presentation provided a clear overview of the opportunities and activities offered by the research community. I appreciated learning about the interdisciplinary approach, network events, and funding opportunities. I look forward to the upcoming events, hoping to learn and collaborate with fellow researchers from Utrecht University/University Medical Center Utrecht.”
Agenda
The following activities might be interesting for you in the coming months:
5 March 2024 Joint early career researcher event DoY and Child Health
21 March 2024 Visit of DoY communities to ILS colloquium
21 March 2024 Symposium Karen de Bijl-Marcus “Baby steps forward on the pathway
towards improvement of neonatal care”
18 April 2024 ‘Doing interdisciplinarity in youth research’ event
19-23 August 2024 Summer school ‘Early Chidhood’