DoY EC Meet-Up 4th of March

On the 4^th of March, the DoY community of Early Childhood organized a Meet-Up at the university library in the city center.

The Meet-Up focused on bringing together different people from different labs who are interested in research about children or youth. It not only focused on the researchers in these labs but also on the lab technicians, managers, and other invaluable staff who run the research labs.

We started the afternoon with two rounds of speed-dates. The attendees were matched with an employee of another lab closely related to their own field and profession. This way, everyone started the Meet-Up by getting to know at least two other people from other labs who might benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations. After the speed dates, 4 labs (the DDOD lab, the 030 lab, the Behavioral Neuroscience lab, and the ILS lab) each gave a 10-minute presentation about their current or recent work. These presentations were communal efforts of researchers and lab technicians from each lab. After each presentation, there was some time for questions. We ended the day with drinks, at which many people asked further questions about each other’s presentations or talked further amongst one another.

Attendees enjoyed seeing what other labs from Utrecht University are working on and were very involved, resulting in interesting and interactive discussions. We noticed that bringing together different people from different labs enhanced opportunities for interdisciplinary connections, which may lead to collaborations in the future. The main takeaway of the afternoon for most participants was “We knew these labs existed, but we never knew what they did exactly”. We were also very pleased to hear some people say “I have written down some names and phone numbers that might come in handy in the future”. Therefore we believe this was a very successful Meet-Up.

The next DoY meet-up, organized by the Thriving and Healthy Youth community, will take place on April 8^th 2025:

Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and giftedness: all forms of neurodiversity. Research in this field has significantly increased over the past twenty years. Do you also research neurodiversity? Or does it pique your interest? Come to the Meet-Up and meet colleagues from various disciplines.