The Kids Research Institute Australia researcher, Professor Cate Taylor, is part of an International cohort of researchers to secure over €1.45million in grant funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme to explore social inequality and its effects on child development.
Titled the SEED project, the objective is to a)identify the mechanisms through which changing social inequalities impact on children’s oral language and socio-emotional development; and b) identify the implications that these evolving social disparities have on school performance and beyond into adolescence and adulthood.
The EU funding will support research of birth cohorts in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands –with complimentary country co-operation partner country analyses from the US, Canada and Australia. Such a pan European programme with International cooperation has never been attempted before.
Professor Taylor, who is Co-Head of Human Capability at the Institute and ARC Life Course Centre Chief Investigator, said the grant is a fantastic opportunity to have Australian research compared internationally.
“This grant will allow us to explore the links between social inequality and the impact that has on child development across countries,” she said.
“By getting a deeper understanding of the link, we can help to create more equitable opportunities for children and families.”
SEED Chief Investigator, Professor James Law of Newcastle University, said one of the key elements of the study will be the input from Australian data.
“We look forward to collaborating closely with Professor Cate Taylor who has extensive experience of analysing data in the the national Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. This data will help us find out how it is that some children do very well despite having few opportunities in their early lives - while others do not,” he said.
“We will then be comparing what happens in Australia with what happens in European countries.”
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). It aims to drive more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking ideas from the lab to the market.