Presentations and podcasts from the meeting of Longitudinal and Cohort Studies co-convened by the UNICEF Office of Research and Young Lives are now all available to download.
There is growing recognition of the powerful role that longitudinal research can play in building evidence for policy and programme development and there is considerable interest in establishing new longitudinal studies in developing countries. At this meeting co-convened by the UNICEF Office of Research and Young Lives, researchers working with children all around the globe met to share experiences and learning from longitudinal and cohort studies.
Studies represented include: the Pelotas Birth Cohort Studies in Brazil, the Centre for Longitudinal Studies of the Universidad Catolica de Chile, the Gansu Survey of Children and Families in China, the Czech Republic and Slovakia Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, the Andhra Pradesh Randomized Evaluation Studies of schooling, the Jamaican Birth Cohort Studies, the LEAPS study of primary education in rural Punjab, Birth-to-Twenty in South Africa, the UK Millennium Cohort Study, the Young Lives study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam.
13-15 October 2014, Florence Italy
Presentations from the meeting are now all available to download from the UNICEF Office of Research webpages on Cohort and Longitudinal Research
Rationale
Cohort and longitudinal studies have unique potential to improve understanding of the dynamic nature and processes that shape child development. These studies are also distinct in their ability to bring a life-course perspective to analysis, with a potential to respond to specific questions about children’s pathways and developmental trajectories.
There is also growing recognition of the powerful role that longitudinal research can play in building evidence for policy and programme development and there is considerable interest in establishing new longitudinal/cohort studies in developing countries. The importance of policy-relevance and uptake is critical in resource-constrained settings with limited research funding.
The Post-2015 Development Agenda has placed great emphasis on measurement and monitoring progress of the post-2015 targets, stressing the need for ‘a data revolution’ for sustainable development, with a new international initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to citizens and governments.
Within this context, UNICEF is pleased to host an international symposium bringing together longitudinal and cohort studies working on dimensions of children’s development and operating globally to share research and best practice.
Guiding principles
Two overarching principles will serve to focus the discussions during the Symposium.
- Focusing on the unique and significant contribution of cohort and longitudinal data collection to the greatest extent possible. A key outcome of the meeting is to highlight the value that cohort and longitudinal analyses can add to answering specific questions for children. It will also aim to identify where other data sources are better equipped to respond.
- Approaching child wellbeing in a manner that is integrated and contextualises development within the full life course. This aims to stretch our approach to working with children beyond the traditional sectors and discrete life stages. The meeting aims to foster a spirit of multi-disciplinarity and multi-sectorality, and with an appreciation of developmental differences as life-course series of circumstances, trajectories and transitions.
Meeting objectives
- Objective 1: To identify how cohort/longitudinal studies can uniquely contribute to the most important current areas for policy and research, and to share latest findings emerging from different cohort/longitudinal studies.
- Objective 2: To share lessons on the practice of longitudinal studies, to explore what the next generation of knowledge from longitudinal studies might look like and to determine the desirability and feasibility of co-production of toolkits or modules.
- Objective 3: To explore determinants of local ownership and sustainability of cohort/longitudinal studies.
Presentations and podcasts from the meeting of Longitudinal and Cohort Studies co-convened by the UNICEF Office of Research and Young Lives are now all available to download.
There is growing recognition of the powerful role that longitudinal research can play in building evidence for policy and programme development and there is considerable interest in establishing new longitudinal studies in developing countries. At this meeting co-convened by the UNICEF Office of Research and Young Lives, researchers working with children all around the globe met to share experiences and learning from longitudinal and cohort studies.
Studies represented include: the Pelotas Birth Cohort Studies in Brazil, the Centre for Longitudinal Studies of the Universidad Catolica de Chile, the Gansu Survey of Children and Families in China, the Czech Republic and Slovakia Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, the Andhra Pradesh Randomized Evaluation Studies of schooling, the Jamaican Birth Cohort Studies, the LEAPS study of primary education in rural Punjab, Birth-to-Twenty in South Africa, the UK Millennium Cohort Study, the Young Lives study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam.
13-15 October 2014, Florence Italy
Presentations from the meeting are now all available to download from the UNICEF Office of Research webpages on Cohort and Longitudinal Research
Rationale
Cohort and longitudinal studies have unique potential to improve understanding of the dynamic nature and processes that shape child development. These studies are also distinct in their ability to bring a life-course perspective to analysis, with a potential to respond to specific questions about children’s pathways and developmental trajectories.
There is also growing recognition of the powerful role that longitudinal research can play in building evidence for policy and programme development and there is considerable interest in establishing new longitudinal/cohort studies in developing countries. The importance of policy-relevance and uptake is critical in resource-constrained settings with limited research funding.
The Post-2015 Development Agenda has placed great emphasis on measurement and monitoring progress of the post-2015 targets, stressing the need for ‘a data revolution’ for sustainable development, with a new international initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to citizens and governments.
Within this context, UNICEF is pleased to host an international symposium bringing together longitudinal and cohort studies working on dimensions of children’s development and operating globally to share research and best practice.
Guiding principles
Two overarching principles will serve to focus the discussions during the Symposium.
- Focusing on the unique and significant contribution of cohort and longitudinal data collection to the greatest extent possible. A key outcome of the meeting is to highlight the value that cohort and longitudinal analyses can add to answering specific questions for children. It will also aim to identify where other data sources are better equipped to respond.
- Approaching child wellbeing in a manner that is integrated and contextualises development within the full life course. This aims to stretch our approach to working with children beyond the traditional sectors and discrete life stages. The meeting aims to foster a spirit of multi-disciplinarity and multi-sectorality, and with an appreciation of developmental differences as life-course series of circumstances, trajectories and transitions.
Meeting objectives
- Objective 1: To identify how cohort/longitudinal studies can uniquely contribute to the most important current areas for policy and research, and to share latest findings emerging from different cohort/longitudinal studies.
- Objective 2: To share lessons on the practice of longitudinal studies, to explore what the next generation of knowledge from longitudinal studies might look like and to determine the desirability and feasibility of co-production of toolkits or modules.
- Objective 3: To explore determinants of local ownership and sustainability of cohort/longitudinal studies.