Posted on: 12 September 2005
The Childrens’ Research Centre, TCD and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will conduct the National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland, it was announced by the Government on 12 September. One of the most important studies into children’s lives ever undertaken in the country, the study aims at uncovering factors that affect children’s well-being in present-day Irish families.
Two major data collection sweeps will be undertaken throughout the researchers’ initial contract of seven years, and a total of 10,000 infants and 8,000 children aged nine will be recruited to participate.
Following a negotiated tendering process, TCD and ESRI were identified as preferred bidders to conduct the study by a committee chaired by the National Children’s Office and international experts in children’s studies: Professor Ann Sanson, the Principal Investigator for ‘Growing Up in Australia’, a national longitudinal study of 10,000 Australian children, Dr. Satya Brinks, the former Director of Child, Youth and Social Development Studies at the Applied Research Branch of Human Resources Development Canada within the Canadian Government, which is responsible for the development of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth and Mr. Jeremy Neathey, Associate Director at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), who has been involved in commissioning the British Household Panel Study, the National Child Development Study, the British Birth Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study.
The insights provided by the study are anticipated to contribute to the development of effective new Government policies relating to children and assist the design of services for both them and their families. The study will be funded collectively by the National Children’s Office and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
Contract negotiations are currently underway and it is expected that the Study will commence in November 2005.
