Knowledge hub

There is general support for the principle of policy impact: researchers and Higher Education Institutions should be encouraged to achieve policy impact from their research.

Professor Mark Woolhouse asks were Covid-19 lockdowns really the best course of action? Justified at the time as the best way to save lives.

As a leader in the field of early learning and childhood development, Professor Peter Moss will critically reflect on the day’s discussions and, from his extensive experience and observations contained within his book “Contesting Early Childhood…and Opening for Change”, will look at the failures in the current early years system in Scotland and paint a […]

September 2021 marked the introduction of 30 funded hours of early learning and care provision for all Scottish 3-, 4- and eligible 2-year-olds. Despite the pandemic’s impact, Scotland’s central and local governments, in partnership with the ELC sector, admirably managed to maintain the momentum behind this major policy innovation. Four years earlier England introduced 30 […]

The idea of universal early childhood education and care (ECEC) services is embedded in Nordic educational policies, and ECEC is considered a national responsibility. Children have the right to attend full-day ECEC programmes and, thus, virtually all children attend ECEC from their early years. The presentation will focus on the principles and values presented in […]

Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology, at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of over 120 journal articles and several books including the bestselling and critically acclaimed “The Scientist in the Crib”, “The Philosophical Baby” and “The Gardener and the Carpenter”. She is a Guggenheim fellow, fellow of the Cognitive Science Society […]

Our approach to early education and childcare is of both symbolic and practical significance. It is suggestive of the type of nation to which we aspire, and delivers the foundation for how that can be achieved. In this presentation, we reflect on where we are at, where we are headed and – in light of […]

Paul Bradshaw is Director of ScotCen Social Research, an independent, not-for-profit research institute and the Scottish arm of NatCen Social Research. In a career spanning 20 years, Paul has worked on a wide range of studies across many policy areas, though his primary focus has been research on children and families. Most notable is his […]

Professor William Stimson FRSE on the breakthrough antiviral drugs that boost humans’ ‘interferon’ immune response to help tackle Covid-19.

This discussion brings together experts with perspectives from art therapy, psychology and psychiatry to address what we mean by wellbeing for babies and toddlers.

This discussion will look at the effects of climate change in Scotland with a view to providing possible solutions to tackle them in future.

We must take our cue from children when it comes to designing the early learning and childcare ecosystem that will help shape the rest of their lives.

Professor Anne Magurran FRSE calls to protect and restore Scotland’s biodiversity.

An African nation with a recent troubled past has a proud record of equality in parliament. We now have new resources that will shine a light on women’s experiences in Rwandan society before the colonial period.

Professor Ian Jackson on the genetics of ginger hair. The further north you were born, the more likely you are to have red hair.

Audrey Cumberford writes about why Scotland is well placed to capitalise on its strengths and make effective university-college collaboration the norm.

Professor Sean Mckee FRSE writes about how we are constantly surrounded by applied mathematical models every day, even if we don’t know it.

Professor Devi Sridhar looks to the prevention of future pandemics and a coalition built on preparedness and innovation.