About Us
Aims
The NI Child Development Research Network (NICDRN) brings together researchers from Northern Ireland institutions with shared aims relating to child development research. Our core aim is to make trustworthy, research-informed guidance accessible to every parent, while strengthening coordination among those who work with families.
We do this by sharing research on children’s language, literacy, physical development, multilingualism, milestones, mental health, and more, and by transforming these findings into practical resources for families and professionals. Recent parent focus groups highlighted the challenge of navigating fragmented or inconsistent information about available services, and upcoming events aim to address these challenges in collaboration with parents and third sector organisations.
By building these connections the NICDRN works to identify current resources, highlight gaps, and co-create solutions. Through outreach events, knowledge-exchange activities, and collaborations with stakeholders, we aim to support NI families in the short term and contribute to long-term improvements in service provision.
History
The Network was founded in 2023 as Ulster Child Studies, with support from an Impact Acceleration Award to Ulster University researchers to deliver hands-on child development outreach for NI families (Juliana Gerard, Tandy Haughey and Shauna McGill). These early events — at the ESRC Festival of Social Science, Being Human Festival and NI Science Festival — quickly demonstrated strong public engagement and a clear need for accessible, research-grounded information.
Since then, the network has expanded across faculties and institutions, and was re-established as the NI Child Development Research Network in 2025. Collaboration with Parenting Focus in 2024–2025 produced two reports that shaped our priorities for addressing parents’ needs. Both reports identified a central challenge for NI families: finding reliable information about local resources and support services.
Building on this evidence, the NICDRN has expanded our focus to knowledge exchange consultations, in addition to coordinated outreach activities. Our upcoming programme brings together stakeholders across sectors to map existing provision, identify gaps, and develop shared actions to support families throughout NI.
