🎥 Children & Families Theme Webinar: Why children and families research matter 🎥

Here is the recording of our ECR-led webinar on why research on children and families matters and how inclusive, collaborative, and data-driven approaches can help advance health equity for children, young people, and families.

Julia Shumway, UCL

About Julia: Julia Shumway is a PhD student and research assistant at the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. The aim of her PhD is to understand the impact of placement in mainstream versus special secondary school on the health and educational outcomes of adolescents with Down Syndrome, using data from the Educational and Child Health Insights from Linked Data (ECHILD) project. 

Presentation title: Letting parents weigh in: How are health and education related for pupils with Down syndrome?

Blurb: As part of my research to understand the influence of education on the health outcomes of adolescents with Down syndrome, I have had the privilege of speaking with parents in regions across the country. I will share a bit about what I have learned about how to conduct effective and sensitive public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) and a few of the insights parents have shared.

Louise Macaulay, UCL

About Louise: Louise is an early-career researcher at UCL, using the ECHILD database, which links national health and education data in England, to study health and educational outcomes for young people with neurodisability from adolescence to early adulthood.

Title of presentation: Health and education outcomes for young people with neurodisability: learning from PPIE

This presentation will outline our study using the ECHILD database to examine health and educational outcomes for young people with neurodisability, and how PPIE helped shape the research focus.

Dr Joseph Lam from UCL 

The talk is inspired by Revd Dr Sam Well's talk at the 2025 Children's Plinth Launch event at St Martin-In-The-Fields

About Jo: Jo Lam is a Research Fellow. He completed his Wellcome Trust-funded PhD in Health Data Science and Statistics at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in 2025. His research focuses on improving research on health equity and the representation of missed populations in longitudinal population data and linked administrative data, with a particular emphasis on reducing bias by ethnicity. He has experience working with UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration, ALSPAC and ECHILD.

Topic of presentation: Public engagement in children and families research

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This session sits within our Children & Families Theme which is focused on placing the child in the wider context of their family and environment, bringing together people passionate about using data science to better understand and address maternal, familial, and child health inequities. Expect space for knowledge sharing, thoughtful discussion, and community-building that connects researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and experts by experience, and amplifies diverse voices across the health equity and data science landscape.