Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

Principal Investigator

Claire is the primary investigator on the grant, and originator of the BESSI instrument (Brief Early Skills and Support Index) that will be used in the study. Her interest in wellbeing extends into her daily working life, as she is a Deputy Head of Department for Psychology, with responsibility for wellbeing, equality and diversity. She has three children, aged 14-21.

Department of Psychology,

The Education University of Hong Kong

Research interests: the development of children’s understanding theory of mind and its impact on children’s cognitive and social development, cultural and individual differences associated with theory of mind development

Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

Laure is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge. She completed her PhD in the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests lie in digital childhood. Specifically, she focuses on young children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development in the digital context.

Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

Siu Ching is a research assistant at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge and trained in clinical psychology and data analytics. Her research focuses on domestic violence, child development and mental health. She is interested in using quantitative tools to investigate multidisciplinary problems in the fields mentioned, especially in domestic violence during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental difficulties.

Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

An advocate in the power of community-based participatory research in addressing mental health and collective well-being for all. Catherine’s research interests lie in understanding the early childhood development of adaptive and maladaptive schemas.

Faculty of Education,

University of Cambridge

Michelle has scientific interests in cognition, neuroscience, child development, and education, integrating them into a multi-disciplinary research programme aimed at improving math and science education.

School of Psychology,

University of Sussex

Elian’s research focuses on children’s peer relationships in early childhood. Prior to moving to the University of Sussex, Elian was a senior research associate at the Centre for Play in Education, Development and Learning in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.

Department of Psychology,

Tsinghua University

Zhen is the deputy head of the Department of Psychology at Tsinghua University and the head of Lab for Lifelong Learning. Her research focuses on children’s social-emotional development, including but not limited to empathy and prosocial behaviour.

Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

Laura’s research interest lies in understanding how the early environment shapes the developing brain. She is particularly interested in how early adversity, as is frequently experienced by children in low- and middle-income countries, affects their developmental outcomes.

Department of Psychology,

Tsinghua University

Chengyi is a ShuiMu Fellow in developmental psychology at Tsinghua University. She completed her PhD under the supervision of Prof Hughes at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on social-cultural influences upon children’s cognitive development, especially self-regulatory skills.

Centre for Family Research,

University of Cambridge

Jean’s PhD will draw partially on the LENA data from families of neurotypically developing children and children with Down Syndrome. She is interested in parent-child interactions and how that is associated with later developmental trajectories.

Faculty of Education

Unviersity of Cambridge

After completion of an Mphil in Psychology and Education in Cambridge, Lei is pursuing a PhD in the same field of study. Lei is fascinated about cognitive science and its potential in informing educational strategies and interventions. In particular, Lei is interested in investigating the association between domain-general cognitive skills and academic outcomes. Her research project focuses on the role of self-regulation skills in children’s mathematics achievement.

Faculty of Education

University of Cambridge

Jiayin is a first-year PhD student under the supervision of Prof Michelle Ellefson who is the Co-PI of the Ready or Not project. Her research focuses on the direct and indirect impacts of urbanicity and socioeconomic status on preschoolers’ executive function, and whether the impacts are mediated by the quality of teacher-child relationship and teacher-child interaction in schools. She is interested in conducting quantitative research to examine the association between school context and children’s early-stage cognitive development and inform educational practices and policy-making accordingly.