MatCHNet showcase event

Thursday 6 June, Edinburgh (10-4pm)

We celebrated the work of the Maternal and Child Health Network (MatCHNet) at our in-person showcase event on Thursday 6 June (10-4pm) at the Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh (EH1 2JL).

Over the past 4 years, our network has come together to prioritise upstream policy interventions, map administrative data, and identify complex methodology required to undertake cross-national comparative studies to improve child health outcomes.

This event was a wonderful opportunity to:

• connect with colleagues across the network;

• learn about MatCHNet’s work;

• contribute to discussions about future research in the early years.

Programme

9.30-10am

Arrival 

Registration

10.00-10.30am

Introduction and welcome

Welcome to event and MatCHNet policy prioritisation

10.30-11.15am

Session 1: Showcasing pump priming projects

Presentations and discussion

1. How do early years childcare and education policies in two UK nations, England and Scotland, impact early years development, health, and education? A scoping review – Bina Ram

2. Data harmonisation of UK birth cohorts: Unifying data for reliable federated research analyses – Mike Seabourne

3. Perinatal mental health: Mapping potential administrative data sources in England and Scotland to inform future population level policy evaluations – Rosie Seaman/Dawn Cameron

11.30-12.30pm

1.45-2.00pm

Session 2: Early years policy priorities

Introduction and World Cafe discussions

12.30-1.45pm

Lunch

Poster presentations

2.00-2.45pm

Session 3: Evaluations in the early years

Presentations and discussion

1. Evaluating two place-based early years intervention using naturally occurring experiments: Our findings from Sure Start (Northern Ireland) and Flying Start (Wales) – Meng Le Zhang

2. Planning an evaluation of the Scottish Child Payment – Michal Shimonovich

2.45-3.45pm

Session 4: Future activities and concluding remarks

MatCHNet Research Framework and discussion/breakout groups 

Event graphic

MatCHNet showcase graphic Early years health inequalities and policy prioritisation Pump priming projects World cafe: what we know and what works, what we don't know, how do we evaluate early years policy and address knowledge gaps? Early years evaluations MatCHNet activities and prioritisation One word from today Topics to learn more about

Further information

About us: Funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), MatCHNet has established and continues to grow a multidisciplinary, community of researchers, methodologists, policy makers and service providers to develop understanding of upstream social and environmental policy variations that potentially impact upon child and maternal health. MatCHNet focuses on bringing together three key areas: policy mapping and prioritisation; administrative data sources; and robust evaluation methods.