Psychology

Early Development Research Forum (EDRF)

This forum has come together through a collaboration between members of the Department of Psychology and members of SureStart and CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) in Portsmouth.

The forum aims to build a platform for a genuine three-way engagement between researchers in early child development, parents and key child care practitioners. As you can see from some of the information below, a lot of our research has been committed to focusing on the everyday experiences of children and parents. This commitment can only be maintained with the active participation of parents and practitioners in the research process. We are keen to create regular discussion groups where we could bring to the community recent research findings which might be useful for those involved with young children and where ideas for future research could be jointly developed.

Recent and Upcoming Activities

Research

Our research in early child development has tended to focus on two key issues:

  • the nature and importance of emotional engagements
  • the importance of different cultural contexts and processes

The research focuses on different domains of development – on how infants understand other people, on early language development, on the development of emotions, on flexibility in thinking, on cooperation with parental commands and so on. We have, or have recently had, research funding from the European Union 6th framework, from the ESRC, from the Nuffield Foundation, from the Marie Curie Foundation.

Click here for further details about the Department of Psychology’s research activities and research groups. Some members of the group have also set up an Autism Research Network aiming similarly at dialogue between academics, parents, practitioners and people with autism. The EDRF also has close links with the Portsmouth Down syndrome Trust and the Sarah Duffen Centre.

Current research projects and opportunities for participation:

  • Understanding people’s actions: how 2-4 month-old babies manage
  • Bidding for attention: how do very young babies ‘call’ you?
  • Flexibility in thinking: exploring 2-5 year-olds’ thinking styles
  • Family stories: what stories are ‘much-remembered’ and retold?

If you are a parent or about to become a parent and would like to be involved with one or more of these research projects please contact us.

Contacts

For further information please contact:

Professor Vasudevi Reddy, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth
Tel: 023 92 846307
Email: vasu.reddy@port.ac.uk