Government Department of BIS awards £28.5 million to UK-wide study of babies and young children

Mar 2 2011

The largest ever UK-wide study of babies and young children today received a landmark £28.5 million commitment from the Government Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). This investment adds to the £5 million awarded to scientists at University College London (UCL) by two leading research councils, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC).

This pioneering Study will track the growth, development, health, well-being and social circumstances of over 90,000 UK babies and their families - from all walks of life - and will initially cover the period from pregnancy right through to the early years. Recruitment is due to begin in 2012.   It will be the fifth such study in a series of world renowned UK studies which have followed the lives of children from birth to adult life. The first of these started in 1946 with the post war generation and the most recent with those born at the turn of the twenty first century. As is the case with these earlier studies, this new Study will provide a wealth of insights into the health, development and life circumstances of this new generation of children. This new Study has been developed by a team comprising the UK's leading biomedical and social scientists. It has been designed to reflect the rich diversity of ethnic identity and social backgrounds of babies being born in today's Britain and include wider and more intensive study of children during their first year of life.

It will provide information to help address important questions for children's health and well-being. These include:

• What are the key factors that help some children to overcome social disadvantage at birth and improve their life chances?
• How do eating and physical activity behaviours develop in very early life and influence growth, body composition and weight gain in later childhood?
• How does a child's early temperament interact with parenting style and influence social and emotional communication styles and difficulties in later childhood?
• What are the effects of exposure to a range of environmental pollutants during early infancy on children's subsequent health and development?

Professor Carol Dezateux, Director of the MRC Centre of Epidemiology for Child Health at UCL and leader of the scientific team responsible for this new Study said: "It is crucial we find out more about how biological and environmental influences combine to shape children's health, development and future life chances. We know that a child's first year of life can have a huge impact on future health and wellbeing but need to understand more about how this happens and its relation to the diverse social circumstances of families in Britain today.  It is particularly exciting that we will start recruiting parents to this unique Study during 2012, a year already made special by the Olympics and the Queen's Golden Jubilee."

Professor Stephen Holgate, chair of the MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board, said: "The Birth Cohort Study is a great example of how, by working in close collaboration with ESRC, the MRC's strategic aim to inspire interdisciplinary research from a life course perspective is being delivered. As the largest birth cohort to be established within the UK, it will be scientifically-led and interdisciplinary in design from the outset. The potential for learning from the data is huge and will contribute to our society's future lifelong health and wellbeing."

Professor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the ESRC said: "The Council is delighted to work with the MRC in supporting this ground-breaking study that will maintain the UK's leading position in social and biomedical studies.  By tracking the same individuals from their time in utero, through birth and for the rest of their lives will reveal the key social, economic and biological influences on their development during a period of considerable change in UK society.  The exciting combination of leading social and medical scientists who are managing this study will provide new cross-disciplinary insights that will provide vital information to support effective policy-making for this and future generations."

The Birth Cohort Study will be strengthened by a new resource, the Cohort Resources Facility. This world leading resource will play a vital role in maximising the use, value and impact of the data collected from both the new and existing UK birth cohort studies. By establishing a national centre of excellence across each of these studies, researchers and policy makers will be able to make better comparisons over time and between different cohorts, measuring the changes in intergenerational social mobility and educational attainment. The Cohort Resources Facility will make the most of the UK's existing investments and ensure the UK's world leading position in life course and birth cohort studies. It will provide unprecedented opportunities to understand how economic, social and biological factors combine to explain human behaviour in key important areas such as health, poverty, child development and healthy ageing.