Scope
The Early Care and Education (ECE) Special Interest Group serves to support existing ECE researchers and researchers with emerging interests in physical activity, sedentary behaviors, sleep and nutrition during the early childhood period.
The focus of this SIG is young children’s engagement in out of home child care whether infant care, nursery school, preschool, kindergarten, child care centers, or family childcare home providers.
Goals
The ECE SIG will serve as a source of communication, information sharing, and collaboration among researchers whose goals are to improve the young child’s health, growth and development through healthy eating, regular physical activity, adequate sleep and minimizing sedentary behaviors.
SIG Leadership team
Co-chairs
Dr Penny Love is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian and senior academic within the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University. Her research focuses on the translation, implementation and sustainability of early childhood nutrition intervention at scale to inform the identification of key leverage points within health and education service delivery systems. To contact or read more about Penny’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.
Dr Rachel Jones is an Associate Professor at the School of Education, University of Wollongong. She is passionate about improving the quality of physical activity learning experiences in early childhood education settings. Her research specifically focuses on the impact of high-quality professional learning and development for early childhood educators. To contact or read more about Rachel’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.
Officers
Dr Avril Johnstone is a Research Fellow at the School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. She is a public health researcher with methodological expertise in developing and evaluating complex interventions and systematic literature reviews. Avril’s longstanding professional and research interests focus on exploring the role of active outdoor play, physical activity and nature on reducing childhood health inequalities. To contact or read more about Avril’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.
Dr Brianne Bruijns is a Post-Doctoral Associate in the Child Health and Physical Activity Lab at Western University and the Report Card Project Manager for ParticipACTION, a physical activity non-profit in Canada. She has expertise in researching movement behaviours in the early years, with a specific interest in the role of early childhood education and caregiver-child interactions in promoting healthy physical activity among young children. At ParticipACTION, Brianne manages the Report Card on Physical Activity for Children & Youth, and for Adults, knowledge products which serve as the most comprehensive assessments of physical activity among people living in Canada. To contact or read more about Brianne’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | University Staff Profile | Google Scholar.
Dr Leigh Vanderloo’s area of research focuses on young children’s physical activity levels and sedentary time. Her research interests also extend to knowledge translation and implementation science. Currently, Leigh is working as the Scientific Director at ParticipACTION, a physical activity non-profit organization in Canada, and recently completed her Research Fellowship at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, where her research examined the association between physical activity and screen use and health outcomes in young children. When she’s not working, Leigh loves spending time outdoors hiking, camping, and playing tennis. To contact or read more about Leigh’s research, please use the following links: [email protected]|Google Scholar.
Dr Anne Martin is a Research Fellow at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. She is a Public Health Scientist with mixed-methods expertise in the field of obesity prevention, and physical activity, sleep and mental health promotion. Anne leads work on nature-based play and learning in early childhood education and care settings, and is experienced in participatory and whole-system approaches to intervention development and evaluation. To contact or read more about Anne’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | University staff profile | Google scholar.
Dr Alice Grady is a Heart Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle, and a Program Manager at Hunter New England Population Health. Her research aims to prevent chronic disease by putting robust evidence into practice within healthcare and community settings, including early childhood education and care. Alice manages an integrated research–practice team to deliver and evaluate evidence-based healthy eating and physical activity interventions to centre-based and family day care early childhood education and care services. She has a particular interest in using innovative technologies, such as web-based programs, to put evidence into practice in a way that is effective, sustainable and can be scaled up to the benefit of the population. To contact or read more about Alice’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] |University Staff Profile |Google Scholar.
Dr Audrey Elford submitted her thesis titled “Towards sustainable healthy food provision in Early Childhood Education settings” at the end of 2023. She is currently working as a research fellow for Deakin University, Australia on a number of projects related to food provision in early childhood education settings, sustainable healthy food systems and measuring tools for environmental sustainability and food provision , including research on food waste. She has been involved in a systematic review and scoping reviews, and also has an interest in co-design. To contact or read more about Audrey’s research please use the following links: [email protected]|University Staff Profile |Google Scholar.
Dr Jaime Barratt is an Assistant Professor at Brock University within the Faculty of Education, and Registered Early Childhood Educator. She has a multidisciplinary background in child health, outdoor play and learning, and education. Her primary focus is on fostering physical literacy in Early Childhood Educators, recognizing the pivotal role they play in promoting young children’s movement valuation and holistic well-being. To contact or read more about Jaime’s research please use the following links: [email protected] | Google Scholar.
Dr Sarah Burkart is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. She is part of the Arnold Healthy Kids Initiative which is a multidisciplinary group of researchers working on issues related to childhood obesity prevention. Dr. Burkart’s research aims to 1) understand the individual, family, social, and environmental factors that contribute to children’s sleep health 2) examine underlying mechanisms that lead to inconsistent sleep behavior, and 3) develop and test novel intervention strategies to enhance children’s health and well-being. To contact or learn more, please use the following links: [email protected] | Google Scholar.
Dr Divya Patel is a postdoctoral researcher at Case Western Reserve University, USA. She is a public health researcher with current focus on improving diet quality and food waste among food-insecure families. Divya has a strong interest in developing effective strategies and interventions to improve health and well-being of disadvantaged populations including children and families. To contact or read more about Divya’s research, please use the following links: [email protected] | LinkedIn | Google Scholar.
About Us
Early Care and Education SIG, Leadership Team 2022/2023
SIG Leadership team Co-Chairs: Dr Rachel Jones (University of Wollongong) – [email protected] Dr Penny Love (Deakin University) – [email protected] Officers: Dr Avril Johnstone (University of Glasgow) – [email protected]
What's New
Read, Listen, Watch
March 30, 2023 (8 PM UTC) Early Care and Education SIG Webinar: Outdoor and Nature Play; a global look at research, policy and practice
Title: Outdoor and Nature Play; a global look at research, policy and practice Webinar Recording click [HERE]: When: March 30, 2023, 20:00 GMT Who: Speakers:
