ECIR bio for Research Office website

The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group will be profiled on the Research Office website:

The Early Childhood Interdisciplinary Research Group (ECIR) conducts transformative research promoting social justice for children, families and practitioners. This group brings together a critical mass of interdisciplinary early childhood researchers (academics, adjuncts, HDR students) to build research capacity, establish and expand collaborations, and support funding application success. The group cultivates a positive collegial environment to develop the full potential of researchers at all stages of their careers.
The ECIR team recently have published the Springer book: Early childhood voices: Children, families, professionals https://link.springer.com/book/9783031564833. Additionally, ECIR founded the successful Early Childhood Voices Conference hosting ~ 2,000 online registrations during ECV2020 and ECV2022. The conference will be held again in 2024. The ECV2022 Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery included drawings from 200 children from 24 countries. These children’s insights were shared with the United Nations: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/youth/hr75/submissions/subm-views-youth-led-cso-early-childhood-interdisciplinary-resear.pdf. Acknowledging these and other initiatives, ECIR won a CSU Research Excellence (RED) Award in 2023.
Reflecting this expertise, Charles Sturt University earned an ERA rating of “above world standard” for Field of Research 1301 Education Systems, which encompasses early childhood education, and 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy, which encompasses creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy, curriculum and pedagogy theory and development, mathematics and numeracy curriculum and pedagogy.
ECIR is currently funded by the Charles Sturt University Sturt Scheme and will transform into the International Children’s Research and Communication Centre in 2025. Learn more https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/organisations/early-childhood-interdisciplinary-research-group