Publications
The Oxford Brain Story Evaluation ReporT - Palix Foundation, April 2025
The Oxford Brain Story has delivered training to over 1,500 professionals across England, Scotland and Wales. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation data demonstrates a positive change in participants’ knowledge and application of the science to a hypothetical (real-world) scenario after training. The team have leveraged this work to successfully obtain funding for additional projects from other foundations, enabling them to embed the Brain Story within lessons for school students (SEEN), a support package for young parents (AADAPT) and assessing needs within child-facing services.
INVESTIGATING CHILD-FACING PRACTITIONERS’ UNDERSTANDING OF ADVERSITY, IMPACT ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENT, SERVICE CONFIGURATION AND PROVISION - Smout et al. Heliyon, October 2024
The Oxford team supported Emily Smout (Senior Social Worker with Oxfordshire Children’s Services) to successfully apply for and complete a 12-month Internship at the University of Oxford funded by the NIHR Academic Research Collaboration-Thames Valley. She used this opportunity to complete three research projects to establish current understanding and practice of child-facing practitioners and their alignment with the Brain Story science. Her work highlights ongoing training needs for practitioners about the prevalence and impact of adversity to inform service delivery across Education, Health and Social Care services.
Development and evaluation of neuroscience lesson content to improve Key Stage 3 (11–14 year old) students' understanding of the early years in England - Dalton et al. The Curriculum Journal, May 2024
In partnership with Kindred Squared, the SEEN (Secondary Education around Early Neurodevelopment) Oxford project aimed to embed an understanding of the key principles of early development through the Key Stage 3 science curriculum. It was delivered by students’ usual teacher through three lessons covering brain development, the role of the caregiver and implications for long-term health outcomes. The new curriculum successfully increased both students’ scientific understanding and practical application of knowledge about neurodevelopment and the role of the caregiver.