The 2025 Thrive scientific conference shared important research to improve early childhood development at scale

The conference combined plenary talks, panel discussions, poster presentations, and research presentations that were selected through a competitive call for papers. Delivered by a wide range of established and junior researchers, the presentations related to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income settings, including, but not restricted to, Thrive’s five focus countries: Bangladesh, Ghana, Kiribati, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

In the coming weeks, recordings of the plenary talks and panel discussions will be available to watch – for updates, please follow Thrive on LinkedIn (Thrive Child Evidence) and X (@Thriveevidence) and subscribe to the Thrive Update newsletter. 

Bet Caeyers, Thrive research director and senior researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Norway, said: “Attendees and speakers brought so much energy, vision and commitment to the conference, and we were really encouraged by the conversations that happened and the ideas, advice and insights that were exchanged. We are extremely grateful to all participants – who came from a wide range of disciplines and countries – for contributing to this important conference.

“Investing in early childhood can be transformative for both children and societies, but there is a pressing need to understand more about how successful early childhood development approaches can be effectively scaled. This conference was a much-needed opportunity to discuss research evidence that is explicitly focused on scaling in low- and middle-income countries, helping to arm governments with the insights they need to improve child development at scale.”

Thrive continues to share new research from around the world related to how to design, implement, monitor and evaluate scalable early childhood development programmes in low- and middle-income countries worldwide through its Scaling Early Childhood Development – what to read this month newsletter – you can subscribe to this newsletter and other Thrive updates here.

If you are interested in discussing Thrive’s research further, or would like to discuss ways to get involved in the programme, please email thriveprogramme@opml.co.uk.