BetterStart
BetterStart Child Health and Development Research Group
Exciting Announcements!
Prof John Lynch wins the Research Australia Data Innovation Award for 2019!
Please visit our News and Events page for more information, including a video of John speaking about
his nomination for this award.
Invited presentation to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services - Using data to inform child protection, 30 October 2019
Prof John Lynch and Dr Rhiannon Pilkington recently presented a seminar to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to talk about how the SA Early Childhood Data Project has informed child protection policy and practice.
Please visit our News and Events page for more information, including a video of the presentation.
Invited section in the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Australia's Welfare - Data Insights Report, October 2019
Dr Rhiannon Pilkington, Prof John Lynch, Ms Alicia Montgomerie, Dr Janet Grant, Dr Angela Gialamas, Dr Catia Malvaso, Assoc Prof Lisa Smithers and
Dr Catherine Chittleborough were recently invited to contribute a chapter to the AIHW Australia's Welfare 2019 - Data Insights Report, "An innovative linked data platform to improve the wellbeing of children - the South Australian Early Childhood Data Project".
Please visit our News and Events page for more information, including a link to download the report.
Nature Human Behaviour Publication - November 2018
Assoc Prof Lisa Smithers, Prof John Lynch, Dr Alyssa Sawyer and Dr Catherine Chittleborough from the BetterStart group, and their colleagues Dr Neil Davies and Professor George Davey Smith from the University of Bristol (UK), recently had their paper “A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of early life non-cognitive skills on academic, psychosocial, cognitive and health outcomes” published in Nature Human Behaviour
— congratulations to all!
Please visit our News and Events page for more information, including links to download the paper and the supplementary material, and the data.
Research conducted by the BetterStart group aims to understand how to ensure infants and children have the best start to life. Our studies focus on ways to enhance health and development throughout their life course.
The BetterStart group is led by Professor John Lynch who is an internationally recognised scholar in epidemiology and public health. In 2005, he was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Population Health. In 2007, his work in social epidemiology and public health was recognised with an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Medical Science from the University of Copenhagen. In 2009, he was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Australia Fellowship. In 2015, he was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. He has over 300 publications and each year since 2014, he has received Thomson Reuters' "Highly Cited Researcher" status that places him in the top 1% of cited scientists internationally in his field.
This interdisciplinary group consists of researchers with common interests in early childhood health and development. The group has backgrounds in epidemiology, public health, nutrition, paediatrics, biostatistics and psychology. Collectively, the BetterStart group have expertise in observational studies, randomised controlled trials, pragmatic trials, data linkage and translational research activities in South Australia, nationally and internationally.
Here's a snapshot of our work that was produced as part of being a finalist in the 2017 SA Science Excellence Awards ...
Website last updated 8 April 2020
