Keynote Speakers

Dr Nóra Milotay is a policy analyst at the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), working on issues of European social policy at the Economic Policies Unit. She joined EPRS in November 2015 after having worked on several aspects of education policy, particularly in relation to schools, in Hungary and then for many years at the European Commission.

From 2010 onwards she has built up European policy cooperation within the field of early childhood education and care that has gained an increasingly important role within the Europe 2020 Strategy.

Between 2012-14 she led and managed the thematic working group of member states policy-makers, researchers, and practitioners on early childhood education and care within the Open Method of Coordination at the European Commission that has prepared a proposal for a Quality Framework in ECEC in 2014, which has been used since in several Member States for shaping national policies in the field.

Her main areas of interest are issues of inequality, governance and social innovation. With a background in both research and practice, Ms Milotay's focus is on the intersection of research, policy, and practice which was reflected in her keynote speech at the EECERA Estonia 2013 annual conference.

A historian by training, she holds a BA Hons. from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, an MA from the Central European University, Budapest and an MPhil and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

To read Dr Nóra Milotay's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here

Dr Karen Block is a Research Fellow in the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. She coordinates the Melbourne Social Equity Institute’s PhD program in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and is Deputy Director of the interdisciplinary group, Researchers for Asylum Seekers.

Dr Block is currently working on a range of projects involving immigrant and refugee-background young people, women and families.

Her research focuses on social inclusion across the life course, health inequalities, gender-based violence, evaluating complex interventions and working in collaborative partnerships with communities and community-based organisations.

She also has a keen interest in innovative and ethical qualitative methodologies for working with young migrant children and their families.

To read Dr Karen Block's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here

Jane Barlow is Professor of Evidence-Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation in the Department of Public Health, and a Professorial Fellow of St Hilda's College. Prior to moving to Oxford, she was Professor of Public Health at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick in the UK, and Director of Warwick Infant and Family Wellbeing Unit.

In 2007, she was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health. She is president of the Association of Infant Mental Health, editor in chief of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH), and a member of PreVAiL (Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan) research network. She has contributed to a number of NICE guidelines and co-chaired the development of the CYP IAPT curriculum 0-5years.

Her programme of research focuses on the identification of effective methods of working to improve outcomes for high-risk mothers and babies during the perinatal period, and she has undertaken extensive research on the effectiveness of interventions in reducing child abuse and neglect. 

To read Professor Jane Barlow's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here

Emeritus Professor Tim Waller is Chair of Child and Family Studies in the Faculty of Health, Social Care & Education at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

The focus of his professional work and research is in early childhood, in particular, early childhood education, curricula and pedagogy, outdoor play and learning, children's rights and participation, and social justice and transformative education.

He is the lead researcher on the BRIC project which involves preschool teachers, young children and parents exploring democratic engagement in public and civic spaces. Collaborating colleagues on the project are from England, Italy (Patti Benedetti) and Sweden (Monica Halberg). Their project is funded by the European Union under the ERASMUS + scheme.  

To read Professor Tim Waller, Patrizia Benedetti & Monica Hallborg's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here

Patrizia Benedetti is a Pedagogical Coordinator at Azienda Servizi Bassa Reggiana (ASBR), an association of municipalities managing the development, qualification and education of preschool teachers working in sixteen preschools in the Bassa Reggiana district in the Northern Italian province of Reggio Emilia.

ASBR belongs to the eight municipalities of the Bassa Reggiana district and has been created to allow these municipalities to directly manage the public preschools, within the overall school system. ASBR also has the aim of developing the participation of parents, politicians, citizens and members of the public in order to create a community around preschools and, moreover, around children.

Another aim of ASBR is to contribute to the creation of an international network, through participation in European projects like the BRIC Project, that supports dissemination and reflection around educational possibilities in public spaces.

To read Patrizia Benedetti, Professor Tim Waller & Monica Hallborg's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here

Monica Hallborg is Chair of the Barnpedagogiskt Forum, a non-profit organisation formed in 1983 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its purpose is to collect and disseminate information and knowledge development in preschools and schools. Activities are conducted through lectures, seminars and study visits. The association also disseminates information in the form of reports and various forms of study materials.

The association is headed by a board of directors who represent a spectrum of representatives of preschools, schools, universities and colleges, and similar activities. In the BRIC project, two units from two different municipalities are represented.

To read Monica Hallborg, Professor Tim Waller & Patrizia Benedetti's Keynote abstract for EECERA 2018, please click here