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Our Impact
Here you can find out about the impact of our research and the events at which we have showcased our research.
21 Plus Summer Camp July 2024
Cardiff Babylab was honoured to be able to assist with the 21 plus summer camp this year, with volunteers heading over to help and be apart of the amazing day that was planned. This year’s camp took place from July 22nd to 26th at the Sport Wales National Centre in Sophia Gardens. Symbol UK provided daily speech and language group therapy sessions, while Helping Kids Shine were on hand for occupational therapy sessions. The range of activities available on the day was incredible, with the kids getting involved in the likes of music, sport and craft activities, including the likes of story telling, rugby, gymnastics and dance.
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The camp provides children with Down Syndrome the opportunity to improve and develop their communication and motor skills, as well as developing self help skills essential to them as they grow and develop. The introduction of new and accessible sports and activities encourages active participation long after the camps, providing a wonderful list of hobbies and skills for the children to take home with them! Most importantly, the camp encourages fun and socialisation for the members of 21 Plus, with a wonderful few days being had by all.
A massive thank you from the Cardiff Babylab to the 21 Plus summer camp for having us! We really enjoyed being part of it and working with the children and other volunteers!
International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL) July 2024
Cardiff Babylab recently caught up with the field of language development at the International Association for the Study of Child Language in Prague! Hana presented her insightful talk titled ‘Sensorimotor patterns of parent-child interaction during word learning in Down syndrome’ as a part of the symposium ‘Language Acquisition in Real-World Contexts: Head-Mounted Eye Tracking in Diverse Populations’. A special thank you to the hosts and organisers for their great work organising the event.
Cardiff Babylab also attended the pre-conference workshop ‘Daylong data: Raw audio to transcript via automated and manual open-science tools’ which was a game changer! Thanks to this workshop, we’ve already started processing some of our data using two fantastic open-source audio processing tools: ALICE and VTC. Huge thank you to the workshop organisers (Elika Bergelson (lead organiser), Marisa Casillas, John Bunce, Jessica Montag, Alex Cristia, Loann Puerey, Marvin Lavechin) for such a useful and accessible workshop on such an important topic.​​​
International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS) July 2024
Cardiff Babylab were thrilled to attend the International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS) held in Glasgow, Scotland this past July! A huge thank you to the hosts and organisers for making it a memorable event.
The International Congress of Infant Studies is a biennial conference where researchers gather to discuss the latest theories in infant development. Members of the Cardiff Babylab were excited to present some of their work, including talks by Hana and Charlotte (on behalf of Kate), as well as two posters presented by Sofia and Charlotte.
The conference was a great opportunity to meet with the developmental research community and talk to other researchers about exciting methodologies and research practices, opportunities for collaboration, as well as the implications of our work for the wider community. We are immensely thankful for the interest we’ve received in our study, and we are so excited for ICIS 2026!
Jihye's visit June 2024
Cardiff Babylab were honoured to have been visited by Jihye Choi, a PhD student in the Department of Child Development and Family Studies at Seoul National University. Her research primarily focuses on infants’ cognition and language development, and we were fortunate to hear her speak about her current research project titled “Exploring the Link Between Infants’ Visual Attention to Object Manipulation and Their Spatial Word Learning”.
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Neurodevelopment Annual Seminar (NDAS) June 2024
Cardiff Babylab were absolutely thrilled to have attended the Neurodevelopment Annual Seminar (NDAS) at the University of East Anglia, Norwich this year! Huge thanks to the wonderful hosts and organizers for making it an incredible event.
We thoroughly enjoyed presenting some of our work, and learning more about what other researchers are doing in the field. The conference facilitated lots of exciting discussions about current research and future plans in neurodevelopment psychology.
A big congratulations to our Research Assistant, Charlotte, for winning Best Poster out of 34 posters! Her poster was titled "Object handling during parent-child interaction in young children with Down Syndrome". We are already looking forward to NDAS 2025!
3 Minute Thesis Competition June 2024
A massive congratulations to our PhD student, Sofia, for presenting her thesis in the Three Minute Thesis competition using just one slide, and winning the People's Choice Award!
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Sofia delivered the presentation "Do everyday experiences explain the diversity in language abilities in young children with Down Syndrome?" and it was very well received, with lots of interesting questions asked. Well done Sofia!
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Huge congratulations as well to the three psychology students who recieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd place among a range of wonderful presentations!
Dr Alex George discusses youth mental health in the inaugural Cardiff Conversations lecture May 2024
Cardiff Babylab were excited to attend Dr Alex George's lecture about youth mental health at the inaugural Cardiff Conversations event! Cardiff Babylab were honoured to present some of our exciting research following his inspiring lecture. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the extensive work in the fields of mental health and neuroscience taking place across the University.
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Enriching Student Life Awards May 2024
A huge congratulations to Dr. Hana D'Souza for being nominated for the Most Outstanding Use of the Learning Environment in the Enriching Student Life Awards 2024! This award ceremony was held in partnership between Cardiff University’s Learning and Teaching Academy and the Students’ Union.
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Her nomination is a testament to the dedication and enthusiasm she holds for supporting students at Cardiff University. Here's to your well-deserved recognition and the positive impact you continue to make!
Down Syndrome Research Forum April 2024
We were delighted by the opportunity for the Cardiff Babylab team (Hana, Kate, Sofia, and Teddy) to present at and attend this year's Down Syndrome Research Forum. This amazing annual event is hosted by Down Syndrome Education International bringing families, practitioners, and researchers together from across the world! The event involved a really interesting and informative collection of talks that truly showed us how far we've come as a community, but also how much more needs to be done. We're already looking forward to next year's event!
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The pictures below show some of the slides from Teddy's presentation based on the TinyExplorer project and include pictures of some of our lovely participants wearing their TinyExplorer headgear.
If you're interested in getting involved in this study click the link below to find out more:
Cardiff Life Magazine March 2024
Our very own Dr. Hana D'Souza was featured in March's special edition of Cardiff Life Magazine, celebrating the outstanding work of women in Cardiff for International Women's Day. You can find Hana's feature on page 14 of this edition of the Cardiff Life Magazine online, here:
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This was fantastic to see Cardiff Babylab's work recognised, and we are incredibly proud of our Principal Investigator for this amazing achievement!
World Down Syndrome Day Event March 2024
The 21st March is a global awareness day designed to celebrate people with Down syndrome, and advocate for their rights, inclusion and wellbeing. We celebrated by inviting members of our university to join us, and listen to the experiences of our wonderful participant Gwilym and his family. We also screened a film about the actor Tommy Jessop, who has Down syndrome, and his journey to Hollywood. We had such a brilliant day.
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To find out more about Gwilym's journey on his Facebook page, click the link below:
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Everyone wore mismatched socks and the Tower reception was decorated with mismatched socks bunting created by local primary school children. Both of these were to raise awareness of Down syndrome and the Lots of Socks campaign.
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Find out more about this great campaign here:
Cardiff University Science Festival February 2024
We joined the rest of CUCHDS at the 2024 Cardiff Science Festival. We had a brilliant time meeting everyone who visited our stalls and had a go at being a scientist. There were many fun activities such as Cubetto, eye-tracking, the sensory box, and giggle games.
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It was a great opportunity for us to get many children trying on the TinyExplorer gear. In the second photo below you can see our PhD student, Kate, showcasing her head-mounted eye tracker which caught the attention of lots of people!
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Wales Innovation Network October 2023
Alongside Cardiff University's Tiny to Tots lab, we were proud to showcase our research on early development in children with Down syndrome at the Wales Innovation Network event in partnership with the Secretary of State for Wales. It was a wonderful opportunity to share everything we do in our lab with a broad range of delegates such as policymakers and funders, highlighting what Welsh research has to offer.
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You can read the government's press release about the event here:
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