Prof Mathias Urban Awarded Spencer Pilot Vision Grant for Project Reconceptualising Early Childhood Systems for Justice and Equity
The award, granted to Prof Mathias Urban and his research team, is the first ever Spencer Grant to go to a project led by a university in Ireland.
Prof Mathias Urban, Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre (ECRC), DCU Institute of Education and his global research team have been awarded a Spencer Foundation Pilot Vision Grant. Prof Urban leads a team of senior researchers and high-profile policy makers from the US, South America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Spencer grants are highly competitive, and, in the past, have been awarded almost exclusively to applicants based in the US. This award is the first ever Spencer Grant to go to a project led by a university in Ireland. These grants enable research teams to develop a solution to an unaddressed opportunity or challenge, which has the potential to transform educational systems towards equity.
Accepting the award Prof Mathias Urban said;
“I am excited about this grant that enables us to develop a large-scale, interdisciplinary research agenda focused on justice and equity in early childhood. We are learning with and from local partners in locations in several global regions, and have brought researchers and policy makers together in one global team.”
DCU ECRC’s project theme is, Reconceptualising Early Childhood Systems for Justice and Equality. This will encompass an interdisciplinary programme of inquiry into the capability of early childhood systems to ensure more just and equitable outcomes for all children from birth.
The aim of this research is to:
- Provide more comprehensive understandings of what constitutes a competent, just and equitable early childhood education system.
- Enable the shared learning with and from successful initiatives at local, regional and national level.
- Demonstrate pathways for knowledge transfer between equitable practices and policy making.
Building on the concept of ‘competent systems’ (Urban et al), this research intends to provide a vision and actionable knowledge for early childhood systems change, affecting policy (local, regional, national, global levels), practice (diverse professions and professionals concerned with the education, care and development of young children), and research. The investigative programme will consider inequalities within and between countries and regions.
A unique aspect of this project is the composition of the research team, comprising of leading academics and senior policy makers with a breadth of disciplinary backgrounds from across the globe;
- Professor Mathias Urban, DCU (Principal Investigator)
- Dr Constanza Alarcon Parraga, former Vice-Minister of Education, Colombia
- Dr Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Senator, Illinois General Assembly
- Professor Vina Adriany, Director, Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Center for Early Childhood Care, Education, and Parenting (SEAMEO-CECCEP), Indonesia
- Dr Mark Nagasawa, Director, Straus Centre for Young Children & Families, Bank Street College of Education, NYC
- Professor Hasina Ebrahim, UNESCO Co-Chair in Early Childhood Education, Care and Development, University of South Africa
- Professor Mariana Souto-Manning, President, Erikson Institute, Chicago
- Professor Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, World Président, Organisation Mondiale pour l'Éducation Préscolaire (OMEP)
Prof Urban will work with his team in a wider network of advisors and collaborators over the next 12 months. The Pilot Vision Grant is the first step, with a long-term plan to make an application for a large Transformative Research Grant, which is only available to those who have completed a Pilot Vision Grant. If successful, the Transformative Research Grant will provide for an ambitious global programme.
Building on Prof Urban’s work on ‘competent systems’, the award is recognition of the thought leadership taken by DCU ECRC in re-thinking early childhood development, education, and care policy and practice from a systemic, multi-sectoral perspective, with engagement from stakeholders throughout the research process.