Rogier Kievit
Rogier Kievit

Large-scale study on the development of children's thinking skills

Why do some children thrive at school with ease, while others struggle with learning or social interaction? To gain a better understanding of this, a large-scale study will begin in April 2026, focusing on brain development and thinking skills during the first five years of life. The research project, BLOCCS (Bristol Longitudinal study Of Childhood Cognition from infancy to School), is led by the University of Bristol and made possible in part by a Wellcome grant of over €5.4 million.

The Donders Institute and Radboudumc are key partners in this unique, longitudinal project. Professor of Developmental Neuroscience Rogier Kievit is involved in the study and highlights the importance of the collaboration: "“This unique design will provide fascinating new insights into development early on in life. Such a large, longitudinal dataset gives a lot of scientific opportunities, but also challenges: How to we model the complex interactions between brain, behaviour, genes and the environment?"

According to Kievit the Donders Institute and Radboudumc is well equipped to deal with such large, complex datasets, and developing and applying new techniques to understand the fascinating process of development in more detail. Kievit is looking forward to working on this project with Dr. Holmboe and Prof. Cercignani and to better understand how young minds emerge.

Read the full press release on the Radboudumc website.

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