Baby & Child research center and KION join hands

The Baby & Child Research Center (BRC) and KION Kinderopvang (KION Childcare) have entered into a partnership, exchanging knowledge and expertise with the aim of connecting practice and science. Prof. Paula Fikkert (Centre for Language Studies, CLS) is one of the principal investigators at the BRC.

The BRC is a partnership between Radboud University, Radboudumc and the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics and conducts scientific research into the development and welfare of babies and young children. As the largest childcare organisation in Nijmegen and the surrounding area, KION wants to contribute to this.

Through this collaboration, BRC and KION want to bring scientific research more into practice, so that childcare centres can respond to scientific insights. For example, how research shows that reading aloud, singing songs and being actively involved with language are crucial for language acquisition from an early age. Eddy Brunekreeft - Chairman of the Board of Directors ad interim at KION - says: 'The partnership with the BRC enables us to put scientific insights into practice at our sites; this is in the interest of all children's development. Important themes in the cooperation include knowledge sharing and knowledge assurance.

Another important subject is practice-relevant research, which researchers of the BRC will carry out at day-care centres, nursery schools and after-school care centres of KION. In this way, the BRC and KION aim to further enrich their knowledge and expertise on child development, particularly in the 0 to 6-year age group. Sabine Hunnius, director of the BRC: 'We want to know what questions parents and childcare professionals have. And our research into early development is of course only possible if parents and children participate. This is another reason why the collaboration with KION is so important to us.'

Want to know more? Please contact
Josje de Valk(refers to another website), josje.devalk@donders.ru.nl
Saffira Bure-Hiddink, s.bure@kion.nl
Press Information & Science Communication Radboud University, media@ru.nl, 024 361 6000