Periodic Reporting for period 3 - COORDINATE (COhort cOmmunity Research and Development Infrastructure Network for Access Throughout Europe)
Reporting period: 2024-04-01 to 2025-03-31
The availability of longitudinal data to analyse the wellbeing of children as they grow up and to develop policies to improve their wellbeing is at present uneven across Europe. There is no single data source available to scientists to undertake a comparative analysis. There is a need to bring together the different international communities responsible for collecting, archiving and analysing data on child wellbeing, in particular longitudinal cohort data, in order to better exploit the infrastructures which currently exist and identify ways in which improvements can be made to support access routes for scientists interested in using it. COORDINATE has successfully contributed to bringing these communities together and developing instruments, tools and processes which will be of benefit in strengthening this community in the future.
The acronym COORDINATE stands for Cohort community research and development infrastructure network for access throughout Europe. Focused on an evidence-based approach to the wellbeing of children and young people, facilitates access to existing data resources, comparative analysis of survey data and initiates an important new Europe wide birth cohort study. A key method for doing this is to take forward development and piloting for the GUIDE survey. As the GUIDE participants grow up an increasing body of data will develop, becoming ever richer and more informative, able to demonstrate how national policies have had an impact and showing where policy interventions can make significant improvements. The results will bear fruit for many years to come and will have a direct impact on better targeting of social policies. GUIDE will be able to inform future social innovations where there are needs to both improve health and development outcomes and make savings to public expenditure.
The COORDINATE project had three broad objectives. Firstly, to facilitate improved access to existing international birth cohort panel and cross-sectional survey data: COORDINATE provided support for scientific communities to access key research infrastructures relevant to European research on child wellbeing through its funded programme of transnational research visits to key data infrastructures.
Secondly, the project aimed to extend the existing project consortium network to maximise EU and European coverage for the full GUIDE survey. Here COORDINATE built a network to support the longitudinal study of children and young people’s wellbeing, including the scientific community, policymakers and other stakeholders.
Thirdly, COORDINATE undertook joint research in the form of a large-scale pilot survey for the Growing Up In Europe Research Infrastructure using a harmonised instrument and research design in Croatia, Finland, France and Ireland. The GUIDE research design and survey instruments were originally developed in the EU funded European Cohort Development Project (ECDP).
The acronym COORDINATE stands for Cohort community research and development infrastructure network for access throughout Europe. Focused on an evidence-based approach to the wellbeing of children and young people, facilitates access to existing data resources, comparative analysis of survey data and initiates an important new Europe wide birth cohort study. A key method for doing this is to take forward development and piloting for the GUIDE survey. As the GUIDE participants grow up an increasing body of data will develop, becoming ever richer and more informative, able to demonstrate how national policies have had an impact and showing where policy interventions can make significant improvements. The results will bear fruit for many years to come and will have a direct impact on better targeting of social policies. GUIDE will be able to inform future social innovations where there are needs to both improve health and development outcomes and make savings to public expenditure.
The COORDINATE project had three broad objectives. Firstly, to facilitate improved access to existing international birth cohort panel and cross-sectional survey data: COORDINATE provided support for scientific communities to access key research infrastructures relevant to European research on child wellbeing through its funded programme of transnational research visits to key data infrastructures.
Secondly, the project aimed to extend the existing project consortium network to maximise EU and European coverage for the full GUIDE survey. Here COORDINATE built a network to support the longitudinal study of children and young people’s wellbeing, including the scientific community, policymakers and other stakeholders.
Thirdly, COORDINATE undertook joint research in the form of a large-scale pilot survey for the Growing Up In Europe Research Infrastructure using a harmonised instrument and research design in Croatia, Finland, France and Ireland. The GUIDE research design and survey instruments were originally developed in the EU funded European Cohort Development Project (ECDP).
TCOORDINATE will have a fundamental impact on improving our understanding of child wellbeing in Europe in the future.
Child and youth engagement
Successful demonstration of the value and impact of Youth Advisory Boards in engaging young people in research processes. By involving children and young people from diverse backgrounds across multiple countries, the project has ensured that their voices are heard and integrated into the research design and implementation.
Transnational research visits
Six highly successful Transnational Access Visits (TAV) calls. Since January 2022, 196 TAV applications were received. Each application was reviewed by 2 reviewers (one internal and one external). In total, 139 applicants were awarded a TAV visit. The TAV programme increased the networking opportunities of early stage researchers as a result of the TAV visitors visiting eight different host institutions. This provided opportunities in particular to female and early career researchers.
Harmonisation toolkit
Practical tools to support researchers seeking to undertake comparative analysis in the field of child wellbeing using longitudinal survey data are made available on the project website.
Growing Up In Digital Europe pilot survey
The GUIDE pilot has been a success, study feasibility was confirmed, we experienced positive feedback from respondents, and questionnaire content was perceived as largely adequate for future use in GUIDE Wave 1.
Development of IT tools
A fully functioning IT system for the GUIDE survey was developed, piloted in four countries and evaluated. This includes a questionnaire development and translation platform and all the necessary modules for the field work data collection using the most modern techniques. This will be the basis of the data collection system that will be used for the full GUIDE study.
Data storage and access system
A fully functioning survey data storage, archive and distribution system was built as will be used for the full GUIDE study. The GUIDE study is findable and accessible via the url https://coordinate.centerdata.nl/dataarchive(opens in new window)
Strengthening the Network and the business plan for GUIDE
Policy briefs illustrated how a Europe-wide longitudinal cohort study like GUIDE can play a crucial role in aiding European policymakers. The business case of GUIDE shows that achieving relatively small improvements in the effectiveness of GUIDE countries’ expenditure related to children and young people well-being would define GUIDE as a socially desirable RI. This makes a strong case for investing resources (public and private) to improve the understanding of children and young adults’ well-being for policy makers and other stakeholders, both at the European and country level.
Building research capacity
A series of major events were held throughout the project: a) Summer schools b) Statistics courses c) courses on data access, collaboration and research capacity building.
Virtual data access platform
A platform for virtual collection and best practice guidance for metadata was created. The virtual data access platform, called the COORDINATE Portal, is openly available at https://coordinate.cessda.eu/(opens in new window).
Child and youth engagement
Successful demonstration of the value and impact of Youth Advisory Boards in engaging young people in research processes. By involving children and young people from diverse backgrounds across multiple countries, the project has ensured that their voices are heard and integrated into the research design and implementation.
Transnational research visits
Six highly successful Transnational Access Visits (TAV) calls. Since January 2022, 196 TAV applications were received. Each application was reviewed by 2 reviewers (one internal and one external). In total, 139 applicants were awarded a TAV visit. The TAV programme increased the networking opportunities of early stage researchers as a result of the TAV visitors visiting eight different host institutions. This provided opportunities in particular to female and early career researchers.
Harmonisation toolkit
Practical tools to support researchers seeking to undertake comparative analysis in the field of child wellbeing using longitudinal survey data are made available on the project website.
Growing Up In Digital Europe pilot survey
The GUIDE pilot has been a success, study feasibility was confirmed, we experienced positive feedback from respondents, and questionnaire content was perceived as largely adequate for future use in GUIDE Wave 1.
Development of IT tools
A fully functioning IT system for the GUIDE survey was developed, piloted in four countries and evaluated. This includes a questionnaire development and translation platform and all the necessary modules for the field work data collection using the most modern techniques. This will be the basis of the data collection system that will be used for the full GUIDE study.
Data storage and access system
A fully functioning survey data storage, archive and distribution system was built as will be used for the full GUIDE study. The GUIDE study is findable and accessible via the url https://coordinate.centerdata.nl/dataarchive(opens in new window)
Strengthening the Network and the business plan for GUIDE
Policy briefs illustrated how a Europe-wide longitudinal cohort study like GUIDE can play a crucial role in aiding European policymakers. The business case of GUIDE shows that achieving relatively small improvements in the effectiveness of GUIDE countries’ expenditure related to children and young people well-being would define GUIDE as a socially desirable RI. This makes a strong case for investing resources (public and private) to improve the understanding of children and young adults’ well-being for policy makers and other stakeholders, both at the European and country level.
Building research capacity
A series of major events were held throughout the project: a) Summer schools b) Statistics courses c) courses on data access, collaboration and research capacity building.
Virtual data access platform
A platform for virtual collection and best practice guidance for metadata was created. The virtual data access platform, called the COORDINATE Portal, is openly available at https://coordinate.cessda.eu/(opens in new window).
COORDINATE has initiated and embedded a broad community of scientists and policy makers working to enhance child wellbeing across Europe. It progressed beyond the state of the art in the following ways:
-providing transnational access to child wellbeing researchers to important data sets and expertise as well as a series of training events and summer schools for researchers and policy makers
-developing a fully searchable database on child wellbeing related surveys
-providing ex post harmonisation tools and webinars to improve the analysis of longitudinal comparative data
-integrating children and young people into the project through a systematic Advisory Board structure
-developing and testing a full suite of IT tools for the management of a longitudinal questionnaire from questionnaire development through translation and adaptation to field use
-developing an online archive for the storage and distribution of longitudinal survey data
-conducting a large scale pilot study for GUIDE in four countries
-strengthening the broader community network to support future initiatives in child wellbeing research
-providing transnational access to child wellbeing researchers to important data sets and expertise as well as a series of training events and summer schools for researchers and policy makers
-developing a fully searchable database on child wellbeing related surveys
-providing ex post harmonisation tools and webinars to improve the analysis of longitudinal comparative data
-integrating children and young people into the project through a systematic Advisory Board structure
-developing and testing a full suite of IT tools for the management of a longitudinal questionnaire from questionnaire development through translation and adaptation to field use
-developing an online archive for the storage and distribution of longitudinal survey data
-conducting a large scale pilot study for GUIDE in four countries
-strengthening the broader community network to support future initiatives in child wellbeing research