UB researcher named VP of organization dedicated to sharing child development research with parents

The Child & Family Blog, a leading online resource that explains child development research findings to lay audiences, has named UB psychologist Julie Bowker as its vice president.

Owned by the not-for-profit Child and Family Science Global Outreach Corporation, the blog has grown steadily since its 2015 launch. Its recent partnership with the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD) will further help researchers communicate their work to an increasingly global audience, a goal tied directly to Bowker’s new role.

As part of her responsibilities, Bowker, professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, will be organizing a series of webinars, a first for the blog, beginning this fall to teach early-career scholars how they can best communicate child development science to parents, practitioners and policy makers.

The webinars represent a valuable extension to the blog’s mission and will cover a variety of topics, teaching researchers how to present their findings in ways that are easy to understand — information that’s distinct from merely searching online, which often provides equal parts useful and suspect information.

Both organizations are committed to sharing child development science, from infancy through adolescence, to help parents address multiple issues, from overuse of media to the child mental health crisis that has only deepened since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents don’t have time to sift through that content and determine its credibility and therein lies the utility of the Child & Family Blog, which provides parents with an empirically informed source of proven, evidenced-based parenting tips, Bowker says.

“People don’t receive a lot of training on being parents,” explains Bowker, an expert in close relationships, including parent-child relationships, during childhood and adolescence. “Often there just isn’t time for parents to research best practices.

“That’s what makes the blog so valuable: It’s not just about why a child is shy, for instance, but what can a parent do to support a child who is shy.”

Just as people don’t often receive parenting training, scholars in specific disciplines don’t often receive training in dissemination science. How is information best shared? 

“I have a colleague in Kenya who is reaching out to local marketplaces and community leaders to share her research,” says Bowker. “How can those efforts be applied elsewhere? The webinars are a first pass at answering that question.”

The webinars also represent the blog’s efforts to expand its reach to communities outside of North America. Although it will be presented in English, Bowker says the blog’s board is looking into the possibility of translating the archived content.

Moving content offline, an unorthodox idea in the digital age, is also being considered.

“My work with the ISSBD has taught me that the many issues facing parents are unique to various parts of the world,” says Bowker. “That’s true of training as well, where access to the internet is not universal.

“We have to think about local scales.”

Bowker says she’s excited about her new position with the blog.

“As a professor I’ve been thinking about how to give back to the communities that have supported my research,” she says. “I’m looking forward to getting started.”