PEDAL PhD candidate Yuanrong Wang presented at the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting (AERA 2026) in April with a paper titled Fostering Learners’ Creativity in Human-AI Collaboration: A Review of Instructional Strategies and the Effects of Generative AI.
At the International Attachment Conference (IAC 2026) in July, PEDAL team members contributed to several symposiums. PhD candidate Debbie Kwan, Research Associate Laura Oxley, and Research Leaders Christine O’Farrelly and Paul Ramchandani presented ‘Longitudinal effects of VIPP-SD on children’s Cognitive Empathy’. Paul and Christine co-presented ‘Does VIPP-SD longitudinally improve child executive functions: Findings from real-world pragmatic cluster RCT in the U.K.’; ‘Exploring the Inclusion of Play in Early Parenting Interventions Using Common Elements Analysis’, and, joined PEDAL Research Associates Eloise Stevens and Eleanor Braithwaite, to present ‘Playtime with Books: An online book sharing programme supporting parent-child relationships & language development’.
Mélanie Gréaux, PEDAL Research Associate, attended the AI for Good Summit in Geneva (July) joining over twenty sessions on AI in governance, education, health and human rights. Recurring themes included issues of trust, information integrity, human agency, inclusion and children’s rights. The launch of a new international Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of AI resonated strongly with E-TAP, the traceable AI pipeline for early years evidence synthesis. The Summit confirmed the growing demand for transparent and trustworthy evidence tools for policymakers.
PEDAL Research Leader Jenny Gibson presented ‘Neurodiversity and Social Play’ as keynote at the EARLI Play, Learning and Development SIG 28, 2026 Conference – ‘Playful Worlds: Play, Creativity, and Learning Across Analogue and Digital Spaces’. Soizic also presented at the event under the theme of ‘Contextual conditions for Creative and Play-Based Learning’ – with a paper titled: ‘Rethinking ‘purposeful play’ in schools: the place of child agency’.
Julia Birchenough, PEDAL Research Associate, represented the Early Years Library team (Laura Oxley, Soizic Le Courtois and Sara Baker, as well colleagues from CEI) at the EECERA 2026 conference, Madeira (August). She presented a paper on ‘Promoting Early Years Practitioners’ Professional Learning Using a Non-Manualised Flexible Evidence-Informed Resource’ and a poster entitled ‘Beyond Manuals: Professional Dialogue as a Vehicle for Flexible, Evidence Informed Learning’.
Sonja Tervola, PEDAL PhD candidate, gave a guest lecture on ‘AI in Education: From a Child-Centred and Wellbeing Perspective’ for the Digital Education Futures Initiative, Cambridge, as part of the 2026 OSEA Summer Future Scholar Entrepreneur Programme.
A keynote at the Children’s Voices Conference 2026, Charles Sturt University (September), was delivered by Mélanie Gréaux: ‘Amplifying the voices of children with disabilities in the health sector: an overview of WHO initiatives’. The presentation described how the WHO Disability Programme is working to put children’s perspectives at the heart of health policy and practice.
PEDAL PhD candidate Kathy Selby, together with Sarra Boukhari, presented ‘Participatory Approaches to Exploring Play, Culture and Belonging in Refugee Families’ at BERA 2026, University of Manchester (September).
And where to next?
In early October, PEDAL will be at the WAIMH conference with Paul presenting ‘Infant Mental Health: Here, There and Everywhere’ and, together with Christine and former PEDAL Policy Advisor Sally Hogg, a symposium titled ‘Mobilising evidence into action in Infant Mental Health’. Eloise, Christine & former PEDAL PhD student Tilly Kirby are presenting the symposium: ‘Strengthening early relationships & development through book sharing: evidence from diverse contexts’.