This seminar series started in 2012-2013 as a collaboration between Dr Jo Van Herwegen, Dr Emily Farran and Dr Deborah Riby and provided a platform for early career as well as established researchers to discuss the application of recently developed tools and innovative research methods to the study of neurodevelopmental disorders (with specific focus given to developmental trajectory approaches, the application of eye-tracking techniques and error analysis). The series were sponsored by the British Psychological Society, Williams Syndrome Foundation, and BPS developmental section. The series continues as an annual conference series that will move around the UK and which will focus on cognition and behaviour within and across disorders.
Following on from the Neurodevelopmental disorders seminar series, Jo Van Herwegen and Debbie Riby published an edited volume: Neurodevelopmental disorders: Research challenges and solutions.
The first seminar was organized on 29th of June 2012 at Kingston University, London and explored current issues in neurodevelopmental disorders, including co-morbidity, subgroups, and variability (see programme).
The second seminar took place at the Institute of Education, London University on 11th of January 2013. This seminar focused on a developmental approach to the study of neurodevelopmental disorders, including the use of matching methods, developmental trajectory analyses (including cross-domain interactions) and cross-syndrome comparisons, in an effort to identify specific issues and challenges when applying a developmental approach. Particular emphasis was given to the challenges inherent in following a developmental approach, such as the issue of identifying measures that are sensitive to the full range of abilities of the participants being assessed (see programme).
The third seminar was held on 20th of March 2013 at Newcastle University. This seminar focused on visual attention, gaze behaviour, and the use of eye-tracking to explore components of typical or atypical cognition and behaviour associated with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders (see programme).
New Annual Seminar Meetings: Cognition & Behaviour in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
June 2014
On 20/06/2014 a seminar meeting was hosted by Dr Debbie Riby at Durham University. This seminar included (see programme) and keynote sessions by Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith (Birkbeck) and Dr Anna Remington (Institute of Education)
June 2015
On 22/06/2015 Prof Gaia Scerif and the ABCD lab hosted the neurodevelopmental seminar at the university of Oxford. Keynote speakers included Prof Dorothy Bishop and Dr Rachael Bedford. The programme can be found here. The following day included a very interesting workshop focusing on the analyses of longitudinal data using R presented by Dr Bedford.
June 2016
This Neurodevelopmental Disorder Annual Seminar (or NDAS) was organised by Prof. Emily Farran and the CoGDev Lab at UCL Institute of Education. This year keynote speakers included professor Elizabeth Hill and Dr Megan Freeth. The programme can be found here. The workshop on the following day focused on overcoming and considering the difficulties of research with neurodevelopmental disorders.
June 2017
On 29/06/2017 Dr Jo Van Herwegen and the Child Development and Learning Difficulties (CDLD) Unit hosted the neurodevelopmental seminar at Kingston University, London. Keynote speakers included Professor Chris Jarrold (University of Bristol) and Dr Hayley Crawford (Coventry University). The programme can be found here. The following day included a workshop focusing on eye tracking methodology in neurodevelopment disorders.
June 2018
This Neurodevelopmental Disorder Annual Seminar (or NDAS) was organised as a collaboration between Hayley Crawford (Coventry University), Jane Waite (Aston University), Caroline Richards and Lucy Wilde (University of Birmingham). This year keynote speakers included professor Dr Jacqui Rodgers (Newcastle University) and Dr Hana D’Souza (Birkbeck, University of London). The programme can be found here. The workshop on the following day focused on Impact and Engagement and discussed why this matters in Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research.
June 2019
NDAS19 was organised by Prof Emily Farran and her team, and took place at University of Surrey on Thursday 20th of June 2019, followed by a workshop on Friday 21st of June 2019. Here is a summary of the conference and here is one of the workshop.
June 2022
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic NDAS had to take a break but in June 2022 NDAS was back with a meeting in beautiful Edinburgh organised by Dr Sinead Rhodes and colleagues. This meeting brought together over 90 researchers over 3 days. The workshops focused on co-production and best practice related to intervention studies. Keynotes were provided by Professor Nikki Botting and Dr Alex Henry (Early career keynote). The final programme can be found here.