The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research - Women in Science Lecture Series

Presented by Professor Michelle Haber AM, Children's Cancer Institute Australia

Professor Haber graduated with a PhD from the School of Pathology, UNSW, in 1984, and subsequently undertook post-doctoral positions at the Hadassah Hebrew University, in Israel and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.Following her PhD, Prof Haber was appointed as a staff scientist at CCIA. She is currently Head of the Institute’s Experimental Therapeutics Program and was appointed Director of CCIA in 2000 and subsequently Executive Director in 2003. Haber is known for her world-class research into the treatment of neuroblastoma and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in children.In 2007, Professor Haber was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to science in the field of research into childhood cancer, to scientific education, and to the community, and was also awarded a Doctor of Science by the University of New South Wales. She is currently President of the Advances in Neuroblastoma Research Association (ANRA).

Contemporary Cultures and Societies seminar series Children often have no choice in decisions that lead to separation from their families in the context of migration. This seminar draws together a disparate literature on children and migration to compare several forms of separation that result in children's "forced transnationalism". These include "left behind" children, children sent overseas to school and "migrants" children sent to their parents' homeland. While there are some common effects on children there is a crucial difference between separation motivated by long-term goals for the family and movement aimed at influencing an individual child's behaviour. The latter form of movement is discussed through a case study of children sent to Tonga as a form of punishment. The seminar considers forced transnationalism in relation to the twin concerns of recent work on childhood and youth: agency and rights.

Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of early childhood education. She is a specialist early years advisor to governments and ministers in the UK and overseas, and has provided evidence to a number of House of Commons Select Committees. She has been, by public appointment over the last 6 years, the early childhood specialist on the Ministerial Advisory Group for Education in Wales. Professor Siraj-Blatchford has advised and provided evidence for a number of international agencies including the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and the Aga Khan Foundation.

Professor Siraj-Blatchford's presentation will examine the contribution of early education in ameliorating the effects of disadvantage in later life. She will demonstrate how the findings from the UK Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) study 1997-2014 show the inter-relationship between disadvantage and child developmental outcomes. The presentation will explore the intersection and articulation of influences including those of parenting, early home environments, pre-school, primary and some secondary school influences. Only a longitudinal follow up of the kind EPPSE has provided of over 3000 children and their families, can demonstrate such patterns and what might support or constrain the outcomes of disadvantaged communities. Professor Siraj-Blatchford will pay special attention to some of the policy implications for those aspiring to deal with issues of social mobility and how to most effectively apply funding for a fairer society through a fairer education system, particularly for those children and parents who have multiple disadvantages.

Introduced by Professor Jeff Borland, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne and chief investigator on the Children’s Protection Society’s Early Years Research Project (eyerp.org).

We hope you can join us for the 2012 Honoring the Child, Honoring Equity conference from Friday 16 November to Saturday 17 November 2012 at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

2012 Conference Themes:

Tactics and strategies for change

Challenging power and knowledge

Querying communities

Valuing/validating diversity in practices and policies

Shifting and searching for theoretical possibilities and perspectivies

Sharing stories of bridging divides for equity

Keynote Speakers:

Professor Pat Dudgeon

Associate Professor Linda Mitchell

Ms Zorica Trikic

Professor Valerie Walkerdine

This is a free seminar for parents, early childhood and pre-school workers, grandparents, teachers and others interested in bilingual education.

Raising children in more than one language is a very important process. There are many positive strategies that can be employed. The sessions in this seminar discuss issues in raising children bilingually, show you how to recognise your child’s needs in the language and provide you with important tools to foster your child’s language learning and maximise the advantages available to you.