Growing Up in Ireland Conference marks 20 years of research informing policy for children and young people.
- From: Department of Children, Disability and Equality
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The Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE), today hosted the 2026 Growing Up in Ireland Research Conference, bringing together leading researchers from Ireland and abroad as the study marks its 20th anniversary.
The event showcased new research from national and international researchers, spanning infancy to age 25, highlighting how evidence from Growing Up in Ireland continues to inform policy and services for children, young people and families.
Research presented throughout the day covered themes including mental health, disability, education, family relationships, early childhood development and adolescence.
On the importance of the study, the Minister for Children, Disabilty and Equality, Norma Foley said:
“For two decades, Growing Up in Ireland has provided invaluable evidence on the lives of children, young people and families across Ireland. The study has helped deepen our understanding of the factors that support positive outcomes and has informed policy and services across a wide range of areas.
As the study enters its next phase, it continues to provide unique insights into the experiences of young people as they move into adulthood. The research to be presented at this conference demonstrates the enduring value of long-term investment in evidence and data to support better outcomes for current and future generations.”
This year’s conference is particularly significant as it marks the 20th anniversary of the Growing Up in Ireland study. Under the theme “Then, Now, Next”, a series of anniversary events are celebrating the study’s unique contribution to understanding the lives of children and young people in Ireland now and over the past two decades, while looking ahead to the study’s continued contribution to understanding childhood and youth in Ireland.
New report examines adolescent antisocial behaviour
The conference included the launch of Adolescent Antisocial Behaviour: Changes Over Time and Across the Lifecourse, a new report commissioned by DCDE and authored by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
Planning the next phase of Growing Up in Ireland
DCDE also published Research Needs for Cohort ’08 at 20 and Cohort ’98 at 30, a new report that sets out priorities for the next adult waves of the study.
Research on resilience among vulnerable children
The conference programme also included a presentation on a recently published report on ‘Factors that Foster Resilience in Outcomes for Vulnerable Children’, commissioned by DCDE and authored by the University of Galway, this report follows young people from age 9 through adolescence to age 25.
The report leverages the rich and longitudinal data available in Growing Up in Ireland to look at individuals who could have been considered vulnerable at age 9 – in terms of their family, socio-economic or wellbeing characteristics – and used a ‘flourishing’ lens to see how they were faring by the time they were age 25. The report identifies several factors over the life-course that help all children to develop into adults who are ‘doing well’ by age 25 including participation in extra-curricular activities, better peer support, stronger support from teachers, lower levels of parent-child conflict and achieving in education.
This report is available here: https://www.growingup.gov.ie/pubs/Resilience-Report.pdf
International keynote address
This year’s keynote address was delivered by Paul Bradshaw, Director of the Scottish Centre for Social Research and lead researcher on the Growing Up in Scotland study.
His keynote lecture entitled “From aspiration to reality: tracking the transitions and outcomes of Scotland’s young people from 14 to 20”, provided an international perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing young adults and highlighted lessons from two decades of longitudinal research.
The participation of Growing Up in Scotland is particularly fitting as both studies are marking, or have recently marked, twenty years of generating evidence to inform policy and improve understanding of children’s lives.