The European Children Cohorts Network (EUCCONET)

Summary

Cohort studies are of strong interest for decision-makers and researchers in quest of new behaviours. Whereas longitudinal retrospective studies can reconstruct the past histories of individuals, they can only do so in a way that is subject to memory lapses. The prospective approach of cohort studies is more directly adapted to the information needs on current and future trends in population and can capture a variety of information that cannot be recalled. Longitudinal studies of children constitute a unique source of data to analyse human development in its context. They permit the study of the various factors interacting all over the life course up to adulthood: They also clarify the impact of the experience lived during infancy on the individual’s physical, psychological, social and professional development. The ambition of the European Child Cohorts Network is to bring together leaders of national or regional major children’s cohorts in order to compare practices, exchange experience, share questionnaires and other tools, and encourage comparative analyses. The focus of this network lays on generalist cohorts. It will bring together the leaders of the large-scale general and interdisciplinary cohorts that exist in Europe and North America, while developing links with more specialised networks.

The Network’s objectives are threefold:

• identifying cohort expertise in Europe;
• sharing knowledge and experience with a broad range of cohort experts, including from outside Europe, and establishing a forum for an easy accessible expertise on these issues in Europe;
• offering opportunities to go deeper on the cross-country comparison by sharing tools and questionnaires.

Duration

5 years, from 2008 to 2013 (07-RNP-034)