The Family Forum
The Newnham College Family Forum is a lively annual event to discuss contemporary issues affecting families.
This year's event will be taking place on Saturday 25 January 2025 and will take the theme of Connecting families and nature: the mutual benefit this brings for children and the environment.
Our expert speakers: Dr Samantha Friedman; Dr Or Perah Midbar Alter and Cathriona Hickey will share their knowledge and experiences of how nature has, and will continue to impact, children. The day will conclude at approximately 15.00 following a panel discussion with questions from the floor. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, or simply interested in the topic, this event will provide valuable insights.
Dr. Samantha Friedman, a Lecturer in Applied Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, will share her research on the intersection of autism, human-nature relationships, and wellbeing. Her work highlights how nature supports the mental health of young children during challenging times, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and how it benefits autistic individuals across the lifespan.
Biography
Dr Samantha Friedman a Lecturer in Applied Psychology at the University of Edinburgh and is a member of the Developmental Psychology in Education Research Group within Moray House School of Education and Sport. Samantha researches the intersection of autism, human-nature relationships, and wellbeing. She completed her PhD in Psychology at the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof Claire Hughes and Prof Jenny Gibson. Her PhD focused on nature's role in supporting wellbeing in several understudied contexts: in young children during the Covid-19 pandemic and in autistic people across the life course.
Dr Or Perah Midbar Alter, a visiting researcher at the Centre for Family Research, who has conducted 70+ interviews with families of young children about what helped them during lockdown (nature is a big part to the answer).
Biography
Perah is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Child, Adolescent, and Family Research (CAFR), Department of Psychology, at the University of Cambridge. He completed his PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem supervised by Prof. Heidi Keller. His PhD research focused on how children aged 3–6 experienced COVID-19. For the past 14 years, he has been working and conducting research with young children experiencing adversity, as well as their parents and carers. Perah founded a multicultural nursery for Jewish and Muslim families in Israel. He currently studies the perspectives of Jewish and Arab children, exploring how their experiences converge and diverge, and the dynamics of multicultural interactions in early childhood settings. Using qualitative methods tailored to young children, his research highlights young children's perspectives, particularly their right to be heard and to express themselves, both in their private lives and for policy-making.
Cathriona Hickey, Head of Conservation Education at ZSL, will speak on her efforts to foster connections to nature for young people from diverse backgrounds. Cat is passionate about empowering young people, particularly those underrepresented in conservation, to engage with the natural world and develop meaningful careers. She will also discuss her advocacy for integrating access to nature into education systems as a statutory requirement.
Biography
Cat Hickey is Head of Conservation Education, Zoological Society of London (ZSL) overseeing over 120,000 students engaging with ZSLs conservation Zoos including the careers & youth programming, MSc’s, PhDs, and conservation field programmes. Cat has an MSc Biodiversity and Conservation and BSc Genetics. She has worked in environmental education in zoos for over twelve years both in Ireland and the UK and has previously worked with students to engage in higher education through working with the University of Leeds. She also co-chairs the Education and Learning Policy Group at Wildlife and Countryside Link which aims to further the policy agenda of greater inclusion of nature within all education settings. This policy paper is calling for a new statutory requirement for access to and engagement with nature within education.
Cat is committed to ensuring that young people from all backgrounds have the knowledge, opportunities and skills to develop connections to nature. Through ZSLs pathways programmes, she is keen for young people under-represented in conservation to engage with the natural world and be empowered to act for wildlife and develop careers in conservation. Access to nature has been proven to benefit attainment and positive mental health, so she is keen to support partnership work focusing on embedding nature positive decision making into all aspects of society.
All welcome. Please follow the link to book your place.
