Join the Early Childhood community on 11 and 12 December 2025 for the ‘REACH’ conference, where we will bring together researchers in the field of Early Childhood to share experiences and knowledge. During the conference you will take part in inspiring interdisciplinary discussions and become part of our interdisciplinary network of Early Childhood researchers at Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht.

The conference comprises a two-day program, with opportunities to hear about and present recent and ongoing Early Childhood research at the Utrecht University. During the conference, you will have the opportunity to share your knowledge, skills and passion with colleagues in similar and related fields. Furthermore, you will have ample opportunity for creating connections and setting up future collaborations within your new network.

We want to invite all passionate Early Childhood researchers from Utrecht University and the UMC Utrecht, irrespective of where you are in your career (from students to full professors) or in which field you are working (from Humanities to Pharmacology and from Pedagogy to Veterinary Sciences and Machine Learning).

Why ‘REACH’?

REACH is short for ‘Reaching New Heights in Early Childhood Research’, which is the overarching theme of the conference. In the Early Childhood community, we believe that a multidisciplinary view is valuable and necessary to further Early Childhood research. Gaining new perspectives and understanding early development from different points of view is essential to unraveling the importance of early life experiences and the interaction between genes, individuals, and environments on child development and the unfolding of human behavior over the course of a life.