Hon Carmel Sepuloni
Minister for Social Development

4 June 2019

A Wellbeing Budget boost for New Zealand’s largest study of child development will help the Government design the best possible services and policies to increase the wellbeing of our children and families, Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni announced today.

The Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study is run out of the University of Auckland and has been tracking the development of 6800 children born in 2009 and 2010. Another wave of data collection will now be possible when the children reach 11 years of age – a time of big changes in children’s lives as they prepare to transition to secondary school and enter the teenage years.

“The Government wants New Zealand to be the best place in the world to be a child and findings from the Growing Up in New Zealand study provides evidence to develop government policies and design social services that increase the wellbeing of children and families living in New Zealand today,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

“The data we collect will help us understand what helps support children to navigate these important life transitions successfully.

The study will receive $17.1 million from Budget 19.

“I am also pleased to announce today that MSD is opening the fourth round of its $750,000 Children and Families Research Fund for research projects that explore and analyse the data gathered in the GUiNZ study.

“We want to see more researchers across the country using the information gathered through the GUiNZ study. We have introduced a second category of funding this year – one specifically focused on supporting new researchers.

Applications for funding are open to academics, government agencies, public and independent research organisations and non-government organisations including iwi-based organisations and service providers.

“Collaborations between groups are encouraged, and joint working relationships between relevant policy agencies and researchers expected so that we get richer research insights and more comprehensive analyses of how we can improve the wellbeing of New Zealand children and their families,” Carmel Sepuloni said.

The research funding round opens Tuesday 4 June and closes Friday 26 July 2019.

Information about applying for funding is available on the Ministry of Social Development's website.

Growing Up in New Zealand is a contemporary longitudinal study of child development. It has been specifically designed to reflect the diverse lives of children growing up amidst the cultural, economic, societal and technological complexity of 21st century New Zealand.
The study is following a cohort of more than 6,800 children from approximately 12 weeks before birth. The children were born in 2008 and 2009.
The study is particularly interested in finding out what works to confer resilience and optimise child development.
Growing Up in New Zealand is headed by University of Auckland Professor Susan Morton.

ends

© Scoop Media