Our Contribution
Shaping Early Years Policy
ISEY’s work is actively shaping early years policy, practice, and public understanding across the UK and internationally.
Our Director serves as Early Years Co-Lead for the new Department for Education funded Educational Neuroscience Policy Research Centre, supporting the UK Government to translate evidence from neuroscience, education, psychology, and child development into practical policy insight.
Together with colleagues at ISEY, our team has contributed to the Department for Education’s Early Years Screen Time Advisory, new teacher training packages for 0 to 2s and Reception, and the Early Years Design Guidance for school-based nurseries.
ISEY has also provided evidence and expert advice to Select Committees, including those linked to science, innovation, technology, culture, media, and sport. Our Director has delivered departmental CPD sessions for the Department for Education, helping to strengthen understanding of early childhood development across policy and practice teams.
Beyond government, ISEY has contributed evidence reviews and literature insight to leading organisations including BookTrust, The Queen’s Reading Room, the National Literacy Trust, and others working to improve outcomes for children and families.
Internationally, ISEY colleagues have also supported the development of educator and parent training materials for Moments Education, led by HRH Princess Noor bint Asem of Jordan.
Through this work, ISEY continues to bridge research, policy, and practice, ensuring that early years decisions are informed by robust evidence and grounded in the real experiences of children, families, and educators.
ISEY brings together research evidence, sector expertise and policy engagement to support better decisions for babies, young children, families and early years professionals. Our work contributes to national policy development, parliamentary engagement, local systems and future priorities across the early years sector.
Impact in Numbers
In 2025 to 2026, ISEY researchers contributed to national policy activity through consultation responses, evidence submissions and policy briefings.
Policy Development
ISEY contributes research evidence and applied expertise to support the development of early years policy, guidance and sector frameworks.
- Policy development
- Responses to consultations
- Written evidence submitted to government
- Membership of advisory groups
- Contributions to policy frameworks
Parliamentary and Government Engagement
ISEY supports evidence informed decision making through engagement with government departments, parliamentary groups and policy stakeholders.
- Select Committee evidence
- Parliamentary briefings
- APPG contributions
- Government workshops and roundtables
Local and Regional Impact
ISEY works with regional and local partners to strengthen early years strategy, service development and practical implementation.
- Work with local authorities
- NHS partnerships
- Early years strategy development
Policy Resources
Explore selected ISEY outputs, including evidence submissions, policy briefings and early years research resources.
Current Policy Priorities
ISEY’s policy priorities focus on the areas where high quality evidence can improve outcomes, reduce inequalities and support stronger early years practice.
SOME COMPANIES WE’VE WORKED WITH:
-
![Kinder logo in black and red text on a white background]()
KINDER
Using our home wearable sensors we are capturing how children’s engagement with Kinder toys affects their moment-by-moment mood, attention patterns and interactions with other family members. This is helping us to further optimise the design of Kinder toys.
-
![P&G logo in blue on a white background]()
PROCTER & GAMBLE
P&G are co-funding a UBEL DTP PhD scholarship to develop new tools to measure how use of their baby products, including Pampers nappies, affects child-caregiver mood and interaction dynamics.
-
![LEGO logo with red background and bold white letters outlined in yellow and black.]()
-
![Yakult logo with red text and design on white background.]()
-
![Melissa & Doug logo in red oval with white border.]()
MELISSA & DOUG
For Melissa & Doug we have taken part in research and media activities, including an Instagram Live Q & A, around toys that encourage open-ended play.
-
![Hartley's logo, green and white text with a heart accent.]()
HARTLEYS
For Hartley’s Jelly we worked to raise awareness of our research into parent-child stress contagion, in a project about communicating with children about ‘back to school’ anxieties.
-
![Center Parcs logo with green bird design above text]()
CENTRE PARCS
Centre Parcs worked with ISEY to raise awareness about the effect of children on shared parent-child activities. This included preparing a report that presented the latest research findings for parents, and contributed to the design of some consumer research on the topic, and conducting a series of interviews that were covered in national print media, radio and TV.
-
![Logo with the text 'NEW RIVER' and wavy lines incorporated in the letter 'E'.]()
NEW RIVER RETAIL
The project with New River Retail was based on our lab’s research on how environments cause stress in children. The campaign centred on children tantrumming whilst out shopping. As part of this, we contributed to changes to the designs of shopping centres, including child ‘chill-out’ zones, and wrote advice guidelines for security guards to help raise awareness of what they could do to help parents struggling with a tantrumming child.
-
![Country Trust logo with stylized agriculture graphic featuring green, yellow, and black elements.]()
THE COUNTRY TRUST
ISEY support The Country Trust to measure the impact of their programmes, which aim to help disadvantaged children connect with the countryside, food and farming. From assisting with data collection methodology, to analysis and impact reporting for funders, ISEY can help ensure that impact data is robust, objective and well presented.
-
![Illustration of a human head with a brain full of plus signs, symbolizing positive thinking or mental health.]()
HARDWARE
We use state-of-the-art hardware, including new techniques developed at ISEY, to capture real-time data on children's interactions. We use these methods for research, consultancy, and industry collaborations.
-
![Illustration of a bulletproof vest on a purple background.]()
MEASURING ENVIRONMENTS
We capture children’s surroundings in real-time, including physical spaces, social interactions, objects, audiovisual stimuli, and digital exposure, based on wearable sensors to track what they see, hear, and experience.
-
![Illustration of a laptop displaying a strategy diagram with arrows and X's, accompanied by a magnifying glass on the side.]()
OUTCOME MEASURES
We use child-worn sensors and neuroimaging to track children's real-time responses to their environment, offering these tools for research and industry use, providing a more sensitive alternative to traditional pre-post measurement approaches.
