The power of longitudinal designs to understand global infant development

The vast majority of our current knowledge on infant development is based on a narrow subset of the global population, with infants from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and financially-disadvantaged populations within high- income countries are historically underrepresented in developmental research. Further to this, longitudinal study design continues to be the exception to the norm. Despite the substantial insights that could be gained by expanding this research globally, methodological and cultural barriers have hindered the study of infant development across diverse contexts. Over the past 25 years, advances in neuroimaging combined with new interdisciplinary collaborations, have enabled researchers to overcome some of these barriers. This talk will draw on two studies from The Gambia and UK (the BRIGHT project and the PIPKIN study) to discuss (i) some of the challenges encountered and strategies employed to successfully collect and interpret data in prospective longitudinal designs, and (ii) highlight some examples of early developmental trajectories in brain specialisation and cognitive development. Such designs have facilitated the study of developmental risks—such as undernutrition, exposure to infections, and parental mental health issues —and enriching contextual factors - such as multiple caregivers - present in various cultural practices.