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Welcome to the ECHILD project website

ECHILD stands for Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data. 

Teens studying at school

The ECHILD project is a research study run by University College London that joins together existing health, education and social care information for all children in England for the first time.

We are using this linked data to better understand how education affects children’s health, and how health affects children’s education.
 
In 2024, the ECHILD Database is being made available to external researchers based in the UK via the ONS Secure Research Service. 

News

Latest News: New publication from the ECHILD team – Intensive home visiting for adolescent mothers in the Family Nurse Partnership in England 2010–2019: a population-based data linkage cohort study

05 March 2024

Nurse and young mother

A new study published in BMJ Public Health by the ECHILD team evaluates the effectiveness of an early intervention for first time teenage mothers called the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) in England. This study uses administrative data from health (Hospital Episode Statistics), education and children’s social care (National Pupil Database), and is the largest evaluation of the FNP in the UK to date.

The study found no evidence of an association between FNP and indicators of child maltreatment, which supports findings from previous evaluations of FNP, except for an increased rate of unplanned admissions for maltreatment/injury-related diagnoses up to age 2 years for children born to FNP mothers. There was weak evidence that children born to FNP mothers were more likely to achieve a good level of development, an indicator of school readiness, at age 5 years. FNP mothers were less likely to have a subsequent delivery within 18 months of their index birth.

This study demonstrates the value of linked health and education data. More research is needed to understand which elements of intensive interventions for teenage mothers are most effective, for whom and when. Such evidence could help inform decisions about whether it is better to commission highly intensive services for a small portion of the target population or to extend and enhance universal services to better support all adolescent mothers.  The full paper is available for free at the BMJ Public Health here.


2024 ADR UK Research Fellowships Funding Opportunity Using the ECHILD Database – Apply now

26 February 2024

team members working together
Administrative Data Research UK (ADRUK) is inviting funding applications for research fellowships to conduct research and analysis using ADR England flagship datasets, including the ECHILD database. These large, de-identified datasets cover a diverse range of themes, from education and health to experiences of the justice system, enabling researchers to develop unprecedented insights into our society at a population level. Research fellowships can be up to 18 months. Applicants must be based at a UK research organization eligible for ESRC funding. Researchers new to using administrative data are encouraged to apply. Submit your full application by 4pm on 30 April 2024. For more information, visit the UKRI/ADR UK Research Fellowships page here.

ECHILD is highlighted as a key UK initiative for data to improve health in the early years by a new report by the Academy of Medical Sciences

21 February 2024

researcher working together

In a new report by the Academy of Medical Sciences’ Council, researchers recommend that current and future governments prioritise improving health and wellbeing, as well as reducing inequalities, in early childhood. This will transform the health and prosperity of the nation.

One of the priorities identified is to collect, improve access to, and link a broader range of data to facilitate research into interventions and policies that improve child health and wellbeing, as well as their effective implementation. The ECHILD project is cited as one of the key initiatives that links data to better understand how education affects children’s health and how health affects children’s education. Read more here and the full report here.


Historical news

Read a fully history of project news articles here.