

Children and families have disparate access to opportunities for learning, health, and development and face powerful challenges in the systems and settings they traverse. Understanding how these challenges exacerbate inequality, and how supportive policies and programs expand opportunities, will advance equitable outcomes for more children.
Research-practice-policy partnerships are central to understanding and reducing inequality. The Institute works in partnership to (a) build knowledge of effective policies and practices and their implementation across sectors, and (b) create capacity to eliminate disparities and foster learning, health, and development.
We are committed to partnered work that is mutually beneficial, equitable, and sustainable. We approach each collaboration with our principles of trust and commitment, responsive communication, production of actionable, shared knowledge, and engagement with diverse stakeholders.
Our partners include government agencies, NGOs, nonprofits, and other organizations who partner with IHDSC and our faculty affiliates on research and consultation, internships and training, communications and outreach and networking events. Some examples of current partners are listed below.
IHDSC interviewed Drs. Erin Godfrey (director of IHDSC and associate professor of Applied Psychology at NYU Steinhardt) and Andrew Cavanagh (director of Research and Evaluation at Educational Alliance) to discuss the process of developing their research partnership.
IHDSC spoke with Dr. Natalie Brito and Sunset Spark — a Brooklyn-based non-profit— about their partnership, the importance of diverse and representative samples, and the benefit of conducting research in community-based settings.
What role can afterschool programs play in addressing inequality and promoting opportunities? The Advancing Collaborative Research in Out-of-School Settings (ACROSS) partnership represents a unique partnership between researchers from The Institute of Human Development and Social Change and Good Shepherd Services. Read a Q&A with Dr. Miranda Yates, Dr. Elise Cappella, and Sophia Hwang.
Dr. Moira Dillon and Cindy Lawrence, Executive Director of the National Museum of Mathematics, received an IHDSC Seed Award to recruit children for interactive in-museum experiments to investigate how children reason about the general properties of geometric figures. Dillon and Lawrence talk about the process of developing their research partnership.