We are looking for professionals working with babies and young children in early years settings in England and Wales to help shape a major research project all about creating healthy environments for children.
Take part in a 60 minute online workshop in April or May 2026. As a thank you for your time, you will receive a £40 Love2Shop voucher.
Coram Family and Childcare is supporting researchers at University College London (UCL) CHILI Hub, who are investigating how indoor environments in early years settings impact children’s health, learning and wellbeing.
Registration for these workshops is now closed.
If you have been selected to take part, we’ll contact you by the 16th April 2026 and send you the details about how to join an online session (via Teams).
Who should take part?
We would love to hear from early years teachers, practitioners, room leaders, managers, owners, childminders and early years apprentices working in all kinds of early years settings, including:
– Private, voluntary or independent (PVI) early years settings (including day nurseries, pre-schools and kindergartens)
– Childminders working from domestic premises and/ or non-domestic premises (e.g. a community hall or school)
– Maintained nursery schools
– School-based nurseries
– Children’s centres and Family Hubs
Please note we are only looking for participants who work with babies and young children (under the age of 5) in England or Wales.
What will the workshop cover?
We will ask you about the early years setting that you work at/in, about your experiences of working with young children and your observations, including:
– Air Quality: How does fresh air affect energy levels and general wellbeing?
– Thermal Comfort: Do children learn and play better when the temperature is just right?
– Lighting and Sound: Does a bright environment that isn’t too noisy help children stay focused?
– Space and Design: How does the layout of your setting support daily activities?
What will happen during the online workshop?
– These will be friendly, relaxed online workshops. One of the UCL researchers will ask open questions based on the topics above.
– There will be approximately 8 participants in each workshop. The online workshop will last 60 minutes and will be hosted via Microsoft Teams.
– With your permission, the researchers will record the workshop discussions, to take notes about what you say and will use these to prioritise topics for future research studies. All discussions will be anonymised. Please see the data privacy notice for more details.
– It’s a great opportunity to meet others working in the early years sector who also care about child health.
Your views and experience of working with babies and young children matter. Join a workshop and help shape research that aims to improve children’s health and education.
If you have any queries or would like to know more about the workshops you can also email: flora.jenkins@coramfamilyandchildcare.org.uk
FAQs
If I'm selected to take part, how will I receive my £40 voucher?
As a thank you for giving up your time to support the development of this important research, we will send each workshop participant a £40 Love2Shop voucher. This will be issued by email and sent to you after the workshop.
What is the CHILI Hub?
The research team is from the CHILI Hub at University College London (UCL). The CHILI Hub focuses on understanding how indoor environments in early years and school settings impact children’s general health, wellbeing, and learning. Their goal is to use science to drive real improvements in policy and building design for children’s health and education. Find out more via the CHILI website
Will my information be stored securely and how will my information be used?
All information you share in the online form will be stored securely and only accessed by members of the research team at Coram Family and Childcare.
The information you share in the workshop will only be used by the UCL researchers to inform their project planning and research design.
We will not identify anybody by name in any report, and names and email addresses will be deleted as soon as participants in the workshops have received their vouchers for taking part.
Please take a look the full data privacy notice which explains how we will collect, store and use your information.
Taking part is completely voluntary. You can change your mind and withdraw at any time before or during a workshop. Just let us know by emailing flora.jenkins@coramfamilyandchildcare.org.uk or by telling us during a workshop.