Personal mobility grant, as part of a financed UTDANNING2020 post-doctoral project (#212260)

The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development (NCCBD) and Vestfold University College (VUC) has received a research grant for the project The influence of child care and home environment on learning and social functioning in transition to school a nd early school age (#212260), which is part of the longitudinal Behavior Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study (BONDS). The project includes a post doc position, held by Imac Maria Zambrana, with the focus of examining processes that underlie and form th e transition from child care center to school, and how quality of the home and child care center promotes children's educational and behavioral outcomes in this period. Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is at the international forefront on soci al policy related research on child development and education, as well as advanced research methodology relevant for this field. Zambrana has been invited by Professor Catherine Snow to spend six months of the post-doctoral period as a visiting fellow at HGSE. The visit will be divided into three lines of research activities: To write one post-doc article examining the impact of changes in structural care quality indicators on the preparedness of pre-school children before school entry; participate in res earch activity related to one of Prof. Snow's studies; and attend a selection of advanced theoretical and methodological courses at Harvard. A stay for at HGSE will benefit Zambrana's scientific career and the quality of the articles in her post doc proj ect, bring scientific competence back to NCCBD, and provide an opportunity to establish new collaborative relationships between HGSE and NCCBD. Most importantly, the dissemination plan of the mobility project will benefit the fulfillment of the scientific and practical plan of the overall project of contributing to the development of new or refined initiatives and services that are based on knowledge of child development, child care, and schools in Norway.