Professor Karen Thorpe
Chief Investigator
The University of Queensland
Watch the webinar recording
The Life Course Centre invites you to attend our Anti-Poverty Week 2020 Webinar event which will focus on the theme of Families Under Extreme Stress.
We are proud to be a sponsor of the week and its efforts to increase awareness and understanding of poverty and are delighted to be hosting two webinars during Anti-Poverty Week.
In Australia, there are more than 3.24 million people or 13.6% of the population living below the poverty line. That includes 774,000 children or more than 1 in 6. Anti-Poverty Week encourages us all to acknowledge these facts, engage in conversations, raise awareness, focus on positive solutions, and take action to end poverty.
Nutrition in childhood is a key environmental factor affecting ongoing health and wellbeing across the life course. Early nutrition is associated with ongoing weight status, risk of chronic disease and quality of life. Poor nutrition, whether in terms of quantity or quality of food accessed, is strongly implicated in population health costs, both human and economic.
Professor Karen Thorpe’s research team is assessing the way in which the competitive economic market of Early Care and Education programs are associated with mealtime provision across communities with varying risk for food insecurity.
Karen Thorpe is Group Leader in Child Development, Education and Care at the Institute for Social Science Research. Her research examines the effects of children’s early life experiences on social, learning and health trajectories across the lifespan. Her particular interest is early childcare and education environments including parenting, parent work, quality of care and education, and the early years workforce. She was Foundation Psychologist on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children at the University of Bristol, UK; led the evaluation of the Preparing School Trial for Queensland Government; led the Queensland team of the E4Kids study of quality in Australian Early Education and Care and; in partnership with Queensland Government, Goodstart Early Learning and the Creche and Kindergarten Association, led a study of the Australian ECEC workforce (ARC Linkage). In 2013 and again in 2019 she was named by the Australian Financial Review as among Australia’s 100 Women of Influence for the impacts of her research on educational and family policy.Karen chairs the Australian Early Years Reference Council,whose remit is to build a strong evidence base for translation into policy and practice in early childhood education and care.