Dr Barry Milne and Dr Nichola Shackleton will describe the research programme of the Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences (COMPASS) at the University of Auckland. COMPASS uses quantitative methods to understand the drivers of health and wellbeing, often (but not exclusively) for children, and often (but not exclusively) by analysing whole population data. We will illustrate the work of COMPASS by describing four projects: a project using simulation to test policy scenarios for child outcomes; a project investigating loneliness across the life-course; a project assessing associations between child poverty and health outcomes; and a programme of research seeking to understand the key drivers of healthy weight, successful learning and literacy, and mental health resilience among children and young people.
Barry Milne is Director of the Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences (COMPASS) at the University of Auckland. He leads a team investigating the life-course development of health and social outcomes using the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). His background is in lifecourse psychiatric epidemiology and has worked on a number of birth cohort studies, including the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, the Twins Early Development Study (UK),and the Growing Up in New Zealand Study.
Nichola Shackleton is a Senior Research Fellow at COMPASS Research Centre at the University of Auckland. She is a social scientists specialising in quantitative research methods and social statistics. Her research interests include measuring and reducing inequalities in child and adolescent health, longitudinal data analysis, and latent variable modelling.