On June 20 Longview welcomed Rt Hon David Willetts, Minister for Science and Higher Education, to give the annual Neville Butler Memorial Lecture. In previous years, the lecture has been given by a distinguished academic researcher, but we invited David as a senior politician known for his use of evidence of all kinds and especially for his valuing of longitudinal evidence.
David began with examples of where longitudinal research had influenced policy and practice. He repeated his public view that it had been a mistake to interrupt the series of birth cohort studies in the 1980s, and therefore how pleased he is to havebeen able to redress this by securing resources for the 2012 study, and for the Cohort Resource Facility which will promote the use of existing data sources. He showed himself to be very aware of the issues surrounding better coordination and usage of datasets.
For me, particularly striking in the Minister’s speech was his emphasis on the need for for linkages across different fields and disciplines. This is not just a routine plea for more interdisciplinary work, but for a more general interaction between different approaches and methodologies. He made this point in response to a question about the relative ‘value’ of sciences and social sciences, pointing out that even in projects designed to promote economic and physical development in poorer countries an anthropological and historical understanding is needed to make technological assistance effective. Likewise, longitudinal studies will have a greater effect if they bring together people from different disciplines and methodologies. This is exactly what Longview seeks to do, so was naturally music to our ears.
The challenge, of course, is how to make this happen more effectively than it does now (this is now me speaking, not the Minister). Interdisciplinarity is so often honoured only in the breach. It is not primarily a question of ill-will or a struggle for disciplinary supremacy (though the latter at least certainly occurs, at least in latent form); but achieving good communication between disciplines and methodologies requires effort and time which does not immediately pay off. Arguably, too, the incentives are not there – or even run actively against cross-discplinary collaboration. This is a topic for another time, but it was very welcome to have the Minister express the position he did.
David also had interesting and important things to say about ‘early years determinism’ and the struggle to get a good balance in policy thinking between interventions geared to very young children and policies which took more of a lifecourse approach. With Nobel prizewinner James Heckman to the fore economists naturally tend to see early investments as having the largest payoffs. Whilst investment in early years is undoubtedly crucial, it is important to take a broader view of how the returns of public investment should be calculated (including – my words again – the role of parents and family in making investment in early years successful).
The audience included Neville Butler’s daughters, Fiona and Claire, and other members of his family; and a wide range of researchers. All appreciated David Willetts’ intellectual grasp and commitment to the field. We hope to publish his speech in due course.
The evening also saw the presentation of the Neville Butler Prize, to Dr Laura Howe of Bristol University, for her work on obesity in childhood. Laura used the ALSPAC longitudinal dataset to look at the trajectories of young people in becoming obese. A key finding from her analysis is that social inequalities in obesity patterns only set in after the age of 4 and then widen considerably; this is in important contrast to the current emphasis on very early years as the most effective point for interventions.
In accepting the prize Laura Howe spoke of her plans for disseminating the results, not only to researchers but also to practitioners. This is exactly in line with the intentions of the prize. Longview is grateful to the ESRC for their sponsorship of the prize.
The evening concluded with the launch of an important new publication, the ‘Companion to life course studies: the social and historical context of the British birth cohort studies’ edited by Michael Wadsworth (chair of Longview trustees) and John Bynner (former director of Longview). This is an impressive volume, with a distinguished group of contributors, and one which should become a landmark in the field.’ It is intended as a tool for interpretation of the cohort studies, and as a stimulus to more inter-cohort comparative research.