Bath Spa University

Bath Spa University were awarded £49,729 for their project exploring the deployment-related wellbeing of three-to-four-year-old Service children in their pre-school year. Beginning in February 2024, the project will work alongside children, parents and Early Years practitioners to understand the lived experience of parental deployment in young children across the Naval, Army and Air Force contexts.

Dr Georgina Normile, principal investigator and Senior Lecturer in Education, said: “I am delighted to be leading on this project, which explores the experiences of some of our most under researched Service children; those in the pre-school year.

“As a researcher, a Service spouse and a mother of two Service children, I am passionate about advocating for younger Service children in the years before they start school. This age group makes up a significant proportion of our overall numbers of Service children yet are often overlooked in terms of policy and research. Better understanding their experiences will help to shape developments in policies and practices for this group. We know that there is some really great practice already happening out there in many Early Years’ settings, so we look forward to learning more about this as well as highlighting where wider developments for this age group are needed.”