Expert group to advise The Princess of Wales’ work on early childhood

The Advisory Group met with Her Royal Highness for the first time at Windsor Castle on Wednesday 25th January. They will go on to support The Princess and the Centre as work is accelerated to promote the fundamental importance of the first five years of a child’s life.  

Several of those involved have already played a pivotal role in the work The Princess of Wales has been pursuing for more than a decade in this field, helping her to shape her work on the issue and adding to her determination to help change the way people think about early childhood.  

Advisory Group members are:  

• Professor Peter Fonagy OBE, Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL and Chief Executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families  

• Professor Eamon McCrory, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, University College London  

• Dr Alain Gregoire, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist and President and Founder of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance  

• Dr Trudi Seneviratne OBE, Registrar at the Royal College of Psychiatrists  

• Ed Vainker OBE, co-founder of Reach Academy Feltham  

• Carey Oppenheim, Project Lead at the Nuffield Foundation  

• Beverley Barnett-Jones MBE, Associate Director at Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and Trustee at What Works in Children’s Social Care  

• Emily Samuel, a child psychotherapist who has been working with children and adolescents for over 14 years.

The group will support the delivery of the Centre’s work in commissioning new research, learning from best practice in the UK and globally, and raising awareness of the extraordinary impact the first five years of life have on future outcomes. Advisory Group members have been chosen for their deep expertise in a range of areas including neuroscience, psychology, perinatal psychiatry, early years services and policy development.