Towards Naturalistic Developmental Science
The 3rd CBCD International Workshop on Naturalistic Experimentation of Child Development (NECD)
February 19-20, 2026, London
The Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development (CBCD), in partnership with the European COST network on real-world environments, is delighted to announce the 3rd NECD workshop—an international workshop dedicated to studying children in the wild: their natural, real-life behaviour.
NECD brings together researchers across developmental science who are advancing naturalistic paradigms—capturing behaviour as it unfolds, and transforming how we understand human development. Across two days, you’ll hear from leading scholars on designing naturalistic experiments, building state-of-the-art tools to track behaviour, and analysing and visualising rich, real-time data.
New Content in 2026!
This year’s programme goes further than before. In addition to core sessions on design, measurement and analytics, we will feature:
- Policy and practice: lectures and panel discussions exploring how naturalistic evidence can inform policy, education and clinical decision-making.
- Neurodiversity: dedicated sessions on naturalistic experimentation in neurodiverse populations, including methodological adaptations and ethical considerations.
- New analytic toolkits: practical workshops showcasing cutting-edge methods that were not covered in previous years—expanding your repertoire for modelling complex, longitudinal and multimodal data.
Who should attend?
NECD is for everyone working in this space—students, early-career researchers, established academics, methodologists, clinicians and technologists. If you joined us previously, you are warmly encouraged to return: the 2026 edition offers substantial new content and perspectives.
Present your work
There will be ample opportunities to share and discuss your research through talks, posters and flash presentations. We particularly welcome submissions that bridge developmental science with engineering, computer science and data science.
Travel awards
NECD specifically aims to empower young scholars from underrepresented groups and regions by providing them with unique skills to integrate perspectives and methods from engineering and computer science into their developmental work. Therefore, we strongly encourage students from underrepresented groups or disadvantaged backgrounds to apply. Several travel awards will be given that include travel to London, one-night accommodation and sustenance during the workshop.
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