22 March 2024: I presented my paper on workforce quality in home visiting at scale at the Bank of Italy Human Capital Workshop in Rome.

18 March 2024: NEW paper out! “The Menopause Penalty”, IFS WP24/05.

14 March 2024: NEW paper out! “Evaluating and Pricing Health Insurance in Lower-Income Countries: A Field Experiment in India”: IZA DP, IFS WP, NBER WP.

06 March 2024: I have presented my paper on the menopause penalty at the Economics Department seminar at the University of Alicante.

01 March 2024: Delighted that my paper on the adolescent health impacts of severe prenatal shocks (due to the Dutch Hunger Winter in WWII) has been accepted in Economics and Human Biology!

14 February 2024: I have presented my paper on the menopause penalty at the Economics Department seminar at the University of Newcastle.

05 February 2024: I have presented my paper on the consequences of diagnosis and treatment of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at the IHEA VERB seminar.

24 January 2024: I have presented my paper on the “Menopause Penalty” at the Fiscal Policy Unit of the JRC of the European Commission.

18 January 2024: Very happy that my paper “Early Home Visits and Health in Low-Income Mothers and Offspring: 18-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Trial” (with D. Olds, A. Salvati et al.) is out in the JAMA Network Open!! PR here.

17 January 2024: I was at the House of Commons, invited by Siobhan McDonagh MP to participate in a reception to discuss a (much needed!) #preconception #care strategy for the UK.

06 January 2024: presented my paper on early home visiting mode of delivery and effects on mental health (measured objectively via diagnostic interviews) at primary school age at the “New Perspectives on the Economics of Mental Health” session at the ASSA conference, organized by Janet Currie. Web-recording here.

14 December 2023: Pleased to have been elected as one of the new Society of Economics of the Household (SEHO) Executive Committee members!

13 December 2023: Delighted to have given the opening keynote at the Conference on Sustainable Development for Thriving Communities, co-organised by the Monash University in Malaysia and the World Bank in Kuala Lumpur!

13 December 2023: Happy to have joined CESifo as Research Network Fellow!

06 December 2023: Delighted that our Sure Start has been featured again in the Guardian today, in a piece by the ever brilliant Polly Toynbee!

29 November 2023: I gave an overview of my research to the Horn Fellows at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge – great to see so much involvement from businessmen, investors and policy stakeholders!

23-24 November 2023: I gave a presentation on the consequences of treatment for gestational diabetes at the CESifo workshop on the Economics of Children in Munich; my co-author Melanie Luhrmann also presented our joint work on changes in nutrition in pregnancy.

23 November 2023: I gave a recorded presentation on the ‘Cost of Violence against Women in Italy’ at the workshop on ‘Violence against Women’ organised by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita’ (ISS – the main health institute of Italy).

21 November 2023: I was invited to present at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, where I gave a paper on the effects of early home visiting on maternal and child mental health in late childhood.

17 November 2023: I was invited to participate at the Jacobs Prize award ceremony in Zurich, and to speak at the related Symposium, where I gave a talk on “Promoting Child Well-Being at Scale”.

13-15 November 2023: I was invited by the Early Childhood Authority (ECA) of the Abu Dhabi Emirate government to visit for a 3-day meetings with stakeholders and policymakers and talk on “Promoting Child Well-Being at Scale” at the Abu Dhabi Child Data Symposium.

06 November 2023: Today I participated remotely to the IX International Meeting of the Italian DOHaD society with a talk on “The Economics of DOHaD”.

31 October 2023: On my 10-year anniversary at UCL, it was a pleasure to chat with the UCL Policy Lab about my life and work! My interview is at p.5-6 in the UCL Policy Lab magazine, and the digital version is here. All the papers cited are available at my publications and work in progress pages.

23-24 October 2023: I took part in the launch of the GUIDE (Growing Up in Digital Europe, first comparative cohort study of children’s well-being in Europe) project in the beautiful Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence and gave two talks: on “Child Well-Being and Evidence-Based Policy Making” and on “Child Well-Being in Italy: Data Needs and Research Opportunities”.

19 October 2023: happy that a VOXEU column has been published based on my paper with P. Giustinelli on cost-benefit tradeoffs in health behaviour.

19 October 2023: I presented my paper on “Genes, Parental Education, and Inequalities in Human Capital: Evidence from two British Cohorts” at the IZA/EconTribute workshop on the Economics of Education in Bonn.

04 October 2023: I presented my new work on “The Menopause Penalty” at the IFS Work in Progress seminar.

03 October 2023: I gave a presentation at the Foundation Years Information and Research on “The Early Childhood Home Visiting Workforce: Some Quantity & Quality Issues”.

29 September 2023: I gave one of the two keynotes at the Workshop on Health and Family Economics co-organised by City University and RHUL, on ‘Challenges in Promoting Child Well-Being at Scale’.

06 September 2023: I gave one of the keynotes at the Meeting of Young Economists (MYE) in Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin.

29-31 August 2023: Intense week in Chile! I gave seminars at the University of Chile and at the Catholic University of Chile (PUC), had meetings at the Chile Crece Contigo and J-PAL LAC Headquarters, and gave the first keynote at the Annual Association of Chilean Economists (SECHI).

24-28 July 2023: I attended the NBER Summer Institute in Boston, where with Malte Sandner we presented (in the Children group) the first results on the effects of mode of delivery in home visiting on maternal and child mental health.

10-12 July 2023: I attended the IHEA World Congress in Cape Town, where I presented the first results on the cost of IPV and CYPM for Italy within a Lancet session + the re-evaluation of the Building Blocks trial (home visiting in England) + chaired a session on smoking.

29 June 2023: I have presented my paper on gene-environment interactions in child development (within a RCT of home visiting) at the CDES Monash conference in the Monash centre in Prato. Much useful feedback received this week!

26 June 2023: I have given one of the lectures at the Summer School in Development Economics, co-organised by SITES (Societa’ Italiana di Economia dello Sviluppo) and CDES Monash in Villa del Palco at Prato.

27 June 2023: I have presented my paper on workforce quality in large-scale home visiting in the Department of Economics at the University of Bologna. Very enjoyable visit!

19 June 2023: I have presented my paper (with S. Cattan and C. Farquahrson) on the role of workforce quality in large-scale home visiting at the first workshop on the Health Care Workforce at the University of Surrey. Andrea Salvati also presented our joint work on the effects on children’s outcomes of budget cuts to Universal Health Visiting in England.

18 May 2023: My paper with P. Giustinelli “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior” is out! As IZA DP 16143. IFS WP 23-19. MedXRiV. HEDG WP 23/05. CEPR DP 18157. HCEO WP.

16 May 2023: I gave the keynote at the LACEA Health Network meeting in Montevideo, on “Promises and Challenges in Health Visiting: From Small Scale Trials to Large Scale Implementation”.

15 May 2023: I was honoured to be part of a panel in Montevideo on “Public Policies for Early Childhood”, and share the stage with the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay Martin Lema, with the ex Ministry of Health of Chile Helia Molina and with the Leader of the Social Protection Division at IADB Florencia Lopez-Boo – moderated by Ana Balsa. I shared my research-based key recommendations for designing & implementing #public#policies aimed at improving #child#development– the who, when, where, what, how, and why.

15 May 2023: Excited to work with a fantastic team – Ecorys, IPSOS, Sheffield and Jane Barlow – on the evaluation of the #FamilyHubs – a new flagship Government programme to improve the well-being of families and children in 75 LAs!

08 May 2023: I presented for the first time my new paper “Understanding the production of child development at scale: Experimental evidence from England” (with Andrea Salvati et al.) in the workshop on the “Economics of Child Health”, co-organised by JKU and IHS in Vienna.

27 April 2023: I presented for the first time my new paper “The Menopause Penalty” (with Rita Ginja and Barton Willage) in the seminar series at the Department of Economics of the University of Bergamo.

19 April 2023: Much enjoyed presenting my paper on workforce quality in a large-scale home visiting programme at the DLPE seminar in the Department of Economics of Bocconi University in Milan.

13 April 2023: Very happy to start my visit to the Department of Economics of Bocconi University in Milan!

04 April 2023: Very happy that my work on the health effects of Sure Start has been cited in this  excellent The Guardian piece on #early #childhood by Beverley Barnett-Jones MBE FRSA Nuffield Family Justice Observatory & Advisory Group member The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.

27-29 March 2023: I gave the keynote lectures (joint with Eric French) at the RES Easter Training School on Health and Public Economics at the University of Bristol.

24 March 2023: I presented my paper on subjective expectations and cost-benefit trade-offs in health behaviours at Universidad Carlos III Madrid (UC3M).

22 March 2023: I presented my paper on “Genes, Parental Education, and Inequalities in Human Capital: Evidence from two British Cohorts” at Universidad Autonoma Madrid (UAM).

21 March 2023: I was SO honoured to receive this email today & find out that my work is cited in the 2023 Economic Report of the President of the United States! Ch. 4 “Investing in Young #Children’s #Care and #Education” treats topics so important also for UK #ECE (#quality, #workforce, #subsidies, etc.).

14 March 2023: Honoured to talk about early years and childcare in UK at the APPG for Childcare and Early Education.

01 March 2023: Enjoyed discussing my research on the origins of health and the role of early interventions to LSE students at the LSE Economics Society Sen Club!

28 February 2023: The evidence I had submitted to the Education Committee Inquiry “Support for childcare and the early years” has been published here.

8 February 2023: I took part in the meetings of the Lancet Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Children and Young People Maltreatment in the Lancet offices, as Scientific Advisor and lead of the Italian case study (economic evaluation). Very important work for my country.

11 January 2023: I was honoured to discuss our current project and possible future collaborations to promote the development of 3-4 years old children in Ecuador during a two-hour meeting with the Ministry of Education Maria Brown Perez and her team, within a one-week visit in Quito to meet the MINEDUC staff and conduct fieldwork.

07 January 2023: I presented the paper “Effect of Health Insurance in India: A Randomized Controlled Trial” (with A. Malani, C. Kinnan, A. Voena et al.) at the IHEA session of the ASSA conference in NOLA.

01 December 2022: I presented my paper “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom” (with P. Giustinelli) at the University of Innsbruck – a lovely Xmassy atmosphere in the mountains!

26 November 2022: I am very happy to have reached 1,000 citations before the end of November this year https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nA_4YW4AAAAJ&hl=en!

25 November 2022: I have a new WP! “Parental beliefs, perceived health risks, and time investment in children: evidence from COVID-19“, available as IFS WP, joint with Michele Giannola (UniNa) and Alessandro Toppeta (UCL).

22 November 2022: I presented my paper “Workforce quality in early intervention: Evidence from a large-scale home-visiting programme” (with S. Cattan and C. Farquharson) at the Labour Markets Workshop at CEP/LSE.

14 November 2022: I presented my paper “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom” (with P. Giustinelli) at NYU Abu Dhabi! I visited the whole week.

10 November 2022: I met Mariagrazia Squicciarini (Chief of Executive Office and Director a.i. at the Social and Human Sciences Sector) and Gabriela Ramos (Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences) at UNESCO in Paris, to discuss about how to increase inclusivity, equality of opportunity and gender equality.

02 November 2022: My paper “Risk Factors for Early Natural Menopause: Evidence from the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohorts” (with D. Peycheva, A. Sullivan, R. Hardy, A. Bryson and G. Ploubidis) is out in BMC Women’s Health!

26 October 2022: The podcast I recorded during my visit at NOVA SBE is out: https://novafrica.org/novafrica-sustainable-development-talks-podcast-season-4-2/

24 October 2022: I gave a talk on “What is the cost of violence against women” at the online workshop “Pandemic and violence against women: health consequences, communications and future scenarios” organised by the Istituto Superiore Sanita’ (Superior Health Institute, the Italian National Institute of Health).

07 October 2022: I have visited NOVA SBE in Carcavelos (Lisbon), presented my paper “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom” (with P. Giustinelli), and recorded a podcast!

05 October 2022: I have taken part remotely in IGPP event “Advancing Menopause Policy In The Workplace” (opened by Caroline Nokes MP), giving a keynote on “The Menopause Penalty”.

01 October 2022: I have taken part remotely in the Annual Health Econometrics Workshop (AHEW), where Kevin Thom has discussed my paper “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom” (with P. Giustinelli).

23 September 2022: Delighted to have participated remotely in a plenary session at the 5th European Conference on Preconception Health and Care with a talk on “Economic Evaluation of Preconception Interventions”.

8 September 2022: Happy to have presented my paper “For Better or Worse? Subjective Expectations and Cost-Benefit Trade-Offs in Health Behavior: An Application to Lockdown Compliance in the United Kingdom” (with P. Giustinelli) at the 29th European Workshop on Econometrics and Health Economics in Fribourg.

23 August 2022: Happy to have talked at the invited session on Intergenerational Mobility at the EEA/ESEM 2022 Conference in Bocconi University in Milan about my work on the health effects of nurse home visiting. Also, my co-author Pamela Giustinelli presented our joint work on cost-benefit tradeoffs in COVID health behaviours, and my co-author Christine Farquharson presented our joint work on family nurse quality in home visiting.

01 August 2022: I am delighted to join the Board of the Society of Economics of the Household.

29 July 2022: Very happy that my paper on the labour market costs of early menopause has been cited in this DWP report on menopause and the workplace!

12 July 2022: I presented my paper with P. Giustinelli on perceived costs and benefits of compliance at the 7th Empirical Health Economics Workshop (EHEW, virtual).

01 July 2022: My work on health insurance in India (with Malani, Kinnan, Voena et al.) has been featured in Ideas for India and VoxDev.

30 June 2022: I gave a virtual presentation of my paper on expectations and compliance behaviour during the first UK lockdown (with P. Giustinelli) at the “Global health, environment and labour” workshop at Royal Holloway.

27 June 2022: I have presented my work on health insurance in India (with Malani, Kinnan, Voena et al.) at LEAP Development Workshop at the Bocconi University in Milan.

20-21 June 2022: In Barcelona for another successful edition of the BSE Summer Forum on Child Health and Well-Being, my 3rd time as co-organiser and 4th time as participant! I also discussed the paper on breastfeeding and child health by Anne Brenoe (U Zurich), and my co-author Michele Giannola presented our new joint work on parental beliefs on risks and benefits of investments in children.

13-14 June 2022: In Oulu to present at the LongITools General Assembly on our work on lifecourse health production.

07 June 2022: Honoured to give a seminar at HM Treasury in Westminster today on why investing in the early years is a cost-effective allocation of public money.

30 May 2022: I gave the opening keynote at the Canadian National Perinatal Research Meeting on “The Economics of the Developmental Origins of Health and the Lifecourse Impacts of Early Interventions”.

24 May 2022: I presented my paper on parental beliefs, time use and investment in children during COVID-19 at the Society of Economics of the Household (SEHO) Conference in London.

20-21 May 2022: I presented my paper on the health effects of Sure Start and discussed Mari Rege paper “Cross-Productivities of Executive Functions” at the CESIFO workshop ‘Econometric Evaluation of School Reforms’.

19 May 2022: I presented my paper on parental education, genes and inequality in human capital in two British cohorts at the 1st European Social Science Genomics Network (ESSGN) Conference in Bologna.

13 May 2022: I presented my paper on the health effects of Sure Start and discussed V Prowse paper “The Creativity Premium” at the 11th Ifo Dresden workshop on Labour Economics and Social Policy (virtual).

10 May 2022: I presented my paper with P. Giustinelli on subjective expectations and cost-benefit tradeoffs in compliance behaviour at EUI (Florence).

01 May 2022: I am visiting the Department of Economist at EUI (Florence) as Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow in May.

28 April 2022: I presented my work on health insurance in India at the UCL/IFS/LSE/STICERD Development Economics WiP seminar and got very useful comments!

26 April 2022: Proud to have participated to the Royal Economic Society Mentoring Retreat with some advice on research grants writing.

12 April 2022: Last seminar before Easter at the University of Zurich-Economics Department- where I presented the paper on the role of workforce quality on a large-scale home visiting programme.

05 April 2022: Had my first Royal Economic Society mentoring session today and I much enjoyed it!

31 March 2022: Delighted to see the first piece from the work of the Lancet Commission on CYP Maltreatment and VAW published by German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)

22 March 2022: Visited the Institut d’Economia at Universitat de Barcelona, where I presented the paper “Workforce quality in early years interventions: Evidence from a large-scale home visiting program”.

21 March 2022: Visited the Department of Economics at UAB where I presented my paper with Pamela Giustinelli on subjective expectations and cost-benefit tradeoffs in compliance behaviour. Happy to be back in Barcelona!

13 March 2022: Visited (virtually) the University of Oxford Department of Primary Health Care where I presented my paper with Pamela Giustinelli on subjective expectations and cost-benefit tradeoffs in compliance behaviour.

8 March 2022: Visited Aarhus Business School, where I presented the paper with Sarah Cattan and Christine Farquharson on workforce quality in a large-scale home visiting programme. Also happy that my piece with Flavia Bustreo et al. as part of the Lancet Commission on GBV & CYP Maltreatment on the shadow pandemic during COVID-19 in Italy has been published in Salute Globale.

5 March 2022: Happy to announce that I have joined the editorial board of Health Economics as Associate Editor!

3-4 March 2022: Had a productive two-day visit + seminar at CEBI & Department of Economics of U of Copenhagen, where I presented my paper with Pamela Giustinelli on subjective expectations and cost-benefit tradeoffs in compliance behaviour.

24-25 February 2022: So happy to have resumed in-person seminars with the presentation of my paper on the health effects of Sure Start at the Rohit and Harvanit Kumar Conference on the Economics of Early Childhood Education organised by Ariel Kalil in Chicago!

23 February 2022: Delighted that my paper on transcendental meditation in primary school children has been featured in the Today FM podcast. Also, my paper on the persistent health impacts of severe shocks in pregnancy has been featured in VOXEU.

22 February 2022: Honoured to have had the opportunity to present my research at the APPG from Conception to Age 2 meeting on “Health Visitors, Midwives and Family Hubs”, chaired by Tim Loughton MP. The recording is here (I start at 1:23:09).

14 February 2022: Delighted that my paper on transcendental meditation in primary school children has been featured in the Sunday Times!

07 February 2022: Delighted to have been invited to participate as a J-PAL “Invited Researcher” to the J-PAL’s European Social Inclusion Initiative (ESII)!

24 January 2022: My paper “A Demonstration Study of the Quiet Time Transcendental Meditation Program” (with P. Fearon, O. Doyle and V. Oppedisano) has been published in Frontiers in Psychology.

23 January 2022: My work on the labour market impacts of early menopause (with A. Bryson, A. Sullivan et al.) has been featured exclusively in the Daily Mail.

20 January 2022: Delighted that my work on health insurance in India (with A. Malani, C. Kinnan, A. Voena et al.) has been mentioned in the New York Times.

19 January 2022: Third presentation of the year done! Presented my paper on the long-term health impacts on two generations of the NFP Memphis trial at the Brown Bag seminar of the UCL Centre for Global Health Economics.

14 January 2022: Second presentation of the year done! Presented my paper on genes and the intergenerational transmission of human capital at the CESR social science genetics seminar series. Great feedback and super nice audience!

10 January 2021: Delighted to have my first publication in Environmental Epidemiology! “LongITools: Dynamic longitudinal exposome trajectories in cardiovascular and metabolic non-communicable diseases” (with J. Ronkainen, R. Nedelec, T. Juola, S. Sebert et al.).

07 January 2022: First presentation of the year done! IHEA-ASSA session on “Long(er) Term Health Impacts of Interventions in Childhood” where I presented the paper on the long-term health impacts on two generations of the NFP Memphis trial.

02 January 2022: I am delighted to announce that I have been awarded the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship by the European University Institute. I will be delighted to spend May at the beautiful Villa La Fonte!

01 January 2022: Excited to report that I have received >1,000 citations in 2021!! (Source: Google Scholar).

23 December 2021: My paper “The Consequences of Early Menopause and Menopause Symptoms for Labour Market Participation” (with A. Bryson, D. Peycheva, A. Sullivan and R. Hardy) is out in Social Science and Medicine! (Open Access until 10 February 2022).

14 December 2021: So happy to have presented my paper (with S. Cattan and C. Farquharson) “Workforce quality in early intervention: Evidence from a large-scale home visiting programme” at my Alma Mater University of Naples “Federico II”, Department of Economic and Statistical Sciences.

08 December 2021: Very happy that my paper “Effect of Health Insurance in India: A Randomized Controlled Trial” (with A. Malani, P. Holtzman, K. Imai, C. Kinnan, M. Miller, S.Swaminathan, A. Voena and B. Woda) is now out! IFS WP 21-47. HCEO DP 2021-55. IZA DP14913.

02 December 2021: Happy that my paper “A Demonstration Study of the Quiet Time Transcendental Meditation Program” (with O. Doyle, P. Fearon and V. Oppedisano) has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Psychology, section Educational Psychology.

02 December 2021: Delighted to have received a SHS Dean’s Strategic Award for my project “The state of mental health services for under-fives in England”.

01 December 2021: Honoured to have delivered a keynote at the Institute of Health Visiting Evidence-Based Practice Conference on “The State of Health Visiting in England, 2016-2021: Trends and Consequences – First Results” (online).

23 November 2021: Delighted that my research on the health effects of Sure Start has been once again cited in the Guardian.

19 November 2021: Honoured to have contributed written evidence to this important report on the role of public services in addressing child vulnerability.

18 November 2021: The final version of our paper (with S. Cattan, R. Ginja, C. Farquharson and M. Pecher) “The Health Effects of Universal Early Childhood Interventions: Evidence from Sure Start” is out! IFS WP.

16 November 2021: I have given a seminar at University of Warwick on my paper (with S. Cattan and C. Farquharson) “Workforce quality in early intervention: Evidence from a large-scale home visiting programme”.

05 November 2021: I was featured in a piece written by Amandas Ong “The Way Back In”, on the benefits of early childhood interventions for mothers.

05 November 2021: I have given a seminar at SDU on my paper “The Health Effects of Universal Early Childhood Interventions: Evidence from Sure Start”.

01 November 2021: I have been interviewed by Christine Garrington for the DIAL Podcast “Documenting childhood inequalities and the case for early intervention“; I talk about my research on increasing inequalities in socio-emotional skills across British cohorts and its implications for post-COVID, and on the health impacts on Sure Start and its implications for Family Hubs.

28 October 2021: I have presented my paper “Genes, Parental Education, and Inequalities in Human Capital: Evidence two British Cohorts” (with P. Wu) at the IGSS 2021 conference (online).

21 October 2021: I have presented the key lessons from our project GUODLCCI (work w/ Sarah Cattan, Kjell Salvanes et al.) at the final NORFACE DIAL conference (online).

19 October 2021: I have presented with Pamela Giustinelli our work on COVID-19 beliefs and costs and benefits of compliance at the COVID crisis lab seminar series at Bocconi University (online).

14 October 2021: very happy that after years in the making my work on the Dutch famine is out!! “Several Prenatal Shocks and Adolescent Health: Evidence from the Dutch Hunger Winter”, with S. Poupakis, P. Ekamper, G. Bjiward and L.H. Lumey. CEPR DP 16633. IFS WP 36.

21 September 2021: Honoured to have delivered a keynote at the Institute of Health Visiting Evidence-Based Practice Conference on “The State of Health Visiting in England: An Update and Some Proposals” (online).

15 September 2021: Very happy that my paper “The economic costs of child maltreatment in the UK” is out in. Health Economics! Also available as CEPR DP 16397. IZA DP 14612. IFS DP 22/21.

2 September 2021: I have presented my paper on parental beliefs, time use and child development during the first covid-19 wave in England at the IZA/Jacobs Covid and kids conference (online).

24 August 2021: I have presented my paper on the impacts of treatment for Gestational Diabetes (GDM) at the EEA conference (online).

16 August 2021: My new report on the health effects of Sure Start is out! “The health impacts of Sure Start”. Reported in The Guardian, The Telegraph, the Standard, the Daily Mail, the Mirror, the BMJ, Nursery World, CYP Now, Yorkshire Post.

29 July 2021: Very happy to have presented my paper on “Genes, Parental Education, and Inequality in Human Capital: Evidence from two British cohorts” at the NBER Summer Institute Education group (online)!

15 July 2021: My paper on the cost of child maltreatment in UK has been accepted for publication at Health Economics!

07 July 2021: I have been promoted to PROFESSOR!

02 July 2021: I presented my paper “Genes, Maternal Education, and Inequality in Human Capital” at the “Genes, Social Mobility, and Inequalities across the Life-Course” CESIFO workshop (online).

15 June 2021: New brief out! Rebuilding the health visiting workforce: Costing policy proposals (with A. Dow).

15 June 2021: I have presented a poster on the effects of COVID-19 on health visiting at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) conference.

14 June 2021: I have presented my paper on the role of workforce quality in large-scale home visiting programmes at the University of Oxford.

11 June 2021: I have presented my paper on the effects of pollution on fetal development and child health at the European Human Exposome (EHEN) workshop.

08 June 2021: I have presented my paper on the effects of diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes at the GSE Barcelona Summer Forum ‘Policy Evaluation in Health’.

03 June 2021: I have presented two posters on the effects of the pandemic on parents and children and on health visiting services at the workshop “Children aged 0-11 and COVID-19: A conversation event”.

01 June 2021: I have presented the paper on the long-term health effects of prenatal and infancy home visiting programmes at the EQUIPOL seminar series at the University of York.

27 May 2021: Very happy to have given the keynote on “What is the Cost of Child Maltreatment and How we Can Prevent it?” at the Virtual Research Workshop on “Children in out-of-home care” organised by the University of Copenhagen.

24 May 2021: I have chaired the session on Household Health and presented my paper on the health effects of Sure Start at the Society of the Economics of the Household (SEHO) Conference.

21 May 2021: I have presented my paper on the health effects of home visiting programmes in two generations in the Department of Economics at the University of La Sapienza in virtual Rome.

19 May 2021: Very pleased that Abbie Jones (award-winning reporter and presenter BBC news & radio) cited my work on the redeployment of health visitors during the pandemic with reference to problems with child speech post-lockdown in children in the North-West of England..

18 May 2021: Privileged to have been appointed as a scientific advisor to the Lancet Commission for Gender-Based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People, co-led by Flavia Bustreo and Felicia Knaul.

12 May 2021: I have presented my new paper “Early Childhood Inequalities and In-Utero Health Interventions: Evidence from the Treatment of Gestational Diabets” (with P. Rodrigues-Lesmes) in the Department of Economics at the University of Bergen.

10 May 2021: My paper “Overweight and obesity at age 18 after pre-natal famine exposure”, with P. Ekamper, F. van Poppel, G. Bjiward and L.H. Lumey is out in the International Journal of Obesity.

06 May 2021: Thrilled to have shared my new work “Early Childhood Inequalities and In-Utero Health Interventions: Evidence from the Treatment of Gestational Diabets” (with P. Rodrigues-Lesmes) at the NBER Health Economics Spring Meeting (Virtual).

04 May 2021: Very happy to have presented my paper “The Health Effects of Universal Early Childhood Interventions: Evidence from Sure Start” (with S. Cattan, R. Ginja and C. Farquharson) at the Economic Demography Workshop (Virtual).

20 April 2021: I have presented my paper “Perceived Costs and Benefits of Compliance to the COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures: Evidence from Subjective Expectations” (joint with Pamela Giustinelli) at the IZA Research Seminar (Virtual).

19 April 2021: Very happy to have presented my paper “Perceived Costs and Benefits of Compliance to the COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures: Evidence from Subjective Expectations” (joint with Pamela Giustinelli) at the Juli Plant Grainger Public Seminar in the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Virtual).

14 April 2021: I presented my paper “The Health Effects of Early Interventions: Evidence from Sure Start” at the EEF/Durham Evaluators Workshop (Virtual).

11 April 2021: “Impact of lockdown on keyworkers – Findings from the COVID-19 survey in five UK national longitudinal studies” (with C.-C. Topriceanu, A. Wong, J.C. Moon, A. Hughes, D. Bann, N. Chaturvedi, P. Patalay, and G. Captur) is out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

31 March 2021: Delighted that my piece “COVID-19, Childcare Attendance and Child Development in England” (with E. Johnson-Watts) is out in Issues in English, 2021. English Association Editor.

24 March 2021: “Evaluating access to health and care services during lockdown by the COVID-19 survey in five UK national longitudinal studies” (with C.-C. Topriceanu, A. Wong, J.C. Moon, A. Hughes, D. Bann, N. Chaturvedi, P. Patalay, and G. Captur). Online at BMJ Open.

24 March 2021: Gave the weekly QSS seminar at UCL on “Perceived Costs and Benefits of Compliance to the COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures: Evidence from Subjective Expectations” (joint with Pamela Giustinelli).

23 March 2021: Delighted to have participated in the Venice Forum “Why Investing in MNCH is critical for sustainable recovery after COVID-19” (co-organised among others by DOHaD society, FIGO, WMF, PMNCH) in the invited panel “New economic considerations for investing in MNCH” with an intervention on the value of unremunerated contribution to population health.

10 March 2021: My research on the redeployment of health visitor during the first COVID-19 lockdown has been cited in the Westminster Hall Debate on maternal mental health led by Sarah Olney MP.

10 March 2021: Happy to have presented at Glasgow University Adam Smith Business School seminar in Applied Economics “Perceived Costs and Benefits of Compliance to the COVID-19 Social Distancing Measures: Evidence from Subjective Expectations” (joint with Pamela Giustinelli).

08 March 2021: very happy that my paper “The effects of home visiting on mother-child interactions: Evidence from a randomised trial using dynamic micro-level data” (with S. Poupakis, M. Sandner and S. Kliem). IFS WP 2020-4. HCEO WP 2019-66, IZA DP 12397 has been published in Child Abuse and Neglect. Free download for 50 days here!

01 March 2021: very happy that my paper “Evaluating access to health and care services during lockdown by the COVID-19 survey in five UK national longitudinal studies” (with C.-C. Topriceanu, A. Wong, J.C. Moon, A. Hughes, D. Bann, N. Chaturvedi, P. Patalay, and G. Captur) has been accepted at the BMJ Open.

20 February 2021: “The Economics of Multisystemic Resilience” (with T. Paredes), in Multisystemic Resilience (M. Ungar Editor, OUP) is out and open access!

19 February 2021: Delighted to have presented on the health effects of home visiting at DIW Berlin.

17 February 2021: My paper “Impact of lockdown on keyworkers – Findings from the COVID-19 survey in five UK national longitudinal studies” (with C.-C. Topriceanu, A. Wong, J.C. Moon, A. Hughes, D. Bann, N. Chaturvedi, P. Patalay, and G. Captur) has been accepted at the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

16 February 2021: My paper “Overweight and obesity at age 18 after pre-natal famine exposure”, with P. Ekamper, F. van Poppel, G. Bjiward and L.H. Lumey has been accepted at International Journal of Obesity.

30 January 2021: Delighted to have been awarded a SHS Dean Strategic Fund Award for my project “The impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting in Scotland and Wales”.

27 January 2021: my article “Post-COVID economic recovery: women and children first…or last?” (with M. Hanson and N. Moodi) is published online at the Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

25 January 2021: very happy to have presented on home visiting programmes at the Broom seminar of the University of California in Santa Barbara.

03-05 January 2021: two papers presented at the AEA/ASSA meetings! On costs and benefits of social distancing during COVID-19 and on the health effects of Sure Start.

22 December 2020: The NEW HEALTH VISITING BRIEF IS OUT! “The impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting Services in England: FOI Evidence for the First Wave” (with A. Dow).

16 December 2020: Delighted to be invited to join the Centre for Economic Policy Research as Research Fellow in the Public Economics Programme!

14 December 2020: My paper “Who Benefits From Free Health Insurance: Evidence from Mexico” (with R. Ginja) is published on line at the Journal of Human Resources!

07 December 2020: I presented at the FYIR monthly meeting a comment on the Royal Foundation report and my latest research on parental beliefs during the pandemic, you can find the video here (and below).

03 December 2020: My paper “Influence of childhood socio-economic position and ability on mid-life cognitive function – evidence from three British birth cohorts” (with E. McElroy, M. Richards, E. Fitzsimons, G. Ploubidis, A. Sullivan and V. Moulton) has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

19 November 2020: Gave a talk at the Health Economics Virtual Series (HEAL) at the University of Lancaster.

18 November 2020: Gave a seminar at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy).

06 November 2020: Had a great time giving a talk at the joint applied micro seminar of Cambridge and Essex!

06 November 2020: Check out this short video on our pilot of the Quiet Time Transcendental Meditation intervention in one primary school in London, in collaboration with the David Lynch Foundation.

03 November 2020: I felt really privileged to talk to 16-18 yo girls at the Notting Hill and Ealing High School on what a great tool economics is to study a variety of problems & improve society – w/ examples from my research on health & interventions to promote childhood (and adult) development.

30 October 2020: I chaired a session at the NORFACE conference on intergenerational mobility (organized by Kjell Salvanes), where my co-author Ella Johnson-Watts (IFS) presented our work on prenatal pollution shocks, fetal growth and child development.

29 October 2020: Delighted that my research on the COVID-19 effects of health visiting has been featured in the Guardian.

29 October 2020: I gave an invited talk on the covid-economics of child development and early interventions at the webinar series of the Union of European Neonatal and Perinatal Societies on COVID-19 and Global Health.

28 October 2020: I presented my paper on medium-term effects of nurse home visiting at the University of Surrey.

19 October 2020: My paper “Who Benefits From Free Health Insurance: Evidence from Mexico” has been accepted at the Journal of Human Resources!

16 October 2020: “The effects of home visiting on mother-child interactions: Evidence from a randomised trial using dynamic micro-level data” (with S. Poupakis, M. Sandner and S. Kliem). IFS WP 2020-4. HCEO WP 2019-66, IZA DP 12397 is “Revise and resubmit” at Child Abuse and Neglect.

29 September 2020: My research on health visiting has been featured in Yahoo Style UK. Updated brief of my research on health visiting also available.

22 September 2020: My research on health visiting has been featured with an interview in BBC Radio 4 File on 4 “Expecting alone” (I speak at 19:25).

22 September 2020: New paper out “Building resilient societies after COVID-19 requires multifaceted investment targeting maternal, neonatal and child health“ (with C.M. Jacob, D.D. Briana, G.C. Di Renzo, N. Modi, F. Bustreo, A. Malamitsi-Puchner, and M. Hanson). In The Lancet Public Health.

15 September 2020: New preprint out “Inequality in access to health and care services during lockdown – Findings from the COVID-19 survey in five UK national longitudinal studies“.

26 August 2020: “A guide to the cognitive measures in five British birth cohort studies” is available! A comprehensive guide to all the cognitive measures at different ages across the life course in 5 British birth cohorts (NSHD, NCDS, BCS70, ALSPAC, MCS).

30 July 2020: One more brief out! “Parental involvement in home schooling and developmental play during lockdown” (with A. Villadsen and E. Fitzsimons). Press Release. Covered in The Guardian, top story in the Guardian’s morning briefing, Daily Telegraph, INews, LBC News, Financial Times.

29 July 2020: Excited to share the first results of my study “The impacts of COVID-19 on Health Visiting in England”! Covered in UCL News, Nursery World with a comment by Russell Viner (RCPCH President), IHV News with a comment by Cheryll Adams (IHV Director), Local Government Chronicle, and Nursing Standard and Nursing Times, both with a reply by the Department for Health and Social Care; CYP Now, Nursery World again with an opinion piece by Russell Viner (RCPCH President).

13 July 2020: First results out of my study with Pamela Giustinelli (Bocconi University in Milan) on risk perceptions and compliance behaviour in the coronavirus pandemic (in Italian): women in Italy are more likely to comply with social distancing measures and have also a higher willingness to pay for tests; men are more likely to download and use the app “Immuni”.

11 July 2020: Happy to present at the interdisciplinary conference on coronavirus and childhood “Rainbows in our windows: Childhood in the time of corona”!

01 July 2020: Excited at my new appointment as Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics!

18 June 2020: Very happy that my new project with Pamela Giustinelli (Bocconi University) has been selected for the IHEA ASSA session on “Impact of COVID-19 information and policies on risk perceptions, preventive behaviors and pro-social behavior”. More on it soon!

15-17 June 2020: Excited to co-organize the Barcelona Summer Forum on “Children’s Health, Well-Being, and Human Capital Formation“, in virtual mode this year!

30 May 2020: NEW version of my paper “Beyond Birth Weight: The Origins of Human Capital“.

10 May 2020: Delighted to have been selected as one of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute (OIGI) Visiting Scholars at the Minneapolis Fed for 2020-21!

07 May 2020: New podcast with UCL colleagues from Economics and Political Science “How will the covid change nations, economies and health systems”. Talked about the impact of the pandemic on health inequalities, parents and children, and the importance of early interventions and public health.

01 May 2020: New column out in VOXEU: “Supporting parents and children in the early years during (and after) the covid-19 crisis. Including the very first results of my work on health visiting in England!

30 March 2020: My new paper “Inequality in socio-emotional skills: A cross-cohort comparison” with O. Attanasio, R. Blundell and G. Mason is out in the Journal of Public Economics! We find that inequality in children’s socio-emotional skills (externalising and internalising) measured at age 5 has increased across two cohorts born 30 years apart (1970 and 2000). The paper has been covered in The Telegraph.

11 March 2020: here is my comment on the first post-Brexit budget (health) in The Conversation.

25 February 2020: my IFS report on the health effects of Sure Start is cited in the “Marmot Review 10 years on”.

20 February 2020: delighted to have presented my paper “Medium-term impacts of prenatal and infancy home visiting programs: evidence from a randomized trial” at the Department of Economics seminar at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in Louvain-la-Neuve.

15 February 2020: our report on the health impacts of Sure Start children’s centres has been cited in the Mirror: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/voice-mirror-sure-start-centre-21506217 and https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-closed-1300-family-centres-21506487 “Better that Sure Starts catch ­problems early than for them to fester and cost the NHS an extra £5million a year”.

06 February 2020: our report on the health impacts of Sure Start children’s centres has been cited in this excellent opinion piece by Alice O’Keeffe in the Guardian.

26 December 2019: the impact of Sure Start children’s centres between 2000 and 2010 has been voted #4 public health achievement of the decade! https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/23/smoking-ban-tops-list-of-21st-century-uk-public-health-achievements

20 November 2019: my two papers on the long-term impacts of the Nurse Family Partnership on children and mothers are out in Pediatrics!

18 November 2019: Honoured to be part of the FYIR UK delegation to provide evidence and advice on early years policy to the French “Commission des 1000 premiers jours de l’enfant” in support of the new Macron initiative at the Ministry of Solidarity and Health in Paris.

23 October 2019: Honoured to deliver the Nick Hales Award Lecture “The Economics of the Developmental Origins of Health and the Lifecourse Impacts of Early Interventions” and to receive the prize at the DOHaD World Congress in Melbourne.

20 October 2019: I participated to the NIH-funded Reversibility Workshop at the DOHaD World Congress in Melbourne with the talk “Pathways Linking Early Adversity
to Later Life Health and their Econometric Implications”.

18 October 2019: I presented the paper “(Growing) Up in Smoke? Pre- and Post-Natal Smoking and Child Development” (with S. Cattan and F. Salvati) in the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne.

15 October 2019: I presented an overview of my research “The Economics of the Developmental Origins of Health and the Lifelong Impacts of Early Interventions” at the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research at Western Sydney University.

14 October 2019: Honoured and excited at being awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics!

14 October 2019: I had a great time visiting the University of Sidney and presenting the paper “(Growing) Up in Smoke? Pre- and Post-Natal Smoking and Child Development” (with S. Cattan and F. Salvati).

3 October 2019: I have been very excited to present the very first results of my work with O. Attanasio, P. Jervis and C. Meghir “The Biology of Child Development: DNA Experimental Evidence from Colombia” at the 10th annual Integrating Genetics and the Social Sciences (IGSS) conference in Boulder (CO).

10 September 2019: I was honoured to present on the “Economics of Early Interventions” at the annual conference of the Institute of Health Visiting, in front of many inspirational health visitors and public health practitioners.

July 2019: I have received £3.5k seed funding from the UCL “Cities Partnerships Programme: Rome Funds” for the project “The impact of maternal labor protection on pregnancy outcomes and infant health”, in collaboration with V. Atella and J. Kopinska (U. of Tor Vergata) and M. Lindeboom (U. of Amsterdam).

June 2019: I am delighted to have been nominated “Invited Researcher” for JPAL-LAC!

June 2019: I am honoured to have been awarded the Nick Hales Award by the DOHaD society for my work! This is awarded every two years to “a young and emerging investigator who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to the DOHaD field”. I am looking forward to give a plenary talk at the DOHaD World Congress in Melbourne in October

04 June 2019: My work with Sarah Cattan (IFS), Christine Farquahrson (IFS) and Rita Ginja (Bergen U) on the health effects of Sure Start is out! https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14139

31 May 2019: New paper out in the Lancet! “Preconception health in England: a proposal for annual reporting with core metrics” with J. Stephenson, C. Vogel, J. Hall et al.

27 May 2019: I gave the keynote on “The Developmental Origins of Health Inequality” at workshop “The social gradient in human capital formation”, University of Uppsala and IFAU.

27 February 2019: I presented my research on “The Long-Term Effects of Early Interventions” at the APPG 1001 Days in Westminster.

13 February 2019: I have given a talk on “The Health Economics of Early Interventions” at the UCL Health Economics for Translational Research event.

6 February 2019: I gave a seminar at the University of Strathclyde on the paper “Health Effects of In Utero Exposure to the Dutch Hunger Winter”.

February 2019: I have received 2k seed funding from the UCL SHS Dean “Seeding and Harvesting Research Fund” for my project pilot on “Subjective Health Returns to Lifestyles”, in collaboration with P. Giustinelli (Bocconi).

21 January 2019: I presented my research on “The Long-Term Effects of Early Interventions” at the FYIR meeting in Westminster.

6 January 2019: I presented my paper “The Value of Health Insurance: A Household Job Search Approach” at the ASSA meetings (IHEA session) in Atlanta.

January 2019: I have received £5k seed funding from the UCL “Cities Partnerships Programme: Rome Funds” for the project “Policy Options to Reduce the Burden of Disease in England: A Dynamic Microsimulation Model”, in collaboration with V. Atella and A. Mortari (U. of Tor Vergata).

29 November 2018: I have been awarded a 5-year ERC Consolidator Grant for my project “The Developmental Origins of Health: Biology, Shocks, Investments, and Policies“.

November 2018: NEW WORKING PAPER “BEYOND BIRTH WEIGHT: THE ORIGINS OF HUMAN CAPITAL” with M. Hanson, S. Crozier, H. Inksip, C. Cooper and K. Godfrey. What’s in birth weight? Which aspects of the prenatal environment it reflects? What can we learn from fetal ultrasound data on prenatal development?

November 2018: my paper “The value of health insurance: a household job search approach” (with R. Ginja and R. Narita) has been featured in the HCEO Research Spotlight.

November 2018: my new working paper “Inequality in socio-emotional skills: a cross-cohort comparison” (with O. Attanasio, R. Blundell and G. Mason) is the most downloaded HCEO working paper in October 2018!

October 2018: I have been awarded a NIA/NIH grant to calculate polygenic scores for health and socio-economic outcomes using the genome-wide data available in the National Child Development Study and investigate the role of genes and their interactions with environments across the life course.

October 2018: new working paper “Inequality in socio-emotional skills: a cross-cohort comparison” (with O. Attanasio, R. Blundell and G. Mason). We find an increase in inequality in socio-emotional skills of 5-year old children born in 1970 and in 2000 in Britain, especially for the boys.

October 2018: my new working paper “The value of health insurance: a household job search approach” (with R. Ginja and R. Narita) is the most downloaded HCEO WP and the most downloaded IFS WP also in September 2018.

24 September 2018: I have presented the paper “Workforce quality in early intervention: Evidence from a large-scale home-visiting programme” at NYU Abu Dhabi.

21 September 2018: I have presented the paper “The value of health insurance: a household job search approach” at the CEPR/IZA Annual Labor Economics Workshop at Sciences Po, Paris.

September 2018: I have been awarded a Research Grant by the Economic and Social Research Council to digitize for the first time detailed data that was collected from teachers in the National Child Development Study (at age 7 in 1965, and at age 11 in 1969) on childhood behaviours, from the Bristol Social Adjustment Guide (BSAG) (co-PI with A. Goodman). This will make the NCDS the largest and oldest representative cohort with information on child mental health and socio-emotional traits.

11 September 2018: I have presented the paper “Workforce quality in early intervention: Evidence from a large-scale home-visiting programme” at the 3rd York Workshop of Labour and Family Economics (WOLFE).

September 2018: my new working paper “The value of health insurance: a household job search approach” (with R. Ginja and R. Narita) is the most downloaded HCEO WP in August 2018.

September 2018: I have been awarded a Small Research Grant from BA/Leverhulme Trust for the project “Fostering inmates’ well-being and mental health through meditation: a prison pilot” (PI F. Cornaglia, co-Is I. Rasul, V. Oppedisano, J. Jackson and D. Parsons).

06 September 2018: I have delivered an invited plenary talk at the XXVI European Congress of Perinatal Medicine in St. Petersburg on “Costs and Benefits of Pregnancy Interventions”.

23 August 2018: I have delivered the closing keynote lecture at the Nordic Health Economics Study Group (NHESG) in Tromso on “Early Intervention and Health across the Life Course”.

July 2018: I have been awarded a Small Grant from UCL Grand Challenges for the project “Boosting positive development in adolescence: a pilot study on meditation in school”.