Topic description and stories

Understanding the implications of enabling children to grow into healthy, happy, educated and inquiring adults, in safety and free from adversity.

Illustration of futuristic pill next to a stethoscope

AI can be good for our health and wellbeing

07 Apr 2025

Cambridge researchers are looking at ways that AI can transform everything from drug discovery to Alzheimer's diagnoses to GP consultations.

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Children’s hospital ward

Play 'humanises' paediatric care and should be key feature of a child-friendly NHS – report

31 Mar 2025

The Cambridge report argues that play should be a recognised component of children’s healthcare in the Government’s forthcoming 10-year plan for the...

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Teenager holding a smartphone

Cambridge leads governmental project to understand impact of smartphones and social media on young people

16 Jan 2025

Cambridge researchers are leading the first phase of a new research project that will lay the groundwork for future studies into the impact on...

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Smiling girl with the sun behind her

‘Teen-friendly’ mindfulness therapy aims to help combat depression

18 Nov 2024

Researchers have developed a mindfulness therapy tailored specifically to appeal to teenagers to help them cope with increasing levels of depression...

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Jan Steen, Mother and Child (17th-century painting). Image courtesy of York Museums Trust

Early foster care gave poor women power, 17th-century records reveal

03 Oct 2024

A rare collection of 300-year-old petitions gives voice to the forgotten women who cared for England’s most vulnerable children while battling their...

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Boy sitting in the rubble of a destroyed UNRWA school in Nuseirat, Middle Areas, Gaza 2024

Palestinian education ‘under attack’, leaving a generation close to losing hope, study warns

25 Sep 2024

Ongoing war in Gaza will set children and young people’s education back by up to 5 years, report suggests.

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ULEZ signs in London

Children switch to walking and cycling to school after introduction of London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone

05 Sep 2024

Four in ten children in Central London who travelled to school by car switched to more active modes of transport, such as walking, cycling, or public...

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Empathy lessons at Kingsmead School, Enfield, UK

One term of empathy training measurably improved classroom behaviour

28 Aug 2024

A study involving 900 students in 6 countries found that a short programme of empathy lessons led to measurable, positive changes in their conduct...

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Artist's impression of Cambridge Children's Hospital.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital moves ahead as plans for new hospital approved by ministers

27 Aug 2024

Major milestone for first specialist children’s hospital in the East of England.

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An Asian teenager with type 1 diabetes uses an at home glucometer to test his blood sugar levels

‘Diabetes distress’ increases risk of mental health problems among young people living with type 1 diabetes

17 Jul 2024

Children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are at significantly higher risk of a number of mental health issues, including mood and anxiety disorders, a...

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Boy eating a burger

Ultra-processed food makes up almost two-thirds of calorie intake of UK adolescents

17 Jul 2024

Adolescents consume around two-thirds of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods (UPFs), new research from the Universities of Cambridge and...

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Child playing on tablet

AI Chatbots have shown they have an ‘empathy gap’ that children are likely to miss

15 Jul 2024

New study proposes a framework for “Child Safe AI” following recent incidents which revealed that many children see chatbots as quasi-human and...

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