Welcome to the Pickering Centre for Research in Human Development!
It is my great pleasure to serve as the Director of the Pickering Centre for Research in Human Development, and I’m so glad you decided to visit our website. I’m eager to share our mission with you and explain where we’ve come from and where we plan to go in the coming years.
The Pickering Centre officially launched in 2011 with a focus on research collaboration, promoting student scholarship, exchanging knowledge about child and youth development with our community, and spotlighting the contributions of Canada’s most outstanding developmental scholars through our annual award. Our core goals remain the same, but we have reflected as an organization on how we can expand our reach and broaden our impact.
Our renewed mission for the Pickering Centre emphasizes providing a scholarly community for early-career researchers studying human development to hone their skills, gain experience, and expand their professional networks; knowledge exchange between academic researchers, students, and other professions at and beyond our semi-regular Development conference; and evidence-based guidance to support individuals and families as they navigate major life transitions.
This website—newly designed in 2023—is the result of some first steps toward achieving our renewed mission. Browse our website to discover ongoing projects, hear inspiring success stories and achievements, find resources about navigating important life transitions, learn about our faculty and students, and—if you are an aspiring researcher—discover why the Pickering Centre at Carleton University is a great choice for graduate studies in developmental psychology.
I’m proud of our achievements to date, but I’m even more excited about what’s next for the Pickering Centre. I invite you to check back often as we unveil new initiatives in the coming months.
Thank you for being part of our journey and sharing in our mission to advance understanding of how people grow, adapt, and thrive across the lifespan.
Andrea Howard, Ph.D.
Director, Pickering Centre for Research in Human Development