About

The establishment of the Dr. R.G.N. Laidlaw Research Centre, dedicated on April 2, 1992, is a tribute to the leadership and work of Dr. Nicholas Laidlaw, who devoted his professional life as a psychologist, lecturer and researcher to the Institute of Child Study. A generous endowment from the Laidlaw Foundation ensures that resources and infrastructure are available at the Institute to continue a tradition of research scholarship aimed at understanding child development-to benefit current and future generations of children and families, here and around the world.

Our centre’s mandate is to support applied multidisciplinary research in child development and foster research connections around particular child study themes. As an integral unit of the Institute’s tri-partite mission, we advance collaborations among faculty, the graduate students who are pursuing combined research and professional training in our Master of Arts (MA) in Child Study and Education program, the Laboratory School teacher-researchers, academic colleagues at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and across the university, as well as with our many community partners and sponsoring organizations.

The aim of the Laidlaw Research Centre (LRC) is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, bring together researchers throughout the university and beyond who are interested in advancing the field of child study. Members of the LRC are faculty and affiliated researchers associated with the Institute, the Lab School and programs in the Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development (APHD) at OISE.