UPDATE SEPTEMBER 24: This event has been canceled due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts. A new event will be planned to open the speaker series later this fall.
The Early Childhood Speaker Series, co-sponsored by the Early Childhood and Family Studies (ECEFS) Certificate Program and the Penn Early Childhood and Family Research Center (PECF), invites you to its 2026–2027 season this fall with a talk by Hirokazu Yoshikawa (he/him), the Courtney Sale Ross Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU Steinhardt, a Professor of Applied Psychology, and a University Professor at NYU.
Understanding and Supporting Infant, Toddler, and Early Childhood Development in Contexts of Displacement and Crisis
Worldwide, 104.3 million people are currently forcibly displaced, of whom 39% are children. This talk will present data from several studies that aim to understand how early development unfolds in contexts of displacement and crisis and how to support early childhood development through research–practice and research–advocacy partnerships. Evidence and examples will be presented from such partnerships in Bangladesh, Lebanon, and the U.S.
About the Speaker
Hirokazu Yoshikawa (he/him) is a University Professor at NYU. He is a community and developmental psychologist who conducts research–policy, research–advocacy, and research–practice partnerships related to immigration, early childhood development, youth development, sexual orientation and gender identity, and poverty reduction. He has conducted research in the U.S. and in Latin America, South Asia, and the Middle East. He is the author of Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children, the first scholarly book to focus on mixed-status families with young children in the U.S. From 2014 to 2024 he was founding co-director (with Larry Aber) of the Global TIES for Children research center at NYU. He received the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize from the Jacobs Foundation in 2025. In 2026 he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.