Who We Are

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Governing Council

Description
The Governing Council is comprised of a President, President-Elect, Past President, Secretary and At-Large members.  The President, Secretary, and a subset of At-Large Members are elected by the members.  The remainder of At-Large members are appointed by the Governing Council to ensure maximal diversity of representation.  All Governing Council Members serve 6-year terms.

Committees

Description
The Society has 15 standing and operational committees that contribute to a more vibrant Society and help advance child development research. Each committee has its own charge from SRCD’s Governing Council and generates its own activities.

Caucuses

Description
Caucuses of SRCD support the goal of integrating diversity in the broader society, as outlined in Goal 3 of SRCD’s Strategic Plan.

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The History of SRCD

In 1925, the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science founded the Committee on Child Development which, in 1933, became the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). At the time, the Committee and then Society identified as SRCD’s goals “to stimulate and support research, to encourage cooperation among individuals engaged in the scientific study of child development, and to encourage applications of research findings.”

Over the intervening decades, these goals have persisted, with the Society’s Strategic Plan now framed more concisely:

The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) advances the developmental sciences and promotes the use of developmental research to improve human lives.

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Headquarters

The Society’s original office was housed within the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan. In 2011, SRCD formally separated from the University of Michigan and opened a separate headquarters based in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA.

In 1978, SRCD’s Governing Council voted to set up a separate Washington Liaison Office in Washington, DC USA. This office was temporarily closed in 1989 and subsequently reopened in 2004.

In 2015, as part of its Strategic Visioning process, the Governing Council of SRCD made the decision to move the Society headquarters to Washington, DC to increase its visibility and impact as an organization, merging the headquarters with the DC-based Policy Office. In 2017, SRCD moved to its present headquarters.

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Journals

In 1927, the Society launched its first journal, Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography, which subsequently became Child Development, the premier journal in developmental science.

In 1935, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development was launched as an outlet for in-depth research studies drawing on rich, comprehensive datasets and has continued to provide a unique outlet for large-scale comprehensive research projects in the developmental sciences.

SRCD began publishing the Social Policy Report in 1994, a periodically released synthesis of policy research and its implications for policymakers.

SRCD’s youngest journal, Child Development Perspectives, was launched in 2007 with the intention of preparing brief, accessibly-written synthesized review articles on topics of current interest across developmental science.

SRCD has also issued a series of briefs and fact sheets, that are designed to be easily accessible overviews of research with important and timely policy implications.

Meetings

The first meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development was held in 1934 in Washington DC.  Subsequent meetings were held in 1936, 1938, 1940, and 1946 before the now well-established routine of holding Biennial Meetings in odd-numbered years commencing in 1953 and continuing until the present. Historically, these meetings have been convened in the United States, with two meetings held in Canada. 

In 2012, SRCD began holding Special Topic Meetings in the even-numbered years (the off-years from the Biennial Meetings).  These Special Topic meetings are smaller in size and much more focused in scope. The Special Topic Meetings present opportunities for more intimate networking and information exchange and have proven especially valuable for students and early career attendees seeking opportunities to network with more senior figures in their research areas.

See complete lists of Biennial Meetings and Special Topic Meetings below.

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Although the goals of the Society have remained constant over the years since its inception, the landscape of developmental science has changed dramatically in recent decades, as has the size and diversity of SRCD’s membership, the attendance at our Biennial Meeting, and the scope and impact of the research published in our journals. As the field has grown, the landscape of developmental science has changed dramatically in recent decades, as has the size and scope of SRCD’s membership.

SRCD now has over 5500 members hailing from over 60 countries. SRCD members also come from a diverse array of disciplines including Psychology, Anthropology, Education, Human Development, Neuroscience, Sociology, Economics, Linguistics, Social Work, Communications and more. Our members’ research spans ages, topics, approaches, and levels of analysis.

Today, SRCD’s governance and leadership have committed to re-invigorating the Society’s mission in a manner that reflects the needs, interests, and goals of contemporary developmental scholars.

Oral History Project     Developments Newsletter Archive

Biennial Meeting Archive

Biennial Meeting Dates & Locations

Dates Year Location
  1934 National Research Council – Washington, DC, USA
  1936 National Research Council – Washington, DC, USA
  1938 University of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois, USA
  1940 Harvard Medical School – Boston, Massachusetts, USA
  1946 St. Louis, Missouri, USA
  1953 Antioch College – Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA
  1955 University of Illinois – Champaign, Illinois, USA
  1957 University of Iowa – Iowa City, Iowa, USA
  1959 NIH – Bethesda, Maryland, USA (25th Anniversary of the Society)
March 15-18 1961 Pennsylvania State University – State College, Pennsylvania, USA
April 10-13 1963 University of California – Berkeley, California, USA
May 24-27 1965 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
March 29-April 1 1967 New York, New York, USA
March 26-29 1969 Santa Monica, California, USA
April 1-4 1971 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
March 29-April 1 1973 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
April 10-13 1975 Denver, Colorado, USA
March 17-20 1977 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
March 15-18 1979 San Francisco, California, USA
April 2-5 1981 Boston, Massachusetts, USA
April 21-24 1983 Detroit, Michigan, USA (50th Anniversary of the Society)
April 25-28 1985 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
April 23-26 1987 Baltimore, Maryland, USA
April 27-30 1989 Kansas City, Missouri, USA
April 18-20 1991 Seattle, Washington, USA
March 25-28 1993 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
March 30-April 2 1995 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
April 3-6 1997 Washington, DC, USA
April 15-18 1999 Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
April 20-23 2001 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
April 24-27 2003 Tampa, Florida, USA (70th Anniversary of the Society)
April 7-10 2005 Atlanta, Georgia, USA
March 29-April 1 2007 Boston, Massachusetts, USA (75th Anniversary Observance)
April 2-4 2009 Denver, Colorado, USA
March 31-April 2 2011 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
April 18-20 2013 Seattle, Washington, USA
March 19-21 2015 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
April 6-8 2017 Austin, Texas, USA
March 21-23 2019 Baltimore, Maryland, USA
April 7-9 2021 Virtual
March 23-25 2023 Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
April 30-May 3 2025 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
April 8-10 2027 Atlanta, Georgia, USA
March 22-24 2029 St. Louis, Missouri, USA

 

Special Topic Meeting Archive

Special Topic Meeting Dates, Locations, and Topics

Topic Location Dates Year
Toward a Holistic Developmental Science: Catalyzing Transdisciplinary Multi-Sector Collaborations to Understand and Support Human Development St. Louis, Missouri, USA September 29-October 1 2022
Construction of the 'Other': Development, Consequences, and Applied Implications of Prejudice and Discrimination Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, USA May 2-4 2022
Learning through Play and Imagination: Expanding Perspectives St. Louis, Missouri, USA April 1-2 2022
Special Topic Workshop: Connecting Worlds: Studying Child Development in Low Resource Contexts Virtual December 1-3 2020
Special Topic Workshop: Addressing and Reducing Inequality through Developmental Science Virtual November 9-10 2020
Special Topic Workshop: Strengthening the Evidence Base for Culturally Relevant Interventions in Early Childhood Care and Education Virtual November 8-11 2020
Special Topic Workshop: The State of Research on Prevention of Child Maltreatment: Current Knowledge and Future Directions to Inform Policy and Practice Virtual October 23, 30, & November 6 2020
Promoting Character Development Among Diverse Children and Adolescents: The Roles of Families, Schools, and Out-Of-School-Time Youth Development Programs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA October 18-20 2018
DEVSEC: Conference on the Use of Secondary and Open Source Data in Developmental Science Phoenix, Arizona, USA October 4-6 2018
Technology and Media in Children's Development Irvine, California, USA October 27-30 2016
Babies, Boys and Men of Color Tampa, Florida, USA October 6-8 2016
Social Neuroscience Perspectives on Child Development Leiden, The Netherlands September 16-17 2015
New Conceptualizations in the Study of Parenting-At-Risk San Diego, California, USA November 13-15 2014
Positive Youth Development (PYD) in the Context of the Global Recession Prague, Czech Republic October 23-25 2014
Developmental Methodology San Diego, California, USA September 11-13 2014
Strengthening Connections Among Child and Family Research, Policy and Practice Alexandria, Virginia, USA April 3-5 2014
Transitions from Adolescence to Adulthood Tampa, Florida, USA October 18–20 2012
Developmental Methodology Tampa, Florida, USA February 9-11 2012
Positive Development of Minority Children Program Tampa, Florida, USA February 9-11 2012