Better Start Bradford and Born in Bradford Conference: 15 and 16 October 2025

John Wright is a doctor and epidemiologist with a background in hospital medicine and public health in the UK and in Africa.

He established and leads the Bradford Institute for Health Research and Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research.

He is Director of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration and Visiting Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Universities of York, Bristol, Leeds and Bradford.

In 2007 he set up the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort study and in 2016 set up the world’s first interventional birth cohort Born in Bradford’s Better Start.

He leads Connected Bradford, one of the richest whole system datasets in the UK and established ActEarly to develop a whole systems City Collaboratory approach to improving the health and life chances of children from deprived communities in London and Yorkshire.

John has worked to develop sustainable public health programmes in Africa for 30 years and has reported for the BBC on programmes covering Born in Bradford, Ebola and The NHS Frontline.

Gill is Director of Better Start Bradford.

She is passionate about the importance of getting it right in the first years of life and strongly believes in supporting parents during this important part of their child’s life. She is really proud of the opportunities Better Start Bradford offers to learn about what works in prevention and early intervention in a complex local system and with diverse communities such as those in the Better Start Bradford area. The opportunity to work with Born in Bradford to have a top-class evaluation has been a great bonus in achieving this learning.

Gill’s ambition for the Better Start Bradford programme is to create a lasting change which will benefit babies, children and families in Bradford and, more widely, for generations. She wants all our children to do well and for the inequalities in outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged children to be reduced.

Gill works with a partnership across sectors and with a strong parent voice. Bringing together health, early years and research has created a strong driver of system change and integration of research into practice. Bradford has benefitted significantly from Gill and the team securing the 10 year funding for this innovative programme.

Gill is loyal and positive about Bradford, having lived and worked here for most of her life. Outside Bradford, she was Director of Public Policy for national charity Rathbone, CEO of Voluntary Action Wakefield and Project Manager/Co-ordinator at Bradford Resource Centre. She has mostly worked in the voluntary and community sector, with a focus on community empowerment, access to resources and access to knowledge. She has always worked to reduce inequalities and tackle disadvantage. She was a qualified NCT antenatal teacher, parenting teacher, welfare benefits trainer, school governor and has been involved in health service governance and user groups for more than 30 years.

Publications, contributing author:

Born in Bradford’s Better Start: and experimental birth cohort study to evaluate the impact of early life interventions. BMC public health 711. DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3318-0 PMID 27488369

Integrating lessons from system-wide practice in public health: lessons learnt from Better Start Bradford. BMC Public Health DOI 10.1186/s12889-019-6554-2

Nichols J, Coldwell H, McIntosh B & Thornton G (2016) Towards a collective understanding of Social Cost Benefit and Value. The Journal of Strategy, Operations and Economics, 2 (1). http://www.soejournal.com/index.php/soe/article/view/22

Kate is currently Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Health Sciences, University of York, where she leads the Public Health & Society research group and is Director of the Born in Bradford Centre for Social Change at the University of York. She is an academic co-director of Health Equity North.

Kate trained in biological anthropology at University of Cambridge, nutritional sciences at Cornell University and epidemiology at UC-Berkeley.

Kate is a Fellow of the RSA and of the UK Faculty of Public Health and the Academy of Social Sciences. She is co-author, with Richard Wilkinson, of the award-winning and best-selling The Spirit Level (2009) and The Inner Level (2018). The Spirit Level was awarded Publication of the Year by the Political Studies Association, chosen as one of the Top Ten Books of the Decade by the New Statesman, and one of the top 100 books of the century by the Guardian. She is a co-founder and patron of The Equality Trust. In 2023, Kate received an OBE for services to societal equality.

Kirsty Crossley is a Programme Coordinator at the Bradford Institute for Health Research, with a background in Psychology (MPsyc, BSc, University of Leeds) and a key interest in early childhood development.

For over four years, Kirsty has played a central role in the Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) cohort study, working to ensure the cohort reflects the diverse families living in inner-city Bradford. She has supported a wide range of research projects and evaluations that utilise BiBBS data, and is committed to sharing findings in accessible ways and building strong research-to-practice partnerships.

Kirsty brings particular strengths in cohort management, community engagement, and fostering cross-sector collaboration. She is especially motivated by the opportunity to improve early childhood outcomes through inclusive, community-informed research.

At this conference, Kirsty will introduce the BiBBS cohort and highlight how it can be harnessed for future research. She will also present the team’s latest initiative — BiBBS ACHIEVE — a new follow-up programme designed to build on the success of BiBBS and generate ongoing insights into early childhood development.

Sara is the Programme Manager at the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub and works closely with the research team to develop and implement evaluations of community based projects delivered as part of the Better Start Bradford programme.

She also leads the Community Engagement workstream of the Innovation Hub.

Her current work focuses on building capacity around evaluation and understanding engagement with and access to community based projects and services.

Sara has a background in Psychology, gaining her PhD at the University of Leeds. She joined the Born in Bradford team in 2014 and since then her research has focused on exploring the determinants of health related behaviours and promoting healthier lifestyles for families and children using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Claire Cameron is Professor of Social Pedagogy at the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the UCL Institute of Education.

She has a long-standing record of research on children’s services, as well as families and children and social disadvantage.

She has recently completed several studies as part of UKPRP ActEarly including Play in Urban Spaces for Health (NIHR funded).

She is editor of Urban Childhoods: Growing up in Inequality and Hope, UCL Press.

Rosie McEachan is the Director of Born in Bradford and a proud (Scottish) Bradfordian.

She is an experienced applied health researcher with particular interests in cohort studies, development and evaluation of complex interventions, environmental determinants of health, green space, air quality, and co-production.

Rosie holds a visiting professor position at University College London and an honorary chair position at the University of Bradford.

Sally Barber is Director of Physical Activity Research at Born in Bradford, Bradford Institute for Health Research.

She is Research Director for the £11m Sport England-funded JU:MP programme, and evaluates this whole-system approach to tackling childhood inactivity.

Sally is the Bradford Lead for the Diet and Physical Activity theme of the NIHR Bristol BRC and Healthy Bodies lead for the Early Life and Prevention NIHR Y&H ARC. Her research focuses on co-produced, community-based interventions to reduce health inequalities in children and young people, with expertise in creating healthier places for children to play and be active and obesity prevention.

She has led and managed large multidisciplinary collaborations and published widely on applied public health research.

Annie Berrington is the founder and Managing Director of Get Out More CIC.

Whilst working in community development in Bradford and motivated by the knowledge that we can lead healthier, happier lives through being active outdoors, she founded the social enterprise to  reconnect individuals and communities with nature through forest schools, community engagement, wellbeing and training programmes, for people of all ages.

Get Out More managed the Forest School Play Project for Better Start Bradford which enabled hundreds of three-year olds to enjoy outdoor play in Bradford parks and woodlands over a 6 year period.

At the other end of the age scale, Annie’s Churchill Fellowship is exploring ways to enable older people with care needs including dementia to connect with nature.

Claudine Bowyer-Crane is Professor of Education in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield.

Claudine has a PhD in Psychology from the University of York. Her research focuses primarily on children’s reading and language development, particularly in the early years, with a focus on the design and evaluation of interventions to support children who struggle to develop these skills. She was academic lead for the language and communication theme for Better Start Bradford.

Claudine’s current research is looking at the impact of the disruptions caused by the pandemic on children’s language, socioemotional and educational outcomes.

Rachael is a child development researcher and quantitative epidemiologist.

She is a Principal Research Fellow at Born in Bradford in Child Health and Development, and was previously the Senior Research Fellow for Language and Communication at the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub.

She leads research projects that examine the influence of COVID-19 and austerity on educational, mental, and physical child development (Co-Investigator, BiBBS ACHIEVE cohort), the health impacts of indoor air pollution and housing quality (INGENIOUS), and the effects of the urban environment on family health (Healthy Urban Places).

She has a background in medicine from the University of Manchester, and worked as a clinical doctor across Paediatrics, Psychiatry, and Emergency Medicine before completing her PhD in Infant and Child Psychology funded by the Leverhulme Trust. She has additional experience in neuroimaging, longitudinal cohort research, behavioural experiments, behavioural genetics, and medical law, all with a focus on improving child outcomes.

Professor Maggie Snowling is Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Oxford, Research Fellow, St. John’s College.

A qualified clinical psychologist, she was appointed CBE for services to science and the understanding of dyslexia in 2016.

She is Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Honorary Fellow of British Psychological Society. She served as President of St. John’s College, Oxford 2012-2022.

Since stepping down she has advised on the DFE’s Reading Framework 2 (2023), is a member of the Speech, Language and Communication in the Early Years Expert Advisory Group and holds a professorial role at York St. John University.

Gill is a paediatric speech and language therapist based in York.

As well as running her own independent speech and language therapy practice, she is a professional advisor for Elklan Training. Elklan training consists of accredited courses that equip educators, practitioners, and parents with practical strategies to support children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs. The training is designed to help professionals working in schools, nurseries, and other educational settings to effectively build communication skills for all children, especially those with SLCN.

Chloe has worked within the Early Years workforce in Bradford for the last 15 years.

She has experience of working in variety of different early years settings as well as previously leading on the delivery of a Communication and Language support programme in Bradford.

Chloe is now the programmes manager for 50 Things to Do Before You’re Five, an initiative designed to support the home-learning environment through play based activities.

Helen Rush is the Talking Bradford lead: the Integrated Speech and Language Pathway for Early Years across Bradford.

Although new to this post, she is not new to the work stream and was part of the steering group while Early Years Specialist for Better Start Bradford, where the foundations for the work were built.

Her role is to refine, develop and embed the pathway and to take a lead on behalf of the partners and stakeholders to create a preventative and integrated evidence based and sustainable offer for babies, children and their families.

Dr Dea Nielson is a behavioural scientist at Nesta within the A Fairer Start mission team.

In this role, she uses behavioural science insights in Nesta’s work to improve young children’s early learning environments and the early years system.

Before this role, she was a research fellow at the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub and the University of York, where she worked on evaluations of early life interventions embedded in the community. She was also a member of the ActEarly team, and participated in projects using mixed methods approaches to understand the challenges parents face in accessing early childhood education and care.

Dea completed her PhD in Human Communication Sciences at the University of Sheffield. Her thesis focused on the language and literacy development of young children learning English as an additional language (EAL), and considered whether the predictors of children’s literacy skills differed depending on whether they were learning one language or more. She also holds an MRes and a BSc in Psychology from the University of York.

Dr Sarah Blower is Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Wellbeing in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York.

She specialises in the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of children and their families.

Sarah has extensive experience working collaboratively with charities, local authorities and other organisations seeking an effective way to prevent or intervene early in difficulties with children’s health and development.

Sarah was the effectiveness evaluation lead for the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub and is a co-investigator for BIBBS Achieve.

Dr Kate Mooney is a Research Fellow in Epidemiology in the Public Health and Society Research Group (Department of Health Sciences, University of York) and the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub (BSBIH) (Bradford Institute for Health Research).

Kate works on several quantitative evaluations of the Better Start Bradford interventions, applying quasi-experimental analyses to the Born in Bradford’s Better Start cohort data to find which interventions work, and for whom. Broadly, Kate is interested in investigating and reducing social inequalities in children’s development. She has a particular interest in children’s cognitive development, social and emotional development, and educational outcomes.

Abbie is Project Manager for the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme in Bradford.

She joined the Start for Life programme team in April 2024, and has been a part of the steering group since the very beginning in her previous role as Best 1001 Days programme lead for Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership.

A Midwife by trade, she had the honour of caring for expectant parents and babies in Bradford for around a decade. This is what drives her passion for improving outcomes for the families of Bradford.

Maria is a Professor of Public Health Nutrition based at the University of York and the Bradford Institute of Health Research.

She is a nutritionist with over 20 years’ experience in the design and delivery of trials and related methodological research in the field of food, diet and obesity. Her methodological interests include development and evaluation of public health interventions, food systems, food insecurity, early years and school food settings and applied health research. She is passionate about partnership working and is dedicated to ensuring meaningful engagement in all aspects of her work.

In addition to being the strategic lead of a portfolio of research focused around public health nutrition within the Department of Health Sciences and the Hull York Medical School, Maria is the Director of Nutrition Research for Born in Bradford, theme lead for UKPRP ActEarly (Evaluation theme and Food and Healthy weight theme), sub-system lead for Early Years and Schools within UKRI Fix our Food, Academic Director of the BaBi network and the academic lead for Diet and Obesity evaluation for Better Start Bradford.

Dr Kara Gray-Burrows is a Lecturer in Behavioural Sciences & Complex Intervention Methodology in the School of Dentistry at the University of Leeds.

She is a Chartered psychologist working in both research and teaching. The key focus of her research is in improving population health, particularly the health of children and young people. Her main research interests are in behaviour change, the development and evaluation of complex interventions, with further interests in implementation science, systems approaches/complexity science, and patient and public involvement and engagement in research.

Kara works with a range of stakeholders, including health professionals, early-years workers, charities, government bodies, and commercial companies to develop and evaluate preventive interventions to improve the oral health of young children. Kara has a passion for involving patients and the public in research, including using creative methods to actively engage children in research with the aim of producing high-quality needs-led research that can inform policy and practice.

Beckie is a public health nutritionist and senior leader specialising in early childhood development, nutrition, and family well-being.

Beckie sits on the Expert Advisory Group for Blackpool Better Start. She has a track record of combining scientific evidence with strategic leadership, policy influence, and cross-sector collaboration.

Beckie is known for her ability to unite evidence, policy, and practice to create lasting impact. She has led programmes addressing childhood nutrition, maternal health, and family support, and has a strong track record of partnership-building across health, education, and community sectors. At HENRY, she continues to champion early intervention and systems change, ensuring families are supported to make healthy choices and thrive in nurturing environments.

Professor Sharon Goldfeld is a paediatrician, and Director, Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Theme Director, Population Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

She has held senior roles in health and education policy and leads national research on childhood adversity and systems change.

Her work focuses on evidence-based, sustainable solutions to eliminate child inequities. She received the Marles Medal in STEM (2020), an Order of Australia (AM), and was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2024.

Josie is an applied health researcher dedicated to reducing inequalities in children’s health, wellbeing and development.

She works closely with families, services and decision-makers to turn research into real change.

Josie leads the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub, home to Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) – the world’s first interventional birth cohort – which provides evidence on the impact of the Better Start  Bradford early years interventions.

Supported by an NIHR Population Health Career Scientist Fellowship and a Wellcome Discovery Award, her current work is developing stronger early years systems, including evaluating the impact of combining multiple (‘stacked’) interventions.

Nagina is Programme Director for Children, Young People and Families, working across Bradford District and Craven, as part of West Yorkshire ICB.

Nagina has extensive experience in the development of health and care policy at a national, regional and local level. She has worked across both the VCSE and statutory sectors. Under her current portfolio she covers areas such as maternity, early years, SEND and children with complex needs.

Born and raised within Bradford, Nagina is passionate about working with people and in partnership with organisations to make the collective change needed to improve the outcomes and opportunities for children, young people and families. Nagina is mummy to two girls and one little boy so when not working is busy exploring new things with them.

Samina is a dedicated community advocate and researcher with extensive experience in child development, public health, and community engagement.

Since 2015, she has been actively involved with Better Start Bradford, contributing as a parent volunteer in the HENRY, Perinatal Support Service and HEY! Fund projects, as well as serving as a Community Board Member on the Partnership Board.

Samina is a member of the BIB Community Research Advisory Group and participates in the Children’s Policy Research Unit, which reports to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). She also ensures the inclusion of public and patient voices as a Lay Member on various NIHR Committees.

Her collaborative work spans academic and policy organisations, including serving as a Digital Critical Friend with The Bennett Institute on the ‘Open Safely’ Platforms project, and working with Bristol University on ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ which aims to build research capacity within the VCSE sector, linking Bradford’s Khidmat Centre with Bristol’s Dhek Bhaal.

She is keen in fostering inclusive community engagement and research, strengthening community participation and capacity , and influencing policies that benefit children and underserved communities.

Donna Molloy OBE is Deputy Chief Executive at Foundations, where she leads on the organisation’s impact work, ensuring evidence is used to influence local and national policy and practice.

Before joining Foundations’ predecessor – the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) – she ran national programmes to increase the availability of evidence-based parenting and family support as deputy head of the DfE Families at Risk division, and also worked as a senior policy adviser in the Home Office, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and the Social Exclusion Unit.

Donna started her career as a researcher at the National Centre for Social Research.

Neil Leitch OBE is CEO of the Early Years Alliance, the largest early years membership organisation in England, representing 14,000 members.

A registered charity, the Alliance is also a voluntary sector education and care provider, operating predominantly in areas of deprivation.

Before joining the Alliance, Neil held several senior posts within the financial and commercial environment including Chair of the Finance Industry Standards Association. Neil is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Dr Michelle Moseley is a Registered Nurse (Adult, Child), Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) – Health Visitor, Nurse Educator, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Queens Nurse.

Michelle’s passion for children and young people attaining their full potential has always been at the heart of her nursing practice, and her most current role as Director of Learning Development at the Institute of Health Visiting offers the opportunity to influence and develop UK Health Visitor education and practice, whilst keeping the potential of babies, children and their families at the heart of her role.

Louise Bazalgette is a Deputy Director at Nesta, where she co-leads a multi-disciplinary innovation team focused on narrowing the outcome gap for disadvantaged children at age 5.

Before this role, she was a Principal Research Advisor for Nesta’s Alliance for Useful Evidence, where she helped develop the “What Works for Children’s Social Care” centre which is now part of Foundations.

Louise’s background is in using evidence to inform policy and practice. She previously worked at the think tank Demos, researching topics like parenting and early years, and at the NSPCC, where she led work focused on improving policy and practice for supporting the emotional wellbeing of children in care.

Gill is Director of Better Start Bradford.

She is passionate about the importance of getting it right in the first years of life and strongly believes in supporting parents during this important part of their child’s life. She is really proud of the opportunities Better Start Bradford offers to learn about what works in prevention and early intervention in a complex local system and with diverse communities such as those in the Better Start Bradford area. The opportunity to work with Born in Bradford to have a top-class evaluation has been a great bonus in achieving this learning.

Gill’s ambition for the Better Start Bradford programme is to create a lasting change which will benefit babies, children and families in Bradford and, more widely, for generations. She wants all our children to do well and for the inequalities in outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged children to be reduced.

Gill works with a partnership across sectors and with a strong parent voice. Bringing together health, early years and research has created a strong driver of system change and integration of research into practice. Bradford has benefitted significantly from Gill and the team securing the 10 year funding for this innovative programme.

Gill is loyal and positive about Bradford, having lived and worked here for most of her life. Outside Bradford, she was Director of Public Policy for national charity Rathbone, CEO of Voluntary Action Wakefield and Project Manager/Co-ordinator at Bradford Resource Centre. She has mostly worked in the voluntary and community sector, with a focus on community empowerment, access to resources and access to knowledge. She has always worked to reduce inequalities and tackle disadvantage. She was a qualified NCT antenatal teacher, parenting teacher, welfare benefits trainer, school governor and has been involved in health service governance and user groups for more than 30 years.

Publications, contributing author:

Born in Bradford’s Better Start: and experimental birth cohort study to evaluate the impact of early life interventions. BMC public health 711. DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3318-0 PMID 27488369

Integrating lessons from system-wide practice in public health: lessons learnt from Better Start Bradford. BMC Public Health DOI 10.1186/s12889-019-6554-2

Nichols J, Coldwell H, McIntosh B & Thornton G (2016) Towards a collective understanding of Social Cost Benefit and Value. The Journal of Strategy, Operations and Economics, 2 (1). http://www.soejournal.com/index.php/soe/article/view/22

Gill Hart joined The National Lottery Community Fund (previously The Big Lottery Fund) in 2006.

Leading on a number of themed programmes around Infrastructure, Young People and Veterans, before joining the project team for A Better Start. Prior to working at The Fund, she worked in the private sector, most recently in the accounting software industry.

She has worked as a Funding Manager on the A Better Start programme from the very beginning of the programme in 2012, developing the programme, managing a team of Funding Officers, and, until recently, managed three of the A Better Start partnerships:  Bradford, Nottingham and Southend. Blackpool has recently been added to her portfolio.

Her role involves providing support to the partnerships to enable them to deliver the programme effectively, as well as facilitate shared learning. This involves attending partnership board meetings, meeting with and supporting the Directors, Programme Managers and various other teams, as well as meeting with the chairs, lead organisations and local leaders as required. Over the last few years the role has also involved supporting the partnership with their legacy and sustainability plans.

Jo is the Reducing Inequalities Lead at West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership.

Jo was an original member of the Better Start Bradford team seconded initially from her health visitor role in Keighley to support the team in writing the bid for the Big Lottery Fund and then remaining in the team for a further four years mobilising and supporting the programme eventually becoming integration and change manager in the programme team.

Since leaving Better Start Bradford she has gone on to take her learning from the programme into a year with Public Health England as their health visitor advisor and then on to a career in Public Health both in Bradford Council and the Reducing Inequalities Alliance at West Yorkshire ICB, continuing to advocate for prevention and early intervention particularly focussing on the health inequalities for pregnant women and children.

Zakra Yasin is a Senior Public Health Specialist with over a decade of experience leading initiatives that put people and communities at the heart of health improvement.

Her work spans early years, maternity, and trauma-informed practice, always with a focus on reducing inequalities and amplifying the voices of those often underrepresented.

In previous roles, Zak helped integrate the Bradford Doulas Service and secured long-term investment from Better Start Bradford and the former CCG to support peer-led maternity care. She also brought Baby Week to Bradford, a vibrant annual campaign that celebrates the early years and brings partners together to champion the wellbeing of babies and young children.

Her leadership in early years includes improving oral health in collaboration with local and regional colleagues, and supporting early language development through place-based, needs-led approaches. Zak also played a key role in developing Bradford’s Adversity, Trauma, and Resilience Programme, helping services better understand and respond to the long-term impact of early-life challenges.

Currently, Zak is leading PH health promotion with the ambition of improving health literacy across the Bradford district.

Salma is a mum living in the Better Start Bradford area and has been a member of the Better Start Bradford Community Board for seven years. Her four beautiful children are aged from 7 to 16 – Salma’s middle son has autism and ADHD.

Salma comes from a healthcare background and didn’t work after her second child. Having personally struggled with mental ill health, she is very passionate about helping children develop as well as improving the wellbeing of mothers. During COVID-19 as part of the Better Start Bradford Partnership Board, Salma lead on wellbeing packs being sent out to parents in the Better Start Bradford area and ended up on BBC Bradford radio talking about this work.

Salma also wanted to give back to the community so started volunteering at Thornbury Tots Play Group and successfully applied for Happy Early Years (HEY!) Fund funding to sustain the playgroup, which is still going now and is a huge success story as part of the legacy of Better Start Bradford.

Sumayya Kayat and Sarah Branch were both hired as breastfeeding support workers, and have progressed into the roles of Deputy Manager and Research and Process Design Coordinator respectively.

Sumayya is also a qualified doula, and brings with her a range of experience supporting families in the antenatal, birth, and postnatal period.

Sarah specialises in data analysis and is working to modernise the service so they can better support the demographics they serve.

Rachel Duxbury is a Senior Services Manager at Health For All, where she continues to oversee the Breastfeeding Support Project.

She has worked in community-based breastfeeding support across the Bradford district for over 20 years and managed the project for Better Start Bradford from 2018 to 2025.

Passionate about supporting families and helping new parents feel confident and connected, she brings a wealth of local experience and insight to her work. At this conference, she’ll share what the team learned through the project’s journey and reflect on how those lessons continue to shape their approach under the new commissioning arrangements.

Sarah Hartley is the Team Manager for the Incredible Years Service at Barnardo’s in Bradford.

She has been with Barnardo’s for 16 months, following previous roles as a Family Support Worker with Barnardo’s Leeds and Family Action. Sarah’s professional background also includes experience working in education settings and establishing British-style early years provisions in Japan.

Rebecca Wilkins is a Children’s Service Manager at Barnardo’s in Bradford, currently overseeing the Incredible Years programme.

Having completed her degree in Music and a post graduate teaching qualification, she has taught and was part of the management team for five years. In her prior role, she collaborated with schools and families to raise awareness of adoption-related challenges in education, providing support and evidence-based strategies for young people. Since joining Barnardo’s in 2021, she continues to be dedicated supporting children, young people, and families who have faced early life difficulties, with a strong passion for improving childhoods and changing lives.

Aamina Khaliq is mother of two young children.

She completed the Incredible Years programme earlier this year. She now works as a full-time carer for her autistic daughter.  She has a BA Hons in Business Management.

Helen Rush is the Talking Bradford lead: the Integrated Speech and Language Pathway for Early Years across Bradford.

Although new to this post, she is not new to the work stream and was part of the steering group while Early Years Specialist for Better Start Bradford, where the foundations for the work were built.

Her role is to refine, develop and embed the pathway and to take a lead on behalf of the partners and stakeholders to create a preventative and integrated evidence based and sustainable offer for babies, children and their families.

Kerry is Assistant Director at Better Start Bradford.

She started her career as a Children’s Nurse (RSCN) working in numerous acute settings, however her passion for prevention led her to further qualify as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse.

Kerry has over 20 years’ of health visiting practice, clinical leadership, and operational management experience.  Her most recent roles have focused on Quality Improvement and the Transformation & Integration of children’s services.

Kerry is currently the Assistant Director of the Better Start Bradford programme, supported by her substantive post with Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Vikki is the Director of Practice Education and Engagement at the University of Bradford.

She is a nurse and health visitor by background and has spent much of her career working within the Bradford district. She is passionate about public health and creating happy, healthy childhood experiences.

Vikki has worked closely with Better Start Bradford to support the development of nursing and midwifery students and enhance placement opportunities within children and family services.

Sarah Flower is an Assistant Professor in Midwifery at the University of Bradford, where she leads the BSc and MSc Midwifery programmes and the postgraduate module in Trauma-Informed Maternity Care.

With a strong background in caseloading midwifery, Sarah has worked across both NHS and independent settings, supporting a mixed-risk community caseload. She maintained clinical competence through ongoing work in acute NHS trusts and fostered collaborative relationships across multidisciplinary teams. Between 2018 and 2021, Sarah contributed to national conversations on joint working between NHS maternity services and independent midwives.

Her clinical experience supporting women affected by sexual violence and birth trauma sparked a deep commitment to trauma-informed practice. Since moving into education in 2020, she has championed the integration of trauma-informed approaches into midwifery curricula. At the University of Bradford, Sarah is part of a team embedding this perspective into pre-registration and postgraduate education, preparing future midwives to offer compassionate, person-centred care.

Helen Vincent is the Infant Mental Health Pathway Lead in Bradford and Service Lead of Little Minds Matter.

She is a qualified Family and Systemic Psychotherapist. She has been in the team for over 6 years supporting parent-infant relationships and prior to that worked in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Helen has a keen interest in supporting families in the 1001 critical days by widening the focus to include wider family/support networks, socio-economic and societal factors.  Little Minds Matter is a service that Helen is proud to work in and truly believes in the difference that can be made to the lives of babies and families through early intervention in the 1001 critical days.

Kirsty Howell is a Clinical Psychologist who has been working with children, young people and families with complex needs for the past 20 years.

She currently holds the position of Clinical Lead at Little Minds Matter. She joined the LMM team in 2023 and prior to that had spent 5 years working as a Clinical Psychologist in a Child Development Team. Before completing her clinical training, she worked for many years within third sector services such as refuges for families fleeing domestic violence as well as within drug and alcohol services, supporting children and their caregivers.

Kirsty specialises in work around attachment and trauma and has completed further training in Eye Movement Desensitisation Therapy (EMDR) and Theraplay® approaches which she regularly draws on in her work. She is passionate about early intervention and in working collaboratively and systemically with families

Charlotte Woodhouse has over 19 years’ experience of working as a Primary School teacher across the Bradford district.

Most recently, as event planner and learning support officer at Better Start Bradford, she has designed and delivered play training sessions to early years professionals, parent volunteers and students to embed knowledge and systems change.

She has also worked in partnership with other organisations to support them with the development of an early years offer for local families.

Miroslava Zarkov began her career in the museum and education sector in 2014 as a museum curator and educator at the Gallery of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad (Serbia), leading workshops for children aged 5 to 12.

After moving to the UK, she worked with York Museums Trust (2022–2023) before joining Bradford District Museums and Galleries in August 2023 as an Early Years Assistant.

In this position, she works across four sites – Bradford Industrial Museum, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bolling Hall Museum, and Cliffe Castle Museum – creating play sessions and family events that make museums welcoming and engaging for young children and their families.

As the Course Leader for the Level 3 Technical Diploma in Childcare and Education at Bradford College, Julie Adamson brings over 23 years of experience in the further education (FE) sector.

Her passion for inspiring young people to enter the early years sector is evident in her dedication to teaching and mentoring.

Julie’s journey into education was fuelled by her first-hand experiences in the nursery setting, where she noticed that many students were unsure of their career paths. Recognising the need for guidance and inspiration, she made the pivotal decision to transition into teaching. To empower young individuals to explore the rewarding opportunities within early years education.

One of Julie’s notable initiatives is her involvement in the Ambition Hub project, where she collaborates with staff from Better Start Bradford. This partnership has allowed her to further enhance her efforts in nurturing and guiding the next generation of early years practitioners. Through innovative programs and hands-on experiences, Julie is committed to equipping her students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in this vital sector.

Josie is an applied health researcher dedicated to reducing inequalities in children’s health, wellbeing and development.

She works closely with families, services and decision-makers to turn research into real change.

Josie leads the Better Start Bradford Innovation Hub, home to Born in Bradford’s Better Start (BiBBS) – the world’s first interventional birth cohort – which provides evidence on the impact of the Better Start  Bradford early years interventions.

Supported by an NIHR Population Health Career Scientist Fellowship and a Wellcome Discovery Award, her current work is developing stronger early years systems, including evaluating the impact of combining multiple (‘stacked’) interventions.

Diana is Principal and CEO of Shipley College with over 23 years in Further Education, beginning her career as an ESOL teacher.

She has a particular passion for ESOL for Health, developing pioneering programmes such as ESOL for Pregnancy to empower women, reduce inequalities, and improve access to healthcare. At Shipley College, she’s ensured that community-based education and equality remain central to their mission while continuing to expand ESOL provision that changes lives.