1/7: Today, in our BRISE series, Dr. Melanie Böckmann and Dr. Birgit Mathes explain what the BRISE initiative is all about, what role scientific support plays, and what the project's goals are.
"With BRISE, Bremen is committed to providing even more effective support for children and their families in their early years. To this end, the City of Bremen and a nationwide research network are collaborating on a project of unprecedented scale in Germany. BRISE is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the City of Bremen, and the Jacobs Foundation.
As part of the initiative, the city of Bremen has committed to expanding its early childhood education, support, and parent education programs. BRISE's goal is to improve equal opportunities in education and ensure all children have an equally good start to their schooling. The initiative began in 2016 and is currently scheduled to run until 2025.
BRISE is the children and their parents!
BRISE primarily refers to the families who participate in the initiative. You'll get to know two of them more personally in this series. They represent the nearly 500 children currently (March 2022) supported by the BRISE team.
The oldest of these children are already in daycare. Over the years, some families receive support in accessing the local services offered by BRISE to strengthen early childhood development. These include programs such as ProKind, TippTapp, e:du(Opstapje) , and HIPPY. Most families, as usual, decide for themselves which services they wish to use for themselves and their child.
BRISE is trying to better understand child development
From the time shortly before the child's birth until their first year of primary school, families are repeatedly visited at home as part of a long-term scientific study. They are interviewed about their current situation and the child's development is observed. This scientific monitoring is carried out by a trusted contact person who accompanies each family for several years.
The study also includes a modern, child-friendly research laboratory at the University of Bremen, to which the children and their parents are invited several times over the years. These investigations are fun for the children and exciting for the parents.
But why all these visits and conversations with the families? Quite simply: BRISE wants to find out what effects comprehensive support has on children's development. Does such a support chain have a positive impact on the cognitive and socio-emotional development of the participating children? We would like to understand this better and thus improve the support of children – not only in Bremen – in a lasting and effective way
In the following posts, we'll take you behind the scenes at BRISE so you can get a better idea of what BRISE means for families in Bremen.
Dr. Birgit Mathes has headed the BRISE research laboratory since 2017 and the BRISE working group at the University of Bremen since 2019. The psychologist's research focuses on cognitive abilities and their development from infancy onward, associated changes in brain activity, and the influence of the family environment on development.
Dr. Melanie Böckmann is the BRISE coordinator in Bremen and, in this role, helps to organize the study. As a health scientist, she has been researching topics such as climate change, gender, and tobacco use at various universities in Germany and abroad since 2012.
