Lent Term Public Seminar - Professor Joe Murray

This talk explores the potential of early childhood interventions to significantly lower rates of violence worldwide. While the benefits of early intervention have been well-documented in high-income countries, there is less evidence from the Global South, including regions with the highest levels of violence, such as Latin America. A central question is whether early interventions can effectively address the root causes of violence in these contexts. I will present findings on childhood determinants of violence, and randomised trials of early parenting programmes in Brazil, drawing on data from some of the largest longitudinal studies in the Global South - including over 20,000 participants in the Pelotas Birth Cohort Studies. The talk will discuss the promises and challenges for early intervention to tackle underlying drivers of violence in Brazil, offering insights into their broader potential impact in similar settings.

Joseph Murray is a full professor at the Postgraduate Programme in Epidemiology, and director of the Human Development and Violence Research Centre (DOVE) at the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil. His research focuses on life-course determinants and prevention of violence in four birth cohort studies following 20,000 families and children in Brazil. He has held fellowships with the British Academy, Darwin College Cambridge, and the Wellcome Trust, and currently holds an Investigator Award with the Wellcome Trust, and a Highly Productive Researcher Award with CNPq, Brazil.

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