The Ray Peters Award was established by Dr. Ray Peters and his wife, Ellen Peters, along with friends and family, to commemorate Dr. Peters’s career by supporting future graduate students whose research is in the field of early childhood development.

The Dr. Ray DeVere Peters Award will be awarded to Masters and PhD level students in the Department of Psychology at Queen’s University with a preference for students who are completing thesis research or coursework in cognitive and social development in children.

Your support can make a difference.

Dr. Peters was a Professor of Psychology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada involved in the field of child development and children’s mental health research for over 35 years. His major research interests concerned the promotion of children’s well-being and the prevention of children’s mental health problems.

As former Research Director for the Better Beginnings, Better Futures Project, he led a multidisciplinary group of universities, and local research teams in disadvantaged neighbourhoods across Ontario. The Better Beginning, Better Futures model was designed to prevent young children in low-income, high-risk neighbourhoods from experiencing poor developmental outcomes. Dr. Peters found that children who participated in Better Beginnings when they were 4 to 8 years old used fewer government programs from age 4 to 18, resulting in cost-savings to the government of $2.50 for every $1.00 invested during those early four years. His research showed that locally developed and operated initiatives can counteract many of the negative developmental effects of growing up in a disadvantaged community, and it provided critical knowledge about what works for young children and their families at a community level.

This work supported community-based programs which influenced the development of young children and their families. Dr. Peters was a Visiting Scientist at the Mental Health Division of the World Health Organization in Geneva, and the Social Learning Center in Eugene, OR. He served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Banff International Conference on Behavioural Science since 1981, and chaired the March 2003 meetings on “Effective Progress for Early Childhood Development.”

He also served as a member of the Expert Advisory Committee for the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, and is a member of the Directing Counsel for the Health Canada Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development.

Your generous contributions to this fund will go directly to Queen’s Psychology students to support their research costs, tuition, and living expenses. Once the fund becomes an endowment, the funds available to be awarded annually will be approximately 4% of the capital balance, allowing the fund to potentially support multiple students annually.

Gifts to support the Dr. Ray DeVere Peters Award can be made by cheque, credit card, or a gift of marketable securities.