Children’s Research University is a state university in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, dedicated to interdisciplinary study of childhood, child development, education and the wider social and cultural environment in which children grow. The institution originated as Children’s University under Gujarat Act No. 15 of 2009. The Act received the Governor’s assent on 29 July 2009 and was published in the Gujarat Government Gazette on 31 July 2009. Its founding framework was unusual because it placed the child, rather than a conventional disciplinary cluster, at the centre of a university’s teaching, research, training and extension mandate. The legislation specifically provides for research programmes related to children and for Vidyaniketan schools through which educational ideas can be studied and applied. The university’s research activities extend across education, psychology, language, social sciences, health, nutrition, culture and other child-centred fields. Full-time and part-time doctoral research is organized through its research programme structure. The institution has also developed postgraduate and training activities connected with education and child development. Academic governance expanded through boards of studies and research committees as programmes developed. Its Vidyaniketan concept is intended to connect university research with school-level educational practice and holistic development rooted in Indian cultural contexts. In 2023, the state amended the university legislation and the institution adopted the name Children’s Research University, reflecting a stronger formal emphasis on research. The university’s distinctive value lies in bringing multiple disciplines together around questions of childhood rather than treating child development solely as a subject within education or psychology. Its Gandhinagar base supports interaction with state education institutions, schools and public agencies. Through research, teacher development, doctoral study, curriculum work and child-focused educational experimentation, the university occupies a specialized position within Gujarat’s public higher-education system. The university consequently serves as a specialized platform for evidence-based work on childhood across educational, psychological, nutritional, cultural and social dimensions.