CLOSER, the home of longitudinal research, is the interdisciplinary partnership of leading social and biomedical longitudinal population studies, the UK Data Service and The British Library.

Our mission is to increase the visibility, use and impact of longitudinal population studies, data and research to ensure that longitudinal evidence is used to address the health, social, economic and environmental challenges facing the UK, now and in the future.

​Our work focuses on four primary areas:

Data discoverability: we increase the use, visibility, and awareness of longitudinal population study data through advancing and expanding both the content contained in, and the research services provided by, CLOSER Discovery.

Policy and Dialogue: we mobilise data and research from multiple longitudinal population studies, provide evidence and insights to policy and decision makers, and generate demonstrable impact across a range of policy areas.

Training and capacity building: we provide training and capacity building opportunities for researchers and those running longitudinal population studies, with a particular focus on filling gaps in current provision.

Legacy: we ensure the long-term value of our extensive work on data harmonisation and data linkage through knowledge dissemination and training.