In the second blog post in a 3-part series by Understanding Society, Chris Coates, Research Impact and Project Manager at Understanding Society, takes a look at the implications posed by early research findings from their COVID-19 survey launched last year.

In the first of a 3-part blog series, CLOSER Partner Study, Understanding Society, takes a look at how they rapidly adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In our first blog of 2021, Prof Rebecca Hardy, CLOSER Director, reflects on how a life course approach can aid understanding of the likely long-term impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, from mental health and obesity to economic and educational inequalities.

In our final blog this year, Professor Elaine Dennison, Deputy Director of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study, takes a look at the lockdown experiences of the participants of the study during the First Wave of COVID-19.

Professor David Porteous, PI for Generation Scotland, one of 11 new studies to join CLOSER, introduces the study, highlights what they’ve been doing in 2020 and shares what’s in store next.

Dr Jane Maddock takes a look at diet – what it is, how and why it’s hard to measure and analyse, and why bother studying it at all.

Dr David Bann discusses physical activity and the launch of CLOSER’s comprehensive guide of the measures used to assess physical activity across six British longitudinal studies.

Andy Wong, Senior Research Study Manager at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, talks about innovation and adaptation of data collection methods in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof Alissa Goodman, Director of CLS, discusses how CLS rapidly responded to the UK’s lockdown by launching a special COVID-19 survey, and looks at the first analyses of data.

Dr Apostolos Davillas and Prof Andrew Jones explore new evidence from the first three months of the UK response to the pandemic, highlighting the inequality in psychological distress in the UK.