UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have today announced £100 million of funding to continue the work of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study.
Based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, Understanding Society has grown to become a world-leading longitudinal study – in the past 10 years it has been used by over 38,500 researchers and contributed to over 11,250 research publications. The dataset is also used as the backbone of official statistics on poverty and income dynamics in the UK. This new investment from UKRI and ESRC secures the next stage of Understanding Society, ensuring that the UK has robust data on its population now and in the future.
This new funding will support a further six waves of data collection, extending the world-leading Study to the year 2032 and eventually giving researchers access to more than 40 years of robust, in-depth data on the changing nature of UK society across multiple generations. UKRI has today also announced further funding for the UK Data Service, where researchers can access a wide range of social science data, including Understanding Society.
Announcing the investment in Understanding Society and the UK Data Service, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, George Freeman, said, “Understanding how the UK lives and changes over time is key to ensuring services like healthcare, transport and education best serve the public and that hardworking taxpayers’ money is spent wisely. By investing £138m towards continued gathering of key household data, we are enabling decision-making that benefits us all while laying the groundwork for new discoveries that enhance our lives.”
A special thank you to our participants – More funding for Understanding Society means we can keep interviewing our participants until at least 2030. We are so grateful for the time and care our participants put into completing their annual interview. If you are part of the Study – thank you! And please keep going! We look forward to sharing the next few years with you.
Director of Understanding Society, Professor Michaela Benzeval, said, “Producing high quality data is at the core of our study. With a longitudinal survey, like Understanding Society, the value of the study becomes greater the longer it goes on. We’re delighted that UKRI and the ESRC are continuing to invest in Understanding Society – their long-term support helps us build knowledge and provide vital evidence on life in the UK.”
Capturing the complexity of life
Understanding Society is one of the largest longitudinal studies in the world and provides crucial information for researchers and policymakers on people’s lives in the UK. By following the same households over a long period of time, Understanding Society gives a long-term perspective on the causes and consequences of social, economic, and cultural change, while interviewing everyone in a household allows the Study to capture how different generations experience life.
Data collected includes behaviours, attitudes and views, as well as social and financial information from every member of each household from the age of 10. Recent innovations include the collection of biological data to allow scientists to analyse the links between social and economic circumstances and health.
Read more about the role that Understanding Society has in the UK
The Study started in 2009, with 100,000 people living in 40,000 households across the UK participating, building on the successful British Household Panel Survey which ran from 1991 to 2008. To date, 12 waves of Understanding Society data have been released, with Wave 13 to be released in November this year, and another two waves currently in the field.
Professor Meena Kumari, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, said, “This continuing funding will allow more research and greater understanding of how people live – and our ongoing collection of biological data will allow more insights into subjects such as ageing, and health inequalities. This is a great boost to our work.”
Welcoming the announcement, University of Essex Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Forster said: “Data-driven social science research is addressing the greatest global challenges of our time, so we are delighted with this major investment in Understanding Society and the UK Data Service. Our highly-trusted status in collecting, storing, analysing and sharing data has helped Essex become the world-leading social science university it is today.”
Biomarkers, genetics and epigeneticsCovid 19EducationEmploymentEthnicity and immigrationFamily and householdsHealth and wellbeingIncome and expenditureMoney and financesPolitics and social attitudesSocial mobilitySurvey methodologyTransport and environmentYoung people
