About us

The UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies creates cutting-edge scientific research and policy evidence to improve lives. We do this through the scientific development and expert operational management of a unique series of UK national longitudinal studies.

By collecting information from the same people over time, we build powerful resources for research and policy development. For more than 60 years, evidence from our studies have helped to shape the world we live in today, informing choices we face as individuals, and as a society.

We are part of the UCL Social Research Institute based at the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society.

We are funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

We lead the UK’s national cohort studies

We are home to multiple generations of nationally representative cohort studies. These follow the lives of tens of thousands of people.

These studies have started in childhood – either from birth or adolescence onwards – and follow people across their lives.

The cohort studies:

We conduct groundbreaking research

Using longitudinal data, we conduct cutting-edge research into some of the UK’s most pressing social and public health challenges.

Our research themes span mental and physical health, cognition, families, labour markets, poverty, inequality and social mobility, and ageing.

We advance methods, and support better use of the data

We support researchers using our data, and are constantly working to make our cohort studies easier to use.

Our survey methods programme is developing innovative ways to maximise response, maintain representation, and improve data quality. Our applied statistical methods research provides guidance for handling missing data, dealing with measurement error, and making causal inference.

We also provide support for data users across disciplines and career stages to do high-quality research with our cohort data. This includes through simplifying datasets, creating new derived and harmonised variables, and providing training.

Contact us

Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute

20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

Email: clsdata@ucl.ac.uk

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