We are delighted to announce that Professor Emla Fitzsimons will take up the role of CLS director on 1 December 2025.
Professor Fitzsimons succeeds Professor Alissa Goodman, who will continue with CLS as co-director of the newest birth cohort study, Generation New Era and as a co-director of Population Research UK.
Professor Fitzsimons said: “I’m delighted to take on the role of CLS director and lead the centre into its next chapter. With our world-leading portfolio of longitudinal studies – and a new cohort soon to launch – we’re uniquely placed to generate the evidence needed to understand lives, tackle inequalities, and inform better policy across the UK.”
About Emla Fitzsimons
Since joining CLS in 2014, Professor Fitzsimons has been director of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). In this role, she has spearheaded the design and management of major data collections, with surveys of generation Z during their teenage years and most recently in their early 20s. CLS will be appointing a new director to take the study forward.
Working closely with the study’s government funders and policymakers, Professor Fitzsimons has helped provide vital evidence on issues related to early years development, and child and adolescent mental health. During her tenure as study director, MCS has influenced policy across diverse domains, including government strategies on childhood obesity, mental health and wellbeing, bullying, early childhood development, breastfeeding, and domestic violence.
Prior to joining CLS, Professor Fitzsimons spent 14 years at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, serving in various research roles and ultimately as co-director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Development Policy.
Professor Fitzsimons is an economist whose research examines how early-life inequalities, including differences in parental investments and behaviours, as well as structural conditions, shape human development, and long-term economic and social outcomes.
Looking forward to 2026 and beyond
Our new director takes up the reins at an exciting time. As we head into 2026, we look forward to a busy programme of activity to engage stakeholders in shaping the future scientific direction of the studies and their upcoming data collections. The new year will also bring the release of new data and research findings from the first adult sweep of MCS at age 23.
“My priority is to keep data quality at the heart of all we do, evolving our collections while preserving continuity, strengthening participant trust and engagement, and making our data more accessible and connected across cohorts. I look forward to engaging closely with our data users, funders, collaborators and other stakeholders to ensure our evidence meets real needs and drives change. I also warmly thank Alissa Goodman for her exceptional leadership in keeping CLS at the forefront of longitudinal research.”
Professor Emla Fitzsimons, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
