Learning from the Experts

By Helen Beckett, Debra Allnock and Camille Warrington

The importance of young people’s involvement in research is increasingly recognised in relation to many areas of their lives. However, there is still hesitance around involving them in research on sexual abuse.

Workplace wellbeing is more than just free bananas

by Helen Fitzhugh

What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘workplace wellbeing’? If you automatically think of fruit baskets, free massages and playful Silicon Valley office space, you are not alone.

I know, because I recently spent time listening to the ambitions and fears of business leaders on workplace wellbeing for a study funded by the National Productivity Investment Fund and the ESRC.

Social science research can address the challenges mental health poses for our society

Louise Arseneault, Professor of Developmental Psychology at King’s College London, was appointed to the new role of ESRC Mental Health Leadership Fellow in autumn 2016.

Throughout the three year fellowship, Professor Arseneault will play a vital role in championing the role of the social sciences within mental health research.

This is an exciting time for people involved in mental health research. There hasn’t been such interest around the importance and relevance of mental health in society for a long time. And this is especially exciting for me as the ESRC Mental Health Leadership Fellow.

How happy are we? Measuring happiness through the ages

Daniel Sgroi is Associate Professor of Economics and a theme leader of the ESRC-funded Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE) at the University of Warwick. He is also lead author of the recent CAGE policy report Understanding Happiness, exploring how we can measure subjective wellbeing in the past using big data.

Today is the United Nations International Day of Happiness, first launched four years ago. It highlights happiness and wellbeing as important goals for developing societies – going beyond a narrow focus on a growing economy.

Does drinking make us happy?

Ben Baumberg Geiger is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy University of Kent.

Ahead of the busy festive period where many of us will be enjoying a few alcoholic beverages, Ben writes about his ESRC and MRC-funded study Can alcohol make you happy? A subjective wellbeing approach, which was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. 

There has been an increasing interest in wellbeing among alcohol policy researchers. Recent studies have estimated wellbeing-related impacts such as ‘harms to others’, while the world-leading Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model estimates a 50p minimum price would lead to wellbeing benefits worth more than £2 billion over 10 years.