International Centre for Life course Studies in Society and Health: Centre Mid-Term Review Proposal

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The ESRC International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health (ICLS) is a multidisciplinary research group who unite approaches from the social and biological sciences. Our work looks at how the social circumstances in which people live are translated into poor health and unfavourable social outcomes across all stages of the life course, describing and understanding the stepping stones from childhood towards a healthy and productive working life and the maintenance of health and wellbeing in the later years. It is widely accepted that these stepping stones begin in early childhood and involve social, psychological and physiological processes, hence the importance of combining work across disciplines. ICLS has three key strategic priorities; to build capacity in the analysis of quantitative longitudinal datasets; to bridge the social and biological sciences; and to develop international collaborative research networks. The UK is renowned for its wealth of studies that collect information on large numbers of people from birth and throughout their lives. However, there has and continues to be a shortage of scientists with the requisite skills to analyse these complex data. A priority for ICLS continues to be building capacity in this area, training social scientists without quantitative backgrounds in the skills to analyse such data. We know that the contexts in which people live get under the skin, but little is known about how this happens - how do social circumstances get into the cells and molecules to cause disease and early death? A second ICLS priority is the development of ideas on how best to combine information collected in longitudinal studies, on social circumstances, psychological characteristics and biological profiles in ways that are theoretically plausible from both social and biological perspectives. The current proliferation of longitudinal datasets from the US, Canada, Australia, mainland Europe, China, India, Brazil, Japan and Korea provide exciting opportunities for investigators, giving the backdrop to ICLS' third priority which is to build international collaborative research networks. During ICLS phase one, we built an International Research Network of over 35 leading scholars from 24 institutions, representing some 20 countries. In phase 2 we aim to attract additional funding for ICLS through collaborative research proposals with members of our international network.The scientific programme proposed for ICLS phase two builds on previous ICLS work while having distinct innovative features. Our scientific programme is organized around four themes, the first three of which chart the lifecourse: (a) Well-being in childhood and adolescence - here the focus is on the pathways to good health and educational achievements from birth to 25 years of age; (b) Work, health and well-being - where the health consequences of changing roles of men and women in relation to paid and unpaid work are examined, as are the health consequences of working in 'poor quality' jobs; (c) Social influences on successful ageing - considering the importance for health of staying in paid employment beyond retirement age, and comparing successful aging in different international contexts; and an overarching theme (d) The social-biological interface - where pathways between social mobility and health are under focus.Outputs from the scientific programme will be targeted at a wide range of beneficiaries. Academics will receive our research findings mainly through publication in scholarly journals and conference presentations. We will engage with government, offering advice and evidence through factsheets, policy seminars and briefing notes. We are similarly engaged with a wide range of non-government organisations. Users of our work are involved in all stages of the research process to maximise its benefits. We provide research evidence to the public through our website, news and broadcast media and open seminars.