We undertake multidisciplinary research on issues that affect all our lives: child development, education, social mobility, health and wellbeing, families and family life, and ageing. We also conduct research into survey methods, and applied statistical methods.
Our applied statistical methods programme specialises in methods for dealing with attrition, causal identification, and data harmonisation.
Our research helps tackle some of the key challenges we face in our society today.
To find out more, explore the links below.
The aim of this work is to help improve outcomes for the third of pupils who leave compulsory schooling every year lacking basic English and maths skills.
Using longitudinal data collected from across more than seven decades, this project examines the relationship between people’s physical and mental health and their educational and occupational outcomes, both over the lifecourse and between generations.
This project examines ‘First in Family’ (FiF) students in higher education, whose parents did not attend university and obtain a degree. We compare their choices, their trajectories and their labour market outcomes.
This project aims to examine the experiences of care leavers who became parents (of cohort members) and the intergenerational impact on their children’s outcomes, from childhood into early adulthood. The research uses information from the 1970 British Cohort Study and…
Through the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) we have been following the lives of over 19,500 people since they were born in the UK at the turn of the new century. Here you can read our initial findings from the Age…
This project aims to develop a conceptual and empirical understanding of social isolation across the life course and generate comparable measures across cohorts.
The relationship between social isolation and wellbeing will be documented from a life course and cross-generational perspective.
Research using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) has revealed how reading for pleasure can help children excel in English and maths. It has also shown that good reading habits in childhood have a significant longer term impact on people’s vocabulary, with the benefits being evident even 30 years later.
Looking after children’s and young people’s mental health is an urgent public health priority. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), CLS researchers and collaborators have investigated the prevalence of mental ill-health during childhood and adolescence.
This project aims to advance our understanding of whether Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) affects the wellbeing of families, and if so why. Using the UK Millennium Cohort Study and Population Registers from Nordic Countries and the USA, we analyse MAR’s…
Using data from the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS), the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), and the 1946 National Survey for Health and Development, this project aims to investigate the consequences of growing up…
This project aims to investigate the gender wage gap (GWG) over the life course and across cohorts, using three CLS studies – the National Child Development Study, 1970 British Cohort Study and Next Steps.
This project uses multiple birth cohort studies to better understand socioeconomic inequalities in health, how these have changed across time, and how they may be reduced.
Find the latest developments and insights from across all our longitudinal studies.
The CLS Bibliography is a searchable database of published work based on our cohort studies. Search by keyword, author, date range and journal.
Data from our studies are mainly available through the UK Data Service. We run training to support researchers who are interested in using our studies in their work.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
Email: clsdata@ucl.ac.uk