ESRC Connecting Generations

This report includes research activity and highlights from the first two years of the ESRC-funded Connecting Generations research programme, covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024.

Connecting Generations research aims to understand intergenerational connectivity in a post-Brexit/post-Covid society, producing novel science that contributes to policy debate.

Different generations provide financial, emotional and practical support to each other during different stages of their lives. These exchanges interact with, and have an impact on, life events such as:

• when we leave education

• when we leave home

• who we live with and where

• when we start and end romantic relationships

• if and when we have children

• if we become a homeowner

• when we enter and leave work, and why

• how long we live independently

• if and when we move into residential care

We are investigating how life events affect health, economic living standards, social networks and personal resilience. To better inform policymakers, we are exploring how experiences vary by gender, migrant status, ethnicity, education, socio-economic status and geographical context.

Connecting Generations is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The research programme brings together experts from the Centre for Population Change at the Universities of Southampton, St Andrews, and Stirling, with partners at the University of Oxford Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science and the Resolution Foundation Intergenerational Centre.

We work in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and the National Records of Scotland. We involve stakeholders throughout our research process to maximise relevance of our work and ensure take-up of findings. Our research is always independent.

Our research output can be accessed at: www.cpc.ac.uk