Tessera

New @usociety.bsky.social podcast: Foodbanks and mental health What effect do foodbanks have on the people who use them? www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/podcasts/foo...

Food banks and mental health - Understanding Society

Podcast: research asks what effect food banks have on the mental health of people who use them

understandingsociety.ac.uk

Household finance data in @usociety.bsky.social A new Working Paper outlines the data we collect and how they are being used by economists. www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/pub...

Household finances in Understanding Society – Understanding Society – Understanding Society

understandingsociety.ac.uk

Seminar from @usociety.bsky.social : Family influences on children's mental health and wellbeing How family environments shape children's socio-emotional development and mental health, using innovative longitudinal and network analysis approaches. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-inf...?

Family influences on children's mental health and well-being

Seminar - Insights from Understanding Society

eventbrite.co.uk

Find out what @usociety.bsky.social did during 2025, plus read some of the research and policy impact from the year. Annual Report 2025: www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2026/07...

Highlights from 2025
We released Wave 15 of the main Understanding Society study, Wave 17 of the Innovation Panel, add new biomarkers to our health assessment data, and new editions to our Calendar Year datasets, pregnancy and early childhood data, partnership histories, and linked geographical data
Our main survey dataset was downloaded over 3,500 times
Our main survey user guide was accessed 5,223 times
Our podcast series received over 17,300 listens
Our User Support team delivered training to 653 people, while 213 used our online Moodle courses
Our Participant Communications team responded to 4,971 queries

Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · last mo.

Consultation: collecting event-triggered data on relationships and family transitions in @usociety.bsky.social We would welcome feedback on the proposed questions on family change to be fielded in the Life Events survey. www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/pub...

On this day in 1981, Richard Cobb got an honorary degree from the University of Essex. That may not seem significant to you, but it makes this afternoon the 45th anniversary of one of the finest graduation addresses ever delivered 🧵

A grey slate plaque with white lettering reads: Historian Richard Cobb got an honorary degree here on a sweltering day in 1981. His speech, in full: “Well, it’s very hot and the pubs are open.”

European Social Survey @ess-survey.bsky.social · last mo.

Nominations for the latest Survey Futures Early Career Impact Awards are now open until Thursday 10 September. Early career researchers working in the UK 🇬🇧 on survey design, delivery, or methods for up to seven years are eligible for nomination.

Early Career Impact Awards - Survey Futures

We are pleased to announce that Survey Futures is running its Early Career Impact Awards for the second time, this year, set to take place on 11 November 2026 in London.

buff.ly

Jonathan Burton @jonburton.bsky.social · last mo.

This was an excellent conference, covering a wide breadth of survey topics.

@profpeterlynn.bsky.social · last mo.

For anyone interested in the latest thinking regarding survey methods (especially, but not only, in a UK context), all the presentations from last week's Survey Futures conference are now online. surveyfutures.net/internationa...

Understanding Society @usociety.bsky.social · last mo.

7 July, 2.00-4.00, a workshop from the Survey Futures project on nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys. Are they still needed? And what are the implications for data quality? The workshop is free to attend, but you need to register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/survey-fut...

Survey Futures Workshop: Nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys

Are nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys of the UK general population still needed? Implications for data quality

eventbrite.co.uk

Are nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys of the UK general population still needed? Implications for data quality Online workshop presents results and implications for survey practice on web nonresponse and follow-ups. 7th July, 2-4pm. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/survey-fut...?

Survey Futures Workshop: Nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys

Are nonresponse follow-ups to web surveys of the UK general population still needed? Implications for data quality

eventbrite.co.uk

Do the effects of interviewer administered follow-ups of web non-respondents on dataset quality differ between overall datasets and population subgroup datasets? surveyfutures.net/wp-content/u...

New research on free breakfast in primary schools: impacts and challenges Monday, July 13 • 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM In-person at Nuffield Foundation, London - or hybrid www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/new... Presented by Professor Birgitta Rabe and Dr Angus Holford from the @iseressex.bsky.social.

New ESRA special interest group for those with a special interest in Biomedical Survey Research www.europeansurveyresearch.org/esra-special...

The Biomedical Survey Research Special Interest Group brings together researchers and practitioners interested in survey research that includes biomedical data collection. This includes surveys that collect objective health measures alongside questionnaire data, using in‑person, remote or hybrid approaches.

The inclusion of biomedical components offers important opportunities to strengthen measurement and inference in health and population research, but also raises distinctive methodological, practical, ethical and governance challenges. These challenges are often encountered at the intersection of survey design, fieldwork delivery and developments originating outside the survey field.

The SIG provides a forum within ESRA for exchange and collaboration on these issues, supporting informed survey design and advancing methodological understanding of biomedical survey research.

Topics

The SIG focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics:

Design and integration of biomedical components within surveys
Measurement quality, validity and comparability of biomedical measures
Design‑stage decision making for biomedical survey components, including feasibility, burden and ethical considerations
Recruitment, consent and participation in surveys involving biomedical assessments
Fieldwork models for biomedical surveys, including interviewer‑assisted, nurse‑led and self‑collection approaches
New and emerging developments relevant to biomedical data collection in surveys, including devices, data donation and wearables that collect health measures
Combining biomedical measures with questionnaire, administrative or other data sources
Ethical, legal and governance considerations
Inclusion, equity and accessibility in surveys involving biomedical components
Analysis and interpretation of biomedical survey data

Rising natural gas and electricity prices: longitudinal evidence on physical health and socioeconomic vulnerability - using @usociety.bsky.social data www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/pub... By Seung Eun Cha, Sangwhee Lee, Benjamin D. Douglas, Carol D. Ryff.

Rising energy prices complicate how individuals navigate life. Prior studies have largely conceptualized energy prices as an economic pressure linked to poorer health. Yet natural gas and electricity—the primary domestic energy sources—serve distinct purposes and are not interchangeable. Beyond household income, educational attainment may be another key factor influencing the relationship between energy prices and physical health. The current study separates energy prices into two sources and examines whether educational attainment is associated with physical health during periods of energy price changes, above and beyond income. Using longitudinal data from the UK Longitudinal Household Survey (UKHLS) from 2014 through 2023 (Waves 5 to 14), combined with geocoded regional records of unit energy prices, we explore how within-person changes in energy prices relate to physical functioning, and whether socioeconomic factors (income and educational attainment) moderate this relationship. Multilevel models showed that increasing energy prices were related to an overall decline in physical functioning. These effects were amplified among individuals with lower incomes, although education also emerged as an important moderator. Those with lower educational attainment showed a greater decline in physical functioning when energy prices were higher. Sensitivity analysis further suggests that natural gas and electricity prices may be associated with different patterns of health burden over time. Overall, the results indicate that vulnerability to energy price fluctuations is structured by both economic and educational resources. By revealing how domestic gas and electricity prices intersect with social determinants of health, this study advances understanding of the association between energy-related hardship and physical health and highlights potential policy levers to reduce health inequalities.

@slate.com Slate Culture Gabfest! NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Chortle@chortle.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Genuinely disappointed to hear this - it was my one "drop whatever podcast I'm playing and listen to this first" show. Sunday late-afternoons (I'm not getting up to listen to this nonsense) will never be the same again. For a while.

Ed Gamble and Matthew Crosby's radio show to end

Really interesting book club podcast with @herring1967.bsky.social talking to Jonathan Grant about “Reading the room” - the state of standup comedy in 21st C: gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/w.cg...

Go Faster Stripe

gofasterstripe.com

Registration now open – @usociety.bsky.social Biosocial Conference 2026: combining biological and social data. A one-day event bringing together researchers working with biological and social data. London, Broadway House, 15 October 2026. www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2026/05...

Richard Herring@herring1967.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A couple of excellent episodes of this podcast.

Second part of the really deep dive interview with little Johnny Robins about his book, Thirst. shows.acast.com/rhlstp/episo... Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVse... Book uk.bookshop.org/p/books/thir...

Autumn Budget 2025 supports ‘most vulnerable’. @resolutionfoundation.org uses @usociety.bsky.social to see if tax plans are progressive. Story: www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/impact/autum... Report: www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/wp-content/u...

understandingsociety.ac.uk

Barriers to opportunity for children and young people/ Long read: what research using @usociety.bsky.social tells us about children and young people’s futures. www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2026/04...

Understanding Society @usociety.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Registration now open – @usociety.bsky.social Biosocial Conference 2026: combining biological and social data www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/news/2026/05... The conference will take place in London at Broadway House on 15 October 2026.

New Working Paper from @profpeterlynn.bsky.social: Web-first or CAPI-first? How best to combine modes to recruit a probability-based general population survey sample. Web-first design resulted in higher response rates and a more representative sample. www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/pub...

Web-first or CAPI-first? How best to combine modes to recruit a probability-based general population survey sample – Understanding Society – Understanding Society

understandingsociety.ac.uk