Lead Investigator: Roger Maull
Wellbeing is a priority that needs to be addressed through structural change. Research on the impact of changing working and living conditions point to the dual impact of isolation and automation, particularly on younger (including children) and older demographics, and impacting wellbeing, social cohesion and civic engagement.
As peripheral and central care services shift online (including community organisations and the third sector), inequalities have re-emerged or grown increasingly visible in the wider discussions around access to information and the uptake and digitisation of, and trust in services. The rise of mental health issues has also prompted renewed demands to centre wellbeing as the cornerstone of national policy responses to labour legislation emerging from the pandemic. We already know that the average worker loses 20% of their productivity due to stress, anxiety and depression, with 17.9 million workdays lost in the UK in 2019/20.
We will commission research to understand individual and community lived approaches to wellbeing, before asking how we can engage communities and organisations in identifying solutions such as structural or process changes that centre and promote wellbeing as the driving force for change.