The Lifecourse Podcast

We are all being told we need to save harder and longer for our retirement. The State Pension isn’t enough to live on and so we all need to make provision for the day when we will no longer be earning or have access to a salary or a wage. For most of us, this means saving into a pension scheme - maybe one that our employer organises or something we arrange privately. But who exactly has a pension and what sort of background do they come from? In this episode of the Lifecourse Podcast, Professor David Blane discusses research looking to answer that question and discusses the ramifications for policymakers, employers and workers of the key findings. Further information Occupational pensions: a bridge between social class before and after labour market exit? is research by Myer Glickman (UCL), Mel Bartley (UCL) and David Blane (UCL and Imperial College) and is published as an ICLS Working Paper. Link to research: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/iehc/research/epidemiology-public-health/research/international-centre-for-lifecourse-studies/publications/DB-Working-paper

Read/Download a full transcript 

The British Birth Cohort Studies are often described as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of British science. They are used on a daily basis by life course researchers at ICLS to try to better understand how life gets under our skin and to help policy makers, practitioners and the public know when and how to act to help people live long, healthy and happy lives. In this episode of the Lifecourse Podcast, author of The Life Project and Nature Magazine’s Chief Features Editor, Helen Pearson talks about how the cohort studies have touched all our lives and reflects on ICLS research findings presented in the booklet, Never too early, Never too Late. www.ucl.ac.uk/icls/publications/booklets/N2EN2L

Read/Download a full transcript 

Being able to get out and about as we get older is important for our health and wellbeing. But what needs to be put in place at what point in our lives to help us achieve that? In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Tarani Chandola talks about ICLS research presented in a new booklet Never too Early, Never too Late, which shows some of the factors linked to an active and healthy life in older age.

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Morten Wahrendorf discuss the link between the quality of midlife work and the uptake of volunteering during retirement. His research uses data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) which is a multidisciplinary and cross-national panel database of micro data on health, socio-economic status and social and family networks of approximately 110,000 individuals from 20 European countries (+Israel) aged 50 or older.

Read/Download a full transcript 

There is growing evidence that unemployment is linked to long term illness and increased mortality. In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Amanda Hughes discusses the findings from her research on the links between unemployment and killer diseases such as heart disease

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Scott Montgomery discusses the links between stress resilience and physical fitness in adolescents and coronary heart disease in middle age.

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Amanda Sacker discusses research showing striking socioeconomic inequalities with early adolescents from the poorest families 3 times more likely to be obese compared with their wealthier counterparts.

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Yvonne Kelly discusses her research looking at who is drinking alcohol at age 11.

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Tarani Chandola discusses whether or not it is good for a person's health to work past the traditional retirement age.

Read/Download a full transcript 

In this episode of The Lifecourse Podcast, Ellen Flint investigates the link between different forms of commuting and commuters' Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat.

Read/Download a full transcript