The Inquiry will bring together expert, cross-disciplinary research from across the University to answer what is required to live well in Britain and how policymakers can use academic expertise to achieve this. The Inquiry is now seeking evidence from a range of external partners which will feed into its final report and accompanying policy recommendations.
Britain in the mid-2020s faces some unprecedented challenges which affect our ability to live well: climate change and its consequences; a cost-of-living crisis; an ageing population with a health service under immense strain; challenges around migration, and a pervading sense of crisis around some of our core services such as transport and housing.
Meanwhile, the rapid rise of the use and functions of digital devices and applications means that people are increasingly accessing information, connecting with each other, and experiencing services in new and untested ways. As well as this, the fast emergence of easily accessible AI provides new challenges and opportunities.
The Living Well Inquiry considers these new and emerging technologies, as well as more traditional structural barriers to living well and uses Loughborough University research expertise to seek to address these sets of challenges and opportunities.
The work of the Inquiry is led by policy Co-Fellows Dr Holly Collison-Randall, who specialises in the prevention of crime through sport, and Professor Mark Monaghan with expertise on the connections between research and policy making. Through its initial engagement with Loughborough University’s research community the Inquiry has published a White Paper, which outlines its definition of living well, discusses how other nations measure and shape policy on wellbeing, provides a set of case-studies and comparators, and poses a set of questions for consultation. This White Paper and its set of questions will form the basis of a period of Inquiry – a programme of external consultation with a range of policy experts, which will culminate with a final report being published in 2025.
Loughborough University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Jennings said: “Society faces a myriad of challenges to ensuring that individuals are able to live well in modern Britain. Loughborough University’s cross-disciplinary research is uniquely placed to tackle the various dimensions of this important question.
“The work of the Inquiry is particularly timely and continues the ongoing engagement of Loughborough University researchers with Government, Government Departments and Civil Servants in key policy areas. I eagerly look forward to the final report and to Loughborough’s role in taking the important next steps to delivering a system of living well in Britain.”
Policy Co-Fellows Dr Holly Collison-Randall and Professor Mark Monaghan said: “The Inquiry seeks to pose questions as to what it means to live well through five key, inter-dependant themes: Clean Living, Creative Living, Dignified Living, Healthy Living and Smart Living. In its initial research and engagement with Loughborough University’s research community, it also identified three levers which living well policy can be shaped through to have maximum impact: Creativity, Localism and Prevention. The key themes and levers constitute a system of living well and are illuminated by a series of research case studies and spotlights that speak directly to the new Government’s Five Missions and related policy announcements."
“We are now commencing an extensive programme of external engagement with Government Departments, Think Tanks and advisors, as well as organisations and charities whose work contributes to Living Well themes, in which we will be seeking their input on the work of the Inquiry to date, and responses to the questions which have arisen during our initial research. We welcome input from experts across a range of disciplines and professions which we will feed into our final report and policy recommendations.”