Aim
The UK birth cohort studies are a key social science research infrastructure that track the same individuals throughout their life course. They enable researchers to trace life trajectories and patterns, and explore mechanisms through which experiences across life stages, from early childhood to adulthood, influence outcomes. In doing so, these studies deepen insight into the transmission of health, social, and economic inequalities across generations.
Managed by CLS, these cohorts are curated as a cohesive and accessible research resource. The resultant datasets are used by researchers, policymakers, and third-sector organisations, addressing both immediate evidence needs and long-term enquiries.
The cohorts’ continuity, scope, and intergenerational breadth render them unique as national data sources, playing a vital role in advancing the global study of life trajectories over time. Insights derived from these studies have deepened knowledge in fields such as education, health, and social mobility, providing compelling evidence that has informed and driven policy development.
ESRC is committed to sustaining the impact of these cohorts and ensuring their ongoing strategic value; however, their continued utility hinges on core principles that safeguard the quality, integrity, and usability of the data.
Key principles and features of the UK national cohort studies include:
- life-course data collection: each cohort undergoes a sweep roughly every five years, with more frequent sweeps in childhood
- new birth cohorts: introduced at appropriate intervals to capture generational change
- representative sampling: designed to be representative of the UK-born population within defined birth periods and with sufficient coverage of key sub-groups
- cross-cohort comparability: alignment of themes and measures across cohorts, enabling comprehensive cross- and multi-cohort analyses
- broad domain coverage: data spans a wide spectrum of health, social, economic, and educational variables, providing insights into life trajectories and intergenerational dynamics across both historical and contemporary contexts
- life-stage-sensitive design: data collection frequency is tailored to developmental stages, with more frequent sweeps in childhood and less frequent assessments in adulthood
- inclusive data collection methods: employing mixed modalities, including web-based survey and face-to-face interviews, to maximise accessibility and inclusivity for the diverse population
Context
ESRC and CLS have recently launched Generation New Era (GNE), the newest UK birth cohort, focusing on children born in the 2020s. The study tracks participants from birth, collecting data on social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development across key life domains.
Following established cohort principles, regular life-course sweeps and broad regional and domain coverage, GNE is designed to examine the impacts of rapid technological, environmental, and social change on early child development and join the existing portfolio of UK life-course studies. GNE represents a major new, long-term investment within this portfolio.
Alongside establishing GNE, ESRC conducted the ESRC 2024 to 25 Cohorts Review. Its purpose was to inform future investment in UK studies, thereby securing long-term, sustainable benefits for research and society.
The review examined factors, including the optimal number of cohorts, study durations, and the strategic allocation of funding. ESRC engaged a wide range of stakeholders, including cohort data users and researchers from the UK and internationally. This evidence informed decisions on the portfolio’s structure, scope, and future direction.
The process identified the following key actions:
- fund new cohorts approximately every 25 years: ESRC will support a sustainable number of concurrent studies while allowing generational change to become embedded, with flexibility to adjust during periods of rapid social change
- sunset support for Next Steps: ESRC will end funding for active data collection on Next Steps and instead focus on maximising the value of prior investment in the study, using a model that can be extended to other cohorts when appropriate
- clarify cohort alignment: ESRC requires CLS to communicate clearly the content and data shared across cohorts, the rationale and method—whether longitudinally, at specific ages or points, by design, or through retrospective harmonisation
- empower a broader research community to help deliver, design and use the cohorts: requiring CLS to create opportunities for external input through design and delivery and reduce avoidable complexity that limits usability and accessibility
- prioritise combating attrition and missing data: ESRC to support CLS in maintaining and improving data quality and scientific utility while minimising participant impact
- continue enhancing cohort data through linkages: ESRC to support CLS in developing data linkages as a key means to increase scientific utility, while minimising burden on participants
- prioritise longitudinal utility: CLS will maintain the target population as the UK-born population of a given age and ensure users understand representation and exclusions in study portrayal and findings
The key actions set out above reflect ESRC’s strategic priorities for the cohort portfolio and will ensure that UK cohorts remain equipped to meet contemporary challenges.
Since the last funding award for CLS, there have been major developments in the capability of artificial intelligence (AI) in relation to social science data infrastructure. Maximising the outcomes of this technological advance is a key priority for ESRC.
For data infrastructures, key considerations include ensuring social scientists can effectively utilise AI techniques on ESRC-funded datasets and embedding the use of AI within the data infrastructures themselves to deliver the desired outcomes more effectively and efficiently.
Objectives
Building on these priorities, the following core funding objectives have been established to guide CLS’s work by:
- collecting and provide robust life-course data across generations, responding to the ongoing and evolving needs of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to ensure sustained relevance and impact
- maintaining capability for data collection and provision by ensuring the long-term continuity, resilience, and sustainability of cohort infrastructure
- facilitating the impact and use of cohort data by supporting and empowering potential users to produce valuable scientific, societal, and policy outcomes
- innovating in cohort data collection methods to enhance utility, efficiency, and value for money, drawing on learning from comparable initiatives
These objectives align with the ESRC Data Infrastructure Strategy. CLS is expected to strengthen infrastructure and user capability by prioritising the foundation, impact, and leadership pillars. This will enhance UK social science infrastructure, maximise societal benefit, and support collaborative leadership across the research data landscape.
The ‘Context’ section above outlines the major opportunities for CLS to enhance its delivery of the core funding objectives. To maximise on these, CLS will need to evolve as an organisation, which informs the final objective by:
- transforming and renewing the centre, so it can capitalise on new opportunities (including Generation New Era and AI), better deliver for its stakeholders (including implementing actions from the Cohorts Review), and, in close collaboration with ESRC, ensure the long-term value and benefits of the cohorts are sustained over the coming years and decades
CLS must clearly demonstrate how its activities will contribute to the delivery of these objectives for CLS and its cohorts.
Scope
Current and future activities on the individual cohorts
National Child Development Study (NCDS) and British Cohort Study (BCS70)
The National Child Development Study (NCDS), tracking 17,415 individuals born in 1958, and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), following around 17,000 individuals born in 1970, are two of the UK’s key longitudinal studies. Covering England, Scotland, and Wales, they provide data on how health, education, social development, and economic circumstances evolve across the life course, enabling analysis of ageing, work, and social and economic outcomes.
Both cohorts have recently completed major sweeps, NCDS at ages 61–65 and BCS70 at ages 51–53, conducted through face-to-face and video interviews, alongside three COVID-19 web surveys.
In 2026, a joint web survey will be carried out with NCDS participants at age 68 and BCS70 participants at age 56. These ages are strategically significant: for NCDS, this will be the first collection after state pension age, opening opportunities to investigate healthy ageing, extended working lives, pensions, and social care; for BCS70, age 56 is a critical point for labour market transitions, enabling study of mid-life employment, health, and family responsibilities. By using a harmonised questionnaire with targeted cohort-specific content, the design ensures both cross-cohort consistency and life-stage relevance.
Scientific development and consultation for the sweep began in Q4 2025. Data collection is scheduled for Q2 2026 under the current 2022–26 award, with data expected to be released to the research community in Q2 2027. The application may include support for non-fieldwork costs related to this activity, where these are not covered by existing grants.
Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a UK longitudinal study following around 19,000 young people born across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2000–02. It has tracked a wide range of measures across the life course, including physical, socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioural development, economic circumstances, parenting, relationships, and family life.
Data cleaning and preparation for the age 23 sweep is currently underway, with data expected to be released via the UK Data Service in Q1 2026. Under the current 2022–26 CLS award, scientific development for the next major MCS data collection is also in progress.
Looking ahead to the 2027–31 funding period, the age 27 sweep is scheduled for Q2 2028 and is expected to follow a sequential mixed-mode design. Data should be made available to the research community by Q3 2030. The application may include all associated costs for this sweep within the grant period.
Next Steps
Next Steps is a cohort study following around 16,000 people in England, born in 1989–90, since secondary school. The study began in 2004, when participants were aged 13–14, with an original sample of 15,770 recruited through schools. It was initially managed by the UK Department for Education and known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE).
For the reasons described in the ESRC 2024 to 25 Cohorts Review and to support the long-term sustainability of the cohort collectively, ESRC has decided to stop funding active data collection on Next Steps.
Given these factors, ESRC will work with CLS to define a clear plan to conclude ESRC-funded active data collection for Next Steps within this award. The transition will focus on maximising the long-term value of existing investments through passive approaches, such as data linkage. It will also establish a model that could be applied to other cohorts as they mature.
Applications may include costs associated with transitioning Next Steps to passive data collection, including participant communications where appropriate.
Transforming and renewing the centre
In addition to the core funding objectives, ESRC has identified specific priorities for this funding period:
- to prepare the programme for the incorporation of GNE post 2031, and ensure the cohorts are financially sustainable
- to implement the actions from the ESRC 2024 to 25 Cohorts Review
- to utilise AI to improve study delivery
- to enable users to apply innovative AI techniques to cohorts data
- to improve the financial management of programme, including addressing underspending
The Cohorts Review and GNE launch marks a major step toward a stable, integrated life-course cohort collection that serves current and future users. This provides CLS with a crucial opportunity to rebalance programme priorities, securing the long-term sustainability of core elements while planning for the incorporation of GNE beyond 2031.
The post-2031 budget for CLS with GNE integrated is expected to be lower than the combined projected costs of each study. CLS must therefore strategically focus its activities during the upcoming funding period. This will include implementing actions set out in the Cohorts Review, thereby advancing ESRC’s strategic vision for the cohorts and ensuring they remain well-positioned to meet contemporary research challenges.
As part of this process, the study team is asked to explore how AI can be systematically integrated into centre operations to enhance delivery and maximise impact (see ‘2027–31 modules’ below). The rapidly evolving capabilities of AI provide a unique opportunity to improve both operational efficiency and the utilisation of the centre’s social science data infrastructure, enabling CLS to innovate in ways not previously possible.
The cohorts themselves constitute invaluable data assets that researchers and analysts across sectors can leverage with AI to explore social phenomena in ways previously unattainable. While promising AI applications to cohort data already exist, ESRC is eager to support and encourage further innovation.
CLS should propose approaches that facilitate responsible and effective AI use on cohort data, including collaboration where appropriate, while ensuring that all applications adhere to best practices in data privacy, security, and ethical standards.
To deliver these innovations and meet future demands within a constrained budget, CLS will need to implement a change programme to adapt its organisational structure. This will involve identifying and prioritising critical workstreams while scaling back or discontinuing others.
Strong financial management, in close coordination with UCL as the host institution, will be essential to ensure responsible budgeting and maximise value for money. Lessons from previous funding cycles, including instances of underspend, should inform this approach and support improved cost efficiency.
As part of this change programme, CLS must distinguish time-bound activities ending within the grant period from core activities essential to the centre’s ongoing operation. Time-bound activities should be identified within non-exception costs and include work that will be de-scoped or decommissioned during the award, such as Next Steps-related activity.
They can also include one-off projects that directly support delivery of the funding objectives.
Exception costs, such as fieldwork, are largely driven by external agency rates and operational requirements and are therefore out of scope for the identification of time-bound activity.
ESRC requires that at least 30% (£7 million) of non-exceptions costs be allocated to time-bound activities.
ESRC recognises that CLS leadership may not be able to determine the optimal design of all time-bound activities at the point of application. The application must therefore set out an initial proposed approach for 2027–31, and CLS should consult with ESRC on this approach prior to submission.
CLS will use the first two years of the award to establish its change programme and refine this approach. It will work collaboratively with ESRC to review and adjust time-bound activities in light of emerging evidence, using CLS’s change management process.
Where Next Steps fieldwork is not supported through this award, CLS may seek co-funding to enable such activity. However, within the first two years of the award, CLS must develop and agree a clear and deliverable transition plan should co-funding not be secured.
The plan must set out arrangements for bringing engagement with the Next Steps sample to a planned and responsible close, including the cessation of routine contact. It must also ensure clear and timely communication with participants about the study’s future within the award period, and manage all associated ethical, governance, and data-stewardship requirements.
Any subsequent adjustments to activities or budgets beyond the initial award will be subject to ESRC review and, where appropriate, consultation with the CLS Management Board, the Data Strategy and Infrastructure Expert Advisory Group, users, and the wider social science research community.
2027 to 31 modules
ESRC has established a set of overarching modules that form the framework for activities within the 2027 to 31 funding period. Each module will have its own dedicated section in the application.
These modules reflect the key thematic and functional areas necessary to deliver on ESRC’s strategic objectives and priorities. They are intended to guide CLS in structuring activities, planning resources, and demonstrating impact.
The modules are as follows:
- leadership: strategic oversight and direction-setting for the centre, ensuring alignment with ESRC priorities. Includes leadership of the change programme to transform and renew the centre, and coordination across all modules (addressed under ‘Approach’)
- engagement to shape the centre: ongoing engagement with researchers, policymakers, participants, and other stakeholders to inform survey design, delivery, and strategic direction, ensuring the centre remains responsive to evolving user needs
- data collection: all activities involved in collecting and releasing cohort data, including survey design, coordination with fieldwork agencies, data processing and curation, and timely data deposit within 12 months of completing fieldwork, together with any innovative or enhanced approaches used in delivery
- enhancing the data: activities to strengthen data utility and analytical value, including harmonisation, cohort data linkage, and innovative linkage approaches (for example smart-data methods). Includes plans to maximise the scientific value of existing Next Steps data
- cohort maintenance: maintaining participant engagement, retention, and cohort integrity to ensure robust, long-term usable data. Includes plans for managing ongoing contact with Next Steps participants
- facilitating the use and impact of data: improving access to cohort data, supporting skills development, and enabling AI-supported analysis, to maximise research, policy, and societal impact
- innovation in cohort data collection methods: development and testing of novel approaches to data collection, processing, and analysis with relevance across cohort studies, including the use of AI and other emerging technologies
- centre operations and governance: effective management and governance across all modules, ensuring compliance, transparency, and operational efficiency, including the use of AI where it supports these outcomes
Within each module, CLS should identify opportunities to apply AI to enhance efficiency, quality, and impact, with attention to the applications outlined above. CLS should also collaborate where external initiatives in emerging technologies could add value and may take a leadership role in areas with clear strategic relevance to the cohorts.
Duration
The duration of this award is four years and three months.
Projects must start on 1 January 2027 and end by 31 March 2031.
Funding available
The full economic cost (FEC) of the project is £29 million, excluding indexation. Indexation will be applied on a compounded annual basis to non-exception costs.
ESRC will fund 80% of the FEC, with exception costs funded at 100%.
ESRC has allocated £5.7 million for exceptions costs and £23.3 million for non-exceptions costs, of which £7 million (30%) is required to be time-bound.
The applicant should consult with ESRC regarding these costs throughout the application process. Any adjustments to the balance between exception and non-exception costs must be discussed with and approved by ESRC.
Funding is subject to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) confirmation that ESRC may allocate resources beyond its current spending review settlement. ESRC reserves the right to reduce or withhold an award and may conduct a review at any point during the funding period to assess delivery and, if necessary, adjust or terminate the funding.
Funding structure
If successful, CLS will receive a grant to cover:
- the operational costs of the centre for four years and three months
- the costs of a mixed-mode survey commissioned for MCS
What we will not fund:
- studentships
- research that does not directly contribute to the development, enhancement, or maintenance of the infrastructure
- costs that do not align with the funding objectives of the centre
- costs that do not comply with ESRC or UKRI eligibility rules
- unnecessary duplication of existing data infrastructure or services
Fieldwork procurement
In line with the ESRC Research Funding Guide, all subcontracted social surveys must follow standard competitive purchasing principles. Surveys costing over £10,000 (£8,333 exclusive of VAT) must undergo external competition to ensure value for money. For surveys expected to exceed £25,000 (£20,830 exclusive of VAT), the research organisation’s full tendering procedures must be applied.
You should build sufficient time into the project timeline to allow a competitive tender process. You are expected to seek quotations from at least three potential fieldwork providers and provide these estimates in the ‘Resources and cost justification’ section.
If obtaining three quotations is not feasible, you must explain and provide evidence, demonstrating that alternative approaches to procuring some or all aspects of the fieldwork have been considered.
ESRC reserves the right to reject applications where subcontracted social surveys are not competitively procured or where the necessary evidence is not provided prior to expert review.
Data requirements
ESRC recognises the importance of data quality and provenance. Data generated by ESRC-funded research must be well-managed by the grant holder to ensure it can be fully exploited for further research. You should refer to the ESRC research data policy for detailed requirements, which form a condition of ESRC funding.
Where relevant, details on data management and sharing should be provided in the Data Management section. See the importance of managing and sharing data and content for inclusion in a data management plan available on the UK Data Service (UKDS) website.
Applicants are expected to provide a summary of key points in their plan. UKDS (datasharing@ukdataservice.ac.uk) can also advise on the availability of data within the academic community and provide guidance on data deposit requirements.
Data promotion
As a community resource, CLS must actively demonstrate and promote the value and
potential of its data to research users and the wider public.
An effective approach is to publish initial findings that highlight the data’s utility to a broad and diverse audience. These findings should be developed promptly to accompany the data release and must not delay it. They should be specifically designed to showcase the data’s potential. Upon release, sample limitations should be clearly communicated to guide appropriate use. This should draw on recommendations from the ESRC/Medical Research Council (MRC)-funded project on Understanding Coverage in UK Longitudinal Population Studies and other relevant metadata standards.
Applicants are encouraged to explore additional innovative approaches to showcase the value of CLS data to a wide range of research users and the general public.
Impact, innovation and interdisciplinarity
Applicants are expected to consider the scientific, societal and economic impacts of their research. Outputs, dissemination, and impact are key criteria in most peer review and assessment processes. ESRC also encourages applications that demonstrate innovation and interdisciplinarity, bringing together approaches from more than one discipline.
Supporting skills and talent
UKRI is a signatory to the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, and the Technician Commitment, through which UKRI commits to support the professional and career development of researchers and technicians through its funding opportunities.
Applicants are encouraged to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment, and must articulate their plans for the professional development of staff in your team at this full application stage. You should consider both leadership development and capacity building in your plans.
Knowledge exchange and collaboration
ESRC is committed to enabling collaboration and knowledge exchange between data infrastructures such as CLS, and stakeholders across the private, public, and civil society sectors. These partnerships facilitate the exchange of expertise, promote understanding of diverse professional cultures, and demonstrate how academic research adds value and informs policy and practice.
Knowledge exchange should be planned from the outset and embedded throughout the project, rather than treated as a peripheral or one-off activity.
Research ethics
ESRC requires that all research we support is designed and conducted in line with recognised ethical principles and is subject to appropriate professional and institutional oversight through robust research governance.
All submitted proposals must comply with the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics, which provides detailed guidance on requirements and expectations.
Team composition and leadership
The team should possess a diverse range of skills and experience, including the professional expertise required to fulfil the following responsibilities:
- leadership, management and organisation of CLS
- administration of CLS activities, with emphasis on financial management
- stakeholder management and engagement
- sustainable development and growth
- development and maintenance of the data infrastructure
CLS should demonstrate how the composition of the team enables effective delivery across all objectives, with core staff time commitments clearly justified by defined responsibilities. For individuals in cross-cutting roles, FTE allocations must be carefully managed to ensure total commitments do not exceed 1.0 FTE.
In determining staff time commitments, CLS should take account of the interrelationship with existing GNE funding over the funding period. As recognised within the GNE grant, delivery of GNE is dependent on the continued operation of the CLS Resource Centre. ESRC therefore expects CLS to manage this interrelationship through proportionate, ad hoc input from senior staff within the Resource Centre. This should draw on existing leadership and specialist expertise to advise and inform GNE activity, particularly in planning for its potential incorporation within CLS beyond 2031.
Governance and management
If funded, the ESRC Investment Team will oversee the CLS investment on behalf of ESRC. A Management Board, meeting at least twice a year, will provide strategic advice and ensure accountability through the review of progress reports from both the CLS study team and the ESRC Data Strategy & Infrastructure team.
The Management Board will report to the ESRC Senior Responsible Officer (SRO), who holds ultimate accountability to the relevant government departments, the UKRI Chief Executive, the UKRI Infrastructure Team, the ESRC Executive Chair, and the ESRC Executive Board.
The CLS study team must establish a robust governance framework, supported by advisory groups that adhere to the principles of the Equality Act 2010 and reflect diversity across disciplines, regions, and institutions. A senior external advisory group of data users and experts in national data infrastructure should also be included.
Membership of these advisory groups must be publicly disclosed, with funders invited to participate as observers. Governance at University College London (UCL) must be transparent, with clear escalation procedures to ensure effective project delivery, resource management, and risk mitigation.
CLS must ensure that all co-funded activities comply with the terms and conditions of ESRC’s investment. Any co-funded activity that could influence or affect the design or delivery of the cohorts should be discussed with ESRC in advance.
Monitoring, evaluation, and investment management
Throughout the duration of the grant, the CLS study team is required to submit quarterly reports to the ESRC, as outlined in the agreed terms. These should include:
- a financial report, detailing co-funding sources and any other research grants applied for and received.
- a change request form, where applicable.
The team must also attend Management Board meetings twice a year organised by ESRC. Prior to each meeting, the following documents should be submitted:
- a highlight report, summarising progress against objectives and assessing any risks.
- a programme plan outlining deliverables, milestones, and a risk register, to be shared on an ad-hoc basis.
The team must submit an annual report, detailing the benefits and impact of the project in line with ESRC guidelines.
At the conclusion of the project, an end-of-award report and a final expenditure statement must be submitted via the grant system within three months of the grant’s end. The specific contents of the end-of-award report will be agreed with ESRC during the first 12 months of the grant.
ESRC reserves the right to conduct reviews at any point during the funding period to assess progress and, if necessary, make adjustments or terminate funding.
Any funds not utilised during the grant period will be subject to recovery by UKRI, in accordance with the grant’s terms and conditions.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.
