A project to tackle youth loneliness in urban areas, led by Jennifer Lau, has received a UKRI Creating Opportunities Evaluation Development Fund award as part of a £9.7million package for 17 projects to tackle regional disparities across the UK. The award will fund a collaboration with The Great Friendship Project to explore the impact their intervention can have on the lives of young adults, in terms of well-being, community connectedness and loneliness.
This research comes in response to growing evidence that young adults (aged 16-34) are now five times more likely to struggle with chronic loneliness than the over 65s, with large urban areas such as London shown to be at particularly high risk. On a weekly basis, The Great Friendship Project tackles this issue, by providing spaces designed to help young adults connect and build lifelong friendships, with a range of low-cost or free community activities. Since 2021 the intervention has supported over 36,000 young adults. This evaluation will explore the feasibility, acceptability and cost effectiveness of the approach.
If successful, the evaluation may help to build a case for scaling up the project to deliver the intervention more widely across other UK cities.
The UKRI funded project will be conducted in collaboration with Health Economist Nia Morrish, from the University of Exeter.