Let's Talk About... Mental Health and Loneliness

Join us for a new collaborative research seminar organised between the Cancer Research UK Manchester and Barts Centres to promote inclusive research activities.

Hosted every two months, this new series aims to shine a spotlight on various equality, diversity, inclusivity topics in cancer research.

Our third seminar focuses on mental health and loneliness to mark Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 May 2022).

About the Talk

In this talk, Pamela will discuss what loneliness is and is not, and how it impacts mental and physical health across ones lifespan. She will highlight how loneliness is a normal experience for most of us, but how, when prolonged, it impacts well-being. Pamela will review research showing that those with chronic conditions, including those with cancer, are somewhat lonelier than their peers without such conditions; that effect is found among children and adolescents, and adults. With the panel and audience, she will discuss possible interventions.

Agenda

12:00 - 12:05 - Welcome

12:05-12:25 - Let's Talk About Mental Health and Loneliness in Research - Professor Pamela Qualter

12:25-12:45 - Discussion, with panel members Dr Joan Chang (MRC CDA Research Fellow and SBS Research Staff Representative, UoM) and Dr Mark Freestone (Reader in Mental Health and Director of Education, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, QMUL).

About our Speaker

Professor Pamela Qualter

Professor Pamela Qualter is a Professor of Education based at The University of Manchester. She is one of the UK’s leading experts in the field of loneliness in young people, with research exploring the causes and consequences of loneliness and individual differences in the prospective profile of loneliness across the lifespan. Professor Qualter led the BBC Loneliness Experiment, the world’s largest survey of loneliness.

Find out more about Pamela here.

Let's Talk About: Mental Health and Loneliness in Research