SOCCAH (Social Connections, Cohesion and Health) is a community of researchers interested in social relationships, loneliness, culture and their impact on physical and mental health. We connect researchers, policy makers and third sector groups, share resources, expertise and ideas and inspire new networks and collaborations around the world that can generate evidence to help people lead healthy happy lives.
Our platform was founded by Ula Tymoszuk and Mai Stafford in 2015 at UCL as a networking group for social epidemiologists researching the links between social relationships and health. We started out as a small group of mainly social epidemiologists, but after a few years of organising seminars we realised we were onto something important and that we had become something of a hub with people across different methodologies, disciplines and universities wanting to get involved.
To date our network has served as a forum where researchers can critically discuss social relationships concepts and measures as well as mechanisms linking them with mental and physical health outcomes, share work in progress, and find collaborators. The ongoing seminars have been increasingly attended by quantitative and qualitative researchers across UCL and other universities including Oxford University, Royal College of Music, Manchester University, as well as representatives from third sector organisations, such as the International Longevity Centre UK and the Campaign to End Loneliness.
If this is something that interests you, please sign up below to receive updates from us and follow us on Twitter @SOCCAH_network. If you have a question for us or simply want to tap into the expertise available in our network, just Ask a Question.