Our thriving and supportive online academic research group is an ideal place for networking, collaborating and hearing about the latest perinatal loneliness research. We meet quarterly and have a lovely mix of academic researchers and practitioner researchers. Please email me at ruth.naughton-doe@york.ac.uk if you are interested in being part of this group.

Our first meeting was in October 2023 and following that we submitted a paper on loneliness in the first 1001 days.

We will be hosting a conference on 18th September 2024:

Brought to you by the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), Sheffield Centre of Health and Related Research (SCHaRR), and the School for Business and Society, University of York:

Tackling parental loneliness in the first 1001 days

Are you interested in reducing parental loneliness experienced in the first 1001 days of a child’s life? This online conference brings together academics and people working in services that support parents to share research findings, build collaborations, and discuss priorities for future research.

We will be discussing reaching and supporting all parents, including seldom-heard and under-served populations, including LGBTQ+ parents, Dads, young parents, and ethnic and religious minority communities.

We know that new parents are particularly at risk of loneliness, which is often linked with poor mental health. Perinatal mental ill health has huge costs to society, and tackling loneliness is one route to alleviating its burden.

For academics: this supportive and friendly conference is a great opportunity for academics of all career stages to share findings or plans from research at any stage.

For practitioners: this conference is a great opportunity to learn about the latest research and make links with academic research teams.

The conference will be fully online and include:

Updates from the Parental Loneliness Research Group

A viewing of a short film produced by the Perinatal Loneliness Research Study

Presentations of the latest research from academics

Discussion rooms to meet other practitioners