About Generation New Era Stories
Generation New Era Stories (GNE: Stories) aims to understand what life’s like for children born in 2026. A small number of families (around 100 babies) will be invited to an additional in-depth interview that is part of Generation New Era (GNE). This interview gives those mothers, fathers and carers the opportunity to talk in more detail about everyday life with a young child, in their own words. In this way, we can understand what matters most to families with a young child.
Like Generation New Era, GNE: Stories aims to follow children as they grow and develop. This means we will speak with families twice: once when their child is around 1 year old, and again when their child is around 3 years old. By doing this, we can understand how family life, relationships and children’s experiences change over the early years.
About the families invited to be part of GNE: Stories
We aim to interview the mothers and fathers of 100 babies taking part in Generation New Era. Families will be invited from different backgrounds and circumstances across the four nations to ensure that GNE: Stories reflects the diversity of the UK.
In October-November 2026, we are carrying out a small test to help us prepare the main study and will invite 20 families who have taken part in the Generation New Era pilot survey. This will help us test and improve how we invite families to take part, the information we provide, and different ways of carrying out the interviews.
What will taking part involve?
If your family is invited to take part in the GNE: Stories pilot study, a researcher will first contact you by text message and email to let you know more about what is involved and to provide an information leaflet. We’ll also send you information about the study in the post. The researcher will follow up with a phone call to answer any questions and find out whether you would like to take part.
This may be a one-to-one interview or an interview with you and another parent or carer together. Interviews may take place online or in person and will usually last around 60 minutes. You may also be offered the option of going for a short walk with the interviewer or invited to share some photographs of family life during the interview if you would like to. If you choose to go for a walk, this may take around 45 minutes in addition to the 60-minute interview.
The interviewer will ask about your experiences and views of parenting and family life. Some questions may feel personal, but you do not have to answer anything you do not want to. You can pause, take a break or stop the interview at any time.
The interview will be recorded so that researchers can listen to it again afterwards.
You will receive a £30 shopping voucher as a thank you for your time.
For more information about taking part or about the GNE: Stories study, please read the study guide.
Taking part is completely up to you. You can still take part in the main Generation New Era study if you decide you don’t want to take part in GNE: Stories.
About the management and funding of the study
The Social Research Institute (SRI) at University College London (UCL) oversees the study. SRI is a world-leading centre for policy-oriented social science research. It carries out groundbreaking studies of children’s lives and the life circumstances of families. UCL’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies, who run the Generation New Era study, is also based within SRI, and is part of the team running GNE: Stories.
GNE: Stories is being led by Professor Katherine Twamley at UCL SRI and Dr. Michelle Sleed at the Anna Freud Centre, a charity focussed on the emotional wellbeing of children and young people. GNE: Stories is funded by the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
If you have any questions or want to speak to the study team, please email: gnestories@ucl.ac.uk.
Privacy Notice
The GNE: Stories study team values your contribution to Generation New Era Stories. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. You can read the GNE: Stories privacy notice here. This tells you what happens to any personal data that you give us, or any that we may collect for the study.
