Survey research of ethnic minorities in the 1960s brought the reality of ethnic and racial discrimination to the forefront of the national debate, playing a key role in anti-discrimination legislation in 1968. Despite legislation, ethnic and racial discrimination and harassment continues to be a feature of British Society, although this has declined against some groups and intensified against others. Not only does this violate the principle of a fair and equal society, it also has palpable adverse impacts on health, particularly mental health. The last comprehensive evidence of harassment was collected in 1994 and since then there is little statistical evidence about the prevalence of harassment and its impact on the health of ethnic minorities in Britain. This research uses a new, large-scale data source, Understanding Society, on minorities in Britain to investigate the current prevalence and type of ethnic harassment and its relationship to mental health and health behaviours such as smoking, drinking and physical activity. Since 2009, Understanding Society has been interviewing around 51,000 adults, including 10,000 ethnic minorities. The large sample size of the Understanding Society database allows us to look at who experiences harassment, where harassment is most likely, and what kind of harassment is most common. For instance, we will investigate how gender, age and education level intersect to produce particular vulnerabilities to both verbal and physical abuse as well as avoidance or feeling unsafe. We will determine in which locations people are more likely to experience harassment: in the street, on public transport, at the workplace? How might these differ in areas of low or high ethnic concentration? Because Understanding Society asks the same individuals about harassment repeatedly over time, we can examine not only one off experiences but also find to what extent people report persistent harassment. After establishing new benchmark estimates of harassment in the UK, we will go on to test for the impact of harassment on mental health and health behaviours. It is well known that those who experience harassment are more likely to have poor mental health, and that those stressed by harassment may turn to unhealthy coping behaviours such as drinking or tobacco use. However, it is difficult to establish causality, because individuals who experience harassment may also have personality traits or underlying proclivities which also lead them to have poor mental health or worse health behaviours. Fortunately, Understanding Society will enable us to establish time-order reasoning and to use statistical techniques which allow us to better establish causality in these relationships. Moreover, we can also investigate to which extent family relationships, friendships, presence of others of the same ethnic group in the neighbourhood and sense of belonging and identity protects minorities experiencing harassment from worsening mental health and health behaviours. Having repeated observations across time also enables us to examine whether any negative effects of harassment dissipate over time or if repeated experiences are more stressful than one off incidences. This research will have direct relevance to those who work with minority communities such as local governments and local services, as well as policy makers concerned with health and health equality. To make best use of the research we will meet frequently with a policy-orientated advisory group who will help refine our research questions and disseminate our findings to those governmental and third party organisations that will benefit from it, and develop a platform for research co-production to support a better, shared understanding.

This seminar series aims to generate understanding of the contribution of human behaviour regarding cold homes, fuel poverty and their impact on health by reviewing current evidence, identify evidence gaps and priorities for future research. It will explicitly consider the influence of social and health inequalities, maintain a focus on policy influences, impact and interventions. It aims to add to existing academic knowledge and forge new inter-disciplinary discussions and collaborations. Research is required to generate understanding of the human responses and experience that may place people at risk of fuel poverty, and influence their decision making regarding home heating in terms of heating behaviour, as well as in seeking help and knowledge. It is essential that this inquiry seeks to explain how inequality and wider structural determinents influence human behaviour regarding cold homes and fuel poverty, as well as the more subtle influences of culture, social norms, beliefs, attitudes and values. This ESRC seminar series builds on two previous events, an Evidence Summit on health, fuel poverty and cold homes was held by the UK Health Forum, Friends of the Earth and Energy Bill Revolution ( UK Health Forum 2013) and second an International roundtable discussion on health and wellbeing impacts of energy efficiency run by the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2013). The applicants of this ESRC application participated in both events and will build on them by taking a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approach and taking health and human behavioour as the focus. The seminars ensure cumulative rather than on-off debate and are unique in adopting an emphasis on policy development, intervention and implementation. We will review existing evidence incuding, economic evaluations, identify and adddress evidence gaps, and develop partnerships, questions and proposals for future policy implemetnation and research. The seminar programme is UK led, and will include contributions from across Europe and beyond through the WHO Global Network of Age Friendly Cities, Healthy Cities Network and the International Energy Agency. This will support collaborations for Horizon 2020. The seminar series brings together a unique partnership of academic, local and national government, charitable and voluntary sector partners. It will add to existing body of academic knowledge and help to forge new inter-disciplinary discussions, theoretical propositions and research collaborations. Interconnections will be explored between academic disciplines, cross government departments and organisations and cross sector. As the seminar series is focused upon the behaviour and vulnerability of high risk groups early dissemination and impact is vital and interim dissemination methods will be adopted via the project website and briefing papers. The seminars will adopt a lifecourse approach in the first year and look at vulnerability to cold across ages. Seminars in the second year will focus on specific vulnerable groups where little research has been conducted and there are existing social and health inequalities, these are Black and Minorty Ethnic (BME) groups, the rural poor and the socially isolatated. In the final year the focus will be on understanding the current policy enviroment, global and national influences regarding the implications for future evidence based policy. The seminars will be one day events targeted at 30 people. The morning will consist of presentations followed by structured round table discussions in the afternoon. The final event will be in the form of a mini-conference of up to 100 people to pull together learning from accross the seminar series, agree recommendations and outputs including publications and future research collaborations and projects. All contributers are coonfirmed unless stated.

This seminar series aims to generate understanding of the contribution of human behaviour regarding cold homes, fuel poverty and their impact on health by reviewing current evidence, identify evidence gaps and priorities for future research. It will explicitly consider the influence of social and health inequalities, maintain a focus on policy influences, impact and interventions. It aims to add to existing academic knowledge and forge new inter-disciplinary discussions and collaborations. Research is required to generate understanding of the human responses and experience that may place people at risk of fuel poverty, and influence their decision making regarding home heating in terms of heating behaviour, as well as in seeking help and knowledge. It is essential that this inquiry seeks to explain how inequality and wider structural determinents influence human behaviour regarding cold homes and fuel poverty, as well as the more subtle influences of culture, social norms, beliefs, attitudes and values. This ESRC seminar series builds on two previous events, an Evidence Summit on health, fuel poverty and cold homes was held by the UK Health Forum, Friends of the Earth and Energy Bill Revolution ( UK Health Forum 2013) and second an International roundtable discussion on health and wellbeing impacts of energy efficiency run by the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2013). The applicants of this ESRC application participated in both events and will build on them by taking a cross-sectoral, interdisciplinary approach and taking health and human behavioour as the focus. The seminars ensure cumulative rather than on-off debate and are unique in adopting an emphasis on policy development, intervention and implementation. We will review existing evidence incuding, economic evaluations, identify and adddress evidence gaps, and develop partnerships, questions and proposals for future policy implemetnation and research. The seminar programme is UK led, and will include contributions from across Europe and beyond through the WHO Global Network of Age Friendly Cities, Healthy Cities Network and the International Energy Agency. This will support collaborations for Horizon 2020. The seminar series brings together a unique partnership of academic, local and national government, charitable and voluntary sector partners. It will add to existing body of academic knowledge and help to forge new inter-disciplinary discussions, theoretical propositions and research collaborations. Interconnections will be explored between academic disciplines, cross government departments and organisations and cross sector. As the seminar series is focused upon the behaviour and vulnerability of high risk groups early dissemination and impact is vital and interim dissemination methods will be adopted via the project website and briefing papers. The seminars will adopt a lifecourse approach in the first year and look at vulnerability to cold across ages. Seminars in the second year will focus on specific vulnerable groups where little research has been conducted and there are existing social and health inequalities, these are Black and Minorty Ethnic (BME) groups, the rural poor and the socially isolatated. In the final year the focus will be on understanding the current policy enviroment, global and national influences regarding the implications for future evidence based policy. The seminars will be one day events targeted at 30 people. The morning will consist of presentations followed by structured round table discussions in the afternoon. The final event will be in the form of a mini-conference of up to 100 people to pull together learning from accross the seminar series, agree recommendations and outputs including publications and future research collaborations and projects. All contributers are coonfirmed unless stated.

IMPACT stands for 'Improving Adult Care Together'. It is a new £15 million UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, co-funded by the ESRC and the Health Foundation. It is led by Professor Jon Glasby at the University of Birmingham, with a Leadership Team of 12 other academics, people drawing on care and support, and policy and practice partners - along with a broader consortium of key stakeholders from across the sector and across the four nations of the UK. IMPACT is an 'implementation centre' not a research centre, drawing on evidence gained from different types of research, the lived experience of people drawing on care and support and their carers, and the practice knowledge of social care staff. It will work across the UK to make sure that it is embedded in, and sensitive to, the very different policy contexts in each of the four nations, as well as being able to share learning across the UK as a whole. As it gets up and running, IMPACT will seek to: Provide practical support to implement evidence in the realities of everyday life and front-line services Overcome the practical and cultural barriers to using evidence in such a pressured, diverse and fragmented sector Bring key stakeholders together to share learning and co-design our work in inclusive and diverse 'IMPACT Assemblies' (based in all four nations of the UK to reflect different policy and practice contexts) Work over three phases of development ('co-design', 'establishment' and 'delivery') to build a centre that creates sustainable change and becomes a more permanent feature of adult social care landscape