Pamela Qualter is a Professor of Psychology for Education at the University of Manchester and one of the UK's leading scientific experts on child and adolescent loneliness. She led the BBC Loneliness Experiment, at the time the world's largest study of loneliness, and her work spans two connected strands: the causes and consequences of loneliness across the life course, and the social and emotional skills that shape how we relate to one another. She has advised the UK Governm

Loneliness has become one of the most talked-about topics in psychology and public health, yet it remains deeply misunderstood. Is loneliness simply the same as being alone? Does loneliness look different at 20 than it does at 70, or is the experience more universal than we think? And at what point does a normal human experience become something more concerning? In this edition of Conversations on Psychology, I spoke with Dr Eric Schoenmakers, a loneliness researcher whose wo