While some people get their highs from a brisk run, others swear by sharing a cuppa with a friend or spending time in nature for a wellbeing boost. 

Now those behind the Global Happiness Megastudy hope to recruit tens of thousands of people across the globe in a unique trial to pinpoint the techniques and interventions that are most likely to lift the spirits.  

“It’s definitely daunting, but I’m really, really excited about it,” says study team member Harry Clelland, a postdoctoral research fellow at Hungary’s ELTE University.  

“We want this project to be the largest, most comprehensive and most diverse study ever on improving happiness. This is a really surefire way to nail down which strategies are most effective, and in which contexts.” 

Clelland explained the project was born out of a review of existing research on frequently recommended happiness interventions. Megastudy leads Elizabeth Dunn and Dunigan Folk of the University of British Columbia found scientific evidence to back common strategies for improving happiness to be lacking. 

In addition, most happiness studies to date have been restricted to small-scale samples of ‘WEIRD’ participants. That’s western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic, meaning much of the available data has been gleaned from Europe, the US and other western countries.  

We want this project to be the largest, most comprehensive and most diverse study ever on improving happiness

“And one other limitation is that studies involving different populations often use different ways to measure happiness at any given time,” said Clelland. “We want to bundle all of this together in a grandiose study, testing loads and loads of different interventions on a universal happiness measure.” 

The project has assembled what Clelland describes as the ‘Avengers of happiness studies’ to head up its expert advisory panel and help whittle down the list of possible interventions to 24. They’re designed to be accessible, cheap and self-administered, and include things like weight training, getting involved in open acts of kindness, or chatting to an AI bot.  

The team now hopes to partner with hundreds of research colleagues across the planet. They, in turn, will undertake the mammoth task of recruiting 30,000 study participants who will each be randomly assigned an intervention to participate in.  

Clelland, meanwhile, has his own ideas about what puts a smile on his face. 

“Happiness for me is in the pursuit of truth, and doing it alongside good people,” he says. “That and getting to the end of this monster project with my sanity intact!”

Visit www.happinessmegastudy.com/home to find out more 

Main image: FG Trade