BBC Radio 4, in partnership with academic researchers at the University of Sussex, has launched The Kindness Test, a huge public science project aimed at increasing our understanding of the role kindness plays in our lives

BBC Radio 4 has launched a questionnaire devised by psychologists at the University of Sussex to explore people’s attitudes towards kindness, and designed to gain new insights to help inform this rapidly growing field of study.

The online questionnaire has been devised by a network of researchers based at the University of Sussex, and follows previous hugely successful collaborations with academics (The Touch Test, The BBC Loneliness Experiment and The Rest Test) each of which became the world’s largest ever study conducted on those topics. The pandemic has brought the topic of kindness to the fore, highlighting inspiring examples of true kindness in action, and with thousands joining community WhatsApp groups. The latest research is demonstrating that kindness can be central to success at work, in politics and in relationships.

The public is invited to take part in the Kindness Test study and to respond to a range of questions linked to these topics. It will take around 30 minutes to complete, and is available from Tuesday 31 August at www.thekindnesstest.org. You can read more about the project in the BBC announcement.