Journalist and author Ros Thomas has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study international community models for the treatment of chronic loneliness, which some have labelled “the next pandemic”.

“We’re existing in this weird dynamic called the lonely paradox,” Ms Thomas told Jamie Burnett on 6PR Weekends.

“We are the generation more digitally connected than ever, yet socially we are the most lonely generation in history.”

As part of her fellowship Ms Thomas will investigate why severe isolation and weak social connections correlate with increasing heart disease and mortality rates.

Click play below for the full conversation with Ros Thomas