What we do and its impact
Our research
- examines policy areas that affect us all in day-to-day life ranging from housing and neighbourhoods to health care, family policy to social justice, health inequalities to domestic violence, child welfare to social care for older people, poverty to social work, governance to criminology.
- influences and challenges policies implemented by governments and institutions by looking at issues such as how we organise services for children and families, provide housing and health care for older people, develop our cities and neighbourhoods, and how effectively we provide social care and services for the vulnerable.
- investigates the issues, factors and attitudes underlying the social concerns that make our headlines every day: the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, migration, domestic violence, forced marriage, out-of-hours GP services, mental health services, how we apply criminal justice, the rise in obesity and less active lifestyles.
Browse our research project pages for more detail about our work.
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Main areas of research
- Adoption and foster care
- Ageing
- Cities, housing and neighbourhoods
- Child and family welfare
- Criminal justice and social harm
- Determinants of nutrition and physical activity
- Health and social care
- Inter-professional practice
- International social and public policy
- Mental health
- Poverty and social exclusion
- Social work practice and education
- Violence against women and gender-based violence
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Our staff
Our team of policy experts include economists, sociologists, historians, social policy analysts and human geographers all with specialist expertise across a wide range of policy areas. Find out more about individual staff research interests on their staff profile pages or download a summary of research interests for all staff.
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Our funders
At any one time the School has some 40 individual projects and consultancies in progress with a monetary value of around one and a half million pounds per annum. We have an extensive programme of externally funded research and attract funding from local to international level.
- Big Lottery Fund
- British Academy
- Charities
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- European Commission
- European Union
- Government departments
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Local and regional authorities
- Medical Research Council
- National Institute for Health Research
- NHS Health Technology Assessment
- NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)
- Nuffield Foundation
- Social Care Institute of Excellence
- UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
- United Nations
- US National Institutes of Health
- Voluntary agencies and trusts
- World Health Organisation
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How good is our research?
The School’s excellent result in the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 (RAE2008) represents the most recent confirmation of the quality and international stature of the School’s research activities. The strength and depth of the School’s research culture is evident in the fact that we were able to include 99% our eligible staff in our RAE submission. Our research strength is confirmed by the Research Power index. Research Power is a measure that takes account of both the quality and quantity of research activity. Using this measure the School is placed fourth out of 66 UK institutions in the field of Social Policy and Social Work. This follows an equally impressive result in the previous RAE in 2001.
The School's Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences entered the RAE2008 separately. The Centre was rated third out of 39 institutions in the field of Sports Related Studies. Entering all eligible research active staff, 55% of the Centre's research activity was considered to be world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*).
You can find out more about how we did on our RAE page.
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Contact
For further information about our research and consultancy services please contact:
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