Our research
Browse our research project pages for lots more detail about our work.
The School for Policy Studies is a research-intensive environment and is organised around these seven specialist research centres:
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.
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.
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.
The School for Policy Studies is often approached by academics from other countries wishing to spend time in the School to develop their research. We see this as enriching our work and offering opportunities for long-standing collaborative relationships.
However, there are limitations to the amount of resource that we can devote to this kind of experience. We want to make sure that visitors are well looked after and therefore, in order to keep up high standards, we have had to place a limit on the numbers we can accommodate in our School.
In order to be able to make fair decisions and maximise the effectiveness of visits for all parties, we have come up with some guidelines for visitors who wish to spend more than two weeks at a time in our department:
If you are interested in visiting the School, please email the Research Director (currently Professor Sarah Payne) with the following information:
We will aim to let you know the outcome of your application within three months.
A member of academic staff will be nominated as a point of contact during the visit. Visiting academics will be invited to participate in the activities of the centre and school, and also to deliver at least one seminar while here (this could be at a centre meeting, or as part of the SPS seminar series).
We aim to provide visiting academics with office and desk-space, access to a PC, the library, a phone (but not to an international line) and to photocopying facilities. Please note that we cannot provide assistance with living accommodation for visiting academics, although the University Accommodation office may be able to help.
However, there are limitations to the amount of resource in terms of space, money and of course our time that we can devote to this kind of experience. We want to make sure that postgraduate visitors are well looked after and therefore, in order to keep up high standards, we have had to place a limit on the numbers we can accommodate in our School.
In order to be able to make fair decisions and maximise the effectiveness of visits for all parties, we have come up with some guidelines for visitors who wish to spend more than two weeks at a time in our department:
Please note that the School considers applications from visiting postgraduate students twice a year, in June and January. Closing dates for applications are the 31st May and 31st December, unless you have prior agreement from the Director of Research to apply at another point in the year. Applicants should normally expect to hear a decision on their application by the 30th June (May applications) or 31st January (December applications).
Interested students should email the Research Director (currently Professor Sarah Payne) the following information:
1. A letter containing the following information:
2. A proposed work plan stating clearly:
3. An up-to-date curriculum vitae
4. Fees
Normally, to cover departmental costs, a fee equivalent to PhD home student rates will be charged pro rata for time spent on the visit. This is currently £3,730 per year or £310 per month.
Approved applicants will be assigned a member of SPS staff as a research mentor. The mentor will be available during the visit for general academic support, although they will not be able to advise on other issues (legal or visa questions for example). Please note that we cannot provide assistance with living accommodation for visiting scholars, although the University Accommodation office may be able to help.
We will aim to provide visiting postgraduate students with office and desk-space, access to a PC, and to the library. Access to a phone will be provided (but not to an international line). Visiting postgraduate fellows will be entitled to use SPS photocopiers but will not receive inter-library loan vouchers.
For further information about our research and consultancy services please contact: