The research project, which will start in April, will build on earlier work, including the 1999 Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey (funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation), and on established expertise in defining and measuring social exclusion in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.

The project will be led by Professor Dave Gordon from the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice, together with colleagues from the School for Policy Studies (Dr Eldin Fahmy, Christina Pantazis, Dr Demi Patsios, Dr Sarah Payne and Dr Simon Pemberton), Sociology (Professor Ruth Levitas and Dr Esther Dermott) and the Norah Fry Research Centre (Dr Pauline Heslop), as well as with researchers at Heriot-Watt University, the National Centre for Social Research, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York. 

At an event on 19 January to mark the announcement of the grant, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Guy Orpen; Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Professor Judith Squires; and Professor Dave Gordon and Ruth Levitas gave presentations about the importance of the research in helping improve people's lives. They were joined by 40 guests, staff and graduate students at the celebration at the Priory Road Complex.

Further celebration of research successes in the Faculty is being planned following large grants from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, and the National Institute for Health Research.