The Glasgow School of Social Work aims to contribute to the promotion of social justice and social inclusion by pursuing high quality, systematic research which informs and enhances social work policy, practice and education in post-devolution Scotland, in the UK, in Europe and beyond. The expertise of the combined staff of the School and its links to several centres of research excellence enable it to meet this aim through research activities which are grouped into four major themes:
- Professional Education
- Criminal Justice and Youth Justice
- Children, Young People and Families
- Community Care and Community Development
You can find more about our work in each area by clicking on the links above.
Underpinning the four themes is the development of innovative theoretical scholarship and empirical research which critically examines social work policy and practice within its wider organisational, social and political contexts. Thus, for example, as well as researching the issues, problems and processes that social work exists to address and the nature of social work itself, the school's research activities across the four themes (as evidenced below) extend into a wide range of international and national inter-disciplinary collaborations with scholars, policy makers, managers and practitioners in fields of study and practice including architecture, community education, criminology, disability studies, education, health and health promotion, law, mental health, penology, politics, psychology, social geography and youth studies.
The GSSW is particularly committed to the development of new research capacity (as demonstrated in the work of postgraduate research students and early careers researchers) as well as to the intellectual leadership that is provided in each area. If you are interested in post-graduate research opportunities in the school, please see the Post Graduate Research page.
There is also considerable interest in the School in research methodology, infrastructure for supporting research (including practitioner research) and ethical issues in research. Staff members have, for example, published articles on methodological issues: feminist dilemmas in data analysis; on feminism, social work and critical practice; on the ethics of researching children and young people; about ethical issues relating to accessing children in hospitals for social research interviews; and about the particular ethical issues relating to research involving children in residential childcare.
If you would like to discuss commissioning the GSSW to undertake a research study, please contact Fergus McNeill, Depute Head (Research): Fergus.mcneill@strath.ac.uk (Tel: 0141 950 3098).