Our research helps shape social work policy and practice through partnerships with national and international agencies.

We aim to create an environment which promotes internationally-excellent research that has a positive impact on both practice and policy. We had the highest quality profile for research publications in Scotland in our REF 2021 unit of assessment, according to the Times Higher Education’s GPA calculations, with almost half our nominated publications being classed as ‘world-leading’.

Our work is organised under the four broad headings of:

Children, young people & families
Health & wellbeing
Citizenship & communities
Criminal & social justice

These research areas are aligned closely with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences’ research themes of Health, Children and Young People, and Public and Social Policy, and the University research themes of Health and Wellbeing, and Society and Policy.

Our areas of research

Children, young people & families

Our experts carry out, share and disseminate social research into the experiences of children, young people and families. We promote evidence-based practice and research-informed policy.

Health & wellbeing

We're a vibrant, enthusiastic and collaborative research group who produce world-leading, international and multi-disciplinary scholarship, applied research and consultancy on issues of health policy, public health, health inequalities, health history and social work (within the context of health).

Criminal & social justice

We cover a diverse range of areas with an applied and international policy and practice focus on issues of criminal and social justice, including questions of equality and diversity.

Citizenship & communities

The relationship between citizenship and community lies at the heart of many of today’s most important social and political debates. Find out more about our research in this area.