Social work & social policy

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

We aim to be recognised internationally as a leading centre of excellence for research and knowledge exchange in the disciplines of social work and social policy. We're contributing to academic debates through the publication of internationally-recognised research outputs and help to shape the future direction of research in the two disciplines.

Our work is organised under the four broad headings of:

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

Current projects

Read our brief illustrations of the range of funded and unfunded research projects in our Social Work & Social Policy research summaries.

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.

Citizens & 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.