Research

Overview

We encourage inter-disciplinary research across the divisions in our School, and across the University as a whole. Several of our research centres are actively involved in research with the Schools of Nursing and Midwifery, Mathematics, Medicine, or Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

The School of Social Sciences is committed to providing first class teaching and research within the social sciences and establishing world-leading research centres. Research in the School of Social Sciences has been given excellent ratings in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Across the School, more than 50% of the research was judged to be either internationally excellent (3*) or world-leading (4*). All of our units of assessment improved upon their performance in the last (2001) RAE.

Academic strengths

Particular strengths in each research division are:

  • Economics: information economics; quantitative macroeconomics; econometric methods
  • Gerontology: ageing in developing and transitional societies; diversity in later life and ethnic minority ageing; health and social care; income and pensions; paid work and informal caring; retirement prospects of future generations of elders; social networks and informal support
  • Politics and International Relations: citizenship, democracy, globalization, security, human rights and environmental politics
  • Social Statistics/Demography: sample survey theory and methods, demography and living standards and statistical modelling
  • Social Work Studies: ageing and end of life studies, child welfare, and globalization and social development
  • Sociology and Social Policy: social divisions and social cohesion, community and identity, long term change, globalization, risk, ageing, and comparative social policy

Research centres

The School hosts a number of leading research centres including: