MPhil/PhD by research

Research areas

Our research interests are wide-ranging and we are therefore able to offer MPhil/PhD supervision across many areas of sociology, social policy, social psychology, anthropology, and criminology. In particular, we have an international reputation for combining the study of social theory and social processes with empirical analysis, including analysis of social problems and social policy.

The list below illustrates just how extensive our research interests are, and also indicates the research topics that our members of staff would be particularly interested in supervising.


Researcher Research Topics
Paul Bridgen pensions policy, policy-making theory, social networks and health policy
Milena Büchs welfare state, social inclusion/labour market policy, social inequality, social aspects of climate change and climate change policy
Graham Crow change and continuity in collective identities at the macro level and micro levels 
Carol Davis the cross-cultural study of gender and sexuality and in ritual practices and belief systems
David Graham crime and war, and in ‘shadow’ criminologies
Bernard Harris history of health and social welfare in Britain since 1700 
Susan Halford identity, power, work, space, new technologies in health care
Sue Heath sociologies of youth and education, qualitative research methodologies
Pauline Leonard post-structuralist approaches to identities in work and organisational contexts 
Derek McGhee policing hate crime, intolerance, the legal regulation of sexuality and gender
Nasar Meer  Sociologies of race & ethnicity, citizenship, Islam & Muslims in Britain and the EU, media & representation, faith schools, discrimination legislation, the sociology of W.E.B. Du Bois
Traute Meyer welfare state change in Europe
Alice Mills prison mental and physical healthcare; social exclusion, resettlement and prisoners’ families
John Mohan health, health care policy, organisational changes in health care, organisational change in health care delivery, the public private mix for health, and the role of non-profit organisations
Jane Prichard team performance, training, group functioning
Silke Roth sociology of gender, social movements, feminist organisations, development assistance and humanitarian aid, biographical methods, biographies and the life-course 
Paul Sweetman fashion and consumption, subcultures, visual methodologies
Craig Webber  Sociology of Crime; policing; crime and technology

There may be many other topics that individual staff, or combinations of staff, would like to supervise, and we encourage you to contact academic staff in your area of interest to discuss your ideas.

A wide range of topics have been researched by our current and recent PhD students as shown by the  list of MPhil/PhD projects.

Programme structure

Information is available on the MPhil/PhD programme structure and the arrangements for supervision and progression.

Facilities

We provide our postgraduate research students with office space and computing facilities within the School. You will also have full access to the University's library and computing services. 

Activities

Research students are an integral part of our Division, and we encourage full participation in our activities. As part of our active and stimulating research environment, we offer an extensive programme of seminars with visiting speakers and research workshops where staff and students present their work in a more informal atmosphere.

We also encourage students to attend conferences and research workshops elsewhere. In recent years, our research students have:

  • participated in the ESRC seminar series on ‘Non-familial intimacy across the life course’
  • taken part in a workshop on 'Writing Race: Ethnography and Difference' at the LSE
  • been involved in the BSA Youth Studies Group
  • contributed to workshops at the European Social Science History Conference run by the Institute of Historical Research
  • won the British Educational Research Association Dissertation Prize
  • participated in workshops on 'European Studies at Southampton' (a Faculty-funded seminar series programme)