PhD by Research

Social work has had a place in the University of Southampton for several decades although the Social Work Studies Department was not formed until 1980. Since then the Department (now division) has established an active presence in the School of Social Sciences, in respect of both its undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and its research. Its overall mission is to contribute, through excellence in research and teaching, to the advancement of social work knowledge, policy and practice at national and international levels.

Our research can be characterised by its focus on the relationship between policy and professional practice, its collaboration with other disciplines within the wider academic community, and its attention to theoretical and methodological issues relating to social work practice, research and education. Research students form an integral part of our research culture and make a significant contribution to research activities in the Division via their own work and through their collaborative activities with their supervisors and other staff members.

We currently have both full-time research students and part-time students. There is a preponderance of part-time practitioner researchers who are welcomed in an applied profession, and represents a near doubling of full-time numbers since the mid 1990s. These increases in numbers of full-time students have been achieved through an active recruitment policy, the development of studentships supported by the School and Division alongside the targeting of external funders. Current research students are funded from a diverse range of sources and include the ESRTC, ORC, local authorities, voluntary agencies and health authorities. The recent commitment to promoting practitioner research and agency collaborations for both full-time and part-time students.

The Division holds ESRC '1+3' (full-time and part-time) status plus CASE awards. It has its own Divisional Research Training Programme which, together with the School Research Training Scheme, provides a formal and broadly-based training for students in research methodologies, methods and skills. Our MSc in Professional Studies specialist stream in Research Methods forms an integral part of this scheme of study.

Postgraduate Research Programme (PRP)

This Programme was originally developed for practitioners in social work or related agencies who, following a period of work experience, sought the opportunity to undertake agency-based research leading to a higher degree. It was devised to provide a structure that offered support to individual candidates who might otherwise study in isolation. With the more recent growth in the number of full-time students, this Programme has maintained its commitment to supporting students' research and to enabling them to participate in and contribute to the Division's wider research activities.

Objectives

The stated objectives of the Division's Postgraduate Research Programme are:

  1. To facilitate the preparation and successful completion of students' postgraduate theses
  2. To provide students with a generic grounding in research methods in the social sciences
  3. To provide students with a range of research methods relevant to the academic and professional discipline of social work and related areas of professional practice
  4. To enable students to develop an ability to design, implement and disseminate an independent research study within the wider pilitical and organisational context in which social work takes place
  5. To provide students with access to expertise within different divisions.
  6. To create a forum of peers so that students can discuss issues relating to postgraduate research and provide mutual support