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We conduct applied research into social work and social care services, including professional identities, service user involvement in social work education and practice, the provision of social work education through distance learning, mental health, learning disabilities, digital literacies, and social work history.

Our research is recognised for its innovative approach and academic rigour, with many of our academics internationally renowned as subject experts. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), our submission under the unit of assessment for Social Work and Social Policy was judged world-leading or internationally excellent, a testament to both the world-class research by colleagues and the impact of our research on practice. We contribute to policy debates and developments through the Social Work History Network and NIHR (SSCR).

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) and an MA or research methods training at MA level (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your .

Potential research projects

• Social work and mental health
• Service user and carer involvement
• Values and Ethics of practice
• Legal Literacy
• the Social Model of Disability
• Rights Based Practice
• Professional Identity
• Social Work and Criminal Justice
• being a practitioner-researcher
• Methodologies: Ethnography, Observational Methods, Reflexive Thematic analysis, Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), critical realism

Current/recent research projects

• Retention in Social Work
• Structural harm, exclusion and agency of young people’s lives in contemporary Britain
• Welsh language social work provision for Service Users and Carers
• Working together in child protection
• The lived experience of Relate supervisors
• Nigerian lay counsellors on identifying and intervening in child abuse

Potential supervisors

• Dr Charlotte Scott

Fees and funding

PhD fees

Professional doctorate fees

Some of our research students are funded via the or The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership; others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, visit .

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