PDF for printing» Department of SOCIAL & POLICY SCIENCES
Introduction
The Department of Social and Policy Sciences includes academics from social policy, sociology and social work. It has a strong research record and was awarded a Grade 5 rating in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. It was also rated 'Excellent' in its most recent Teaching Quality Assessment.
The Department is committed to advancing learning and knowledge through teaching and research. It collaborates with a wide range of users at the local, national, European and global levels.
Postgraduate programmes
The Department currently delivers the following taught postgraduate programmes:
- MSc Business and Community
- MSc Death & Society
- MSc Globalisation and International Policy Analysis
- MSc International Social Policy
- MSc Social Research
AND a number of ESRC-recognised Faculty-level Master of Research (MRes) programmes:
- MRes European Social Policy
- MRes Social Policy
- MRes Social Work
- MRes Sociology
The Department also has an active MPhil/PhD research programme. The Department takes pride in fostering a friendly and supportive learning environment.
Main areas of research
Our research is focused on social policy issues, is broadly conceived, and is strongly interdisciplinary. Key research areas include:
- childhood and youth
- work, business and welfare
- health and social care
- death and dying
- globalisation, wellbeing and governance
- policy analysis and design
In addition to contributing to a greater understanding of these social issues, our research includes the analysis of policy outcomes, governance and politics of policymaking, and policy implementation and practice. There is a strong comparative, cross-national element to our research, attracting funding from a wide variety of national and international sources.
Interdisciplinarity and collaborative research and teaching is of key importance to the Department. For example, we work closely with the Department of Economics and International Development.
The Department is host to a number of Research Centres:
- Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy (CASP)
- Centre for Death and Society (CDAS)
- European Research Institute (ERI)
and is closely associated with:
- Centre for Business, Organisations and Society
- The Centre for Women's Studies
- The School of Management, Work and Employment Research Centre (WERC)
Three major journals are edited in the Department:
- The Journal of European Social Policy
- Mortality (journal of death studies)
- Work, Employment and Society
The Department has a regular programme of visits from national and international scholars. It also has numerous research links with national and international organisations such as the World Bank and the ILO, the European Union, UK government departments and agencies, European trade unions and civil society organisations as well as universities and research centres throughout the world.
Seminar series
The Department runs a lively and well attended research seminar series for staff and postgraduate students with external and internal speakers. There is also a postgraduate research seminar series. Each of the Research Centres run seminar series associated with their research activities.
Facilities and equipment
The University of Bath has excellent library facilities for social science research and holds the European Documentation Centre.
Careers information
The Department is committed to ensuring that postgraduate students acquire a range of subject-specific and generic skills during their training. Our graduates generally go on to work in a wide variety of organisations, for example:
- social research in universities and research institutes, government, business, voluntary organisations and international organisations
- public policy analysis at local, national and international levels
- public information and campaigning within organisations concerned with wellbeing, sustainability and social justice.