Group of workers in high-vis and hard hats

Social Work and Social Policy

Our research classified as world leading (4*) overall (covering outputs, impact and environment). We are ranked 3rd in the sector for research outputs classified as world leading (4*) out of 75 submissions.

The Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology is a vibrant centre of critical research characterised by cutting-edge projects and high quality publications and events. We seek to extend the public benefit of critical social science wherever possible, including via the Eleanor Rathbone Public Lecture Series.

Against this backdrop, major funded projects include vital work exploring the shadow pandemic of domestic violence, youth justice and detention, drug testing, radicalisation and social exclusion, and policing research. Furthering the public benefits of our research, we are proudly a base for Interchange, a charity that partners local community and voluntary organisations with colleagues and students for co-produced research. Research collaboration with external cultural and arts institutions and criminal justice agencies in the city region and beyond is a feature of our practice. Within the department, research is arranged into two clusters - Publics & Practices and the International Criminological Research Unit, dynamic sites of intellectually-oriented, politically engaged activity.

We also make major contributions to the wider social science research community. We host engage@Liverpool - the methods and training arm of the ESRC North West Doctoral Training Centre and the AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership - plus the National Centre for Research Methods, a prestigious partnership for the sharing of advanced methodological training

Back to: Research Excellence Framework 2021