All our research degrees involve appropriate postgraduate research training modules, which are agreed with the supervisor and the Institute Research Student Coordinator, and which are assessed. In addition, we hold regular research student workshops and seminars and doctoral researchers participate in research group activities within the School of Social Policy.

The MPhil requires a thesis of 60,000 words, while the PhD thesis is 80,000 words in length.

Our academic staff have wide research interests and these are detailed below. Joint supervision is generally advised, and we can provide this with other departments. 

• Third sector policy and practice: voluntary action and the structure and working of voluntary organisations: poverty, social security and anti-poverty policy
  Contact: Professor Pete Alcock
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 6630
  Email: p.c.alcock@bham.ac.uk
• Islamaphobia: the role and function of faith and faith communities in public and political spaces; minority community issues; equalities legislation, policy and practice; citizenship, multiculturalism, integration and community cohesion.
  Contact: Dr Chris Allen
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 7203
  Email: c.allen.2@bham.ac.uk
• Geographies of money and finance; financial inclusion and exclusion; education, learning and knowledge; wealth and inequality.
  Contact: Dr Lindsey Appleyard
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 1063
  Email: l.j.appleyard@bham.ac.uk
• Black service users' views of mental health services; re-ablement and community services for older people; mental health legislation; the contribution of social theory to the understanding of mental stress; risk assessment in mental health; the role of masculinity in shaping men's experience of mental distress and our responses to it; service user participation; evaluation of health and social care responses to mental health and old age.
  Contact: Ric Bowl
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 6688
  Email: r.e.e.bowl@bham.ac.uk  
• Individual and family experiences of impairment and disability; individual and family experiences of health and social care; care and welfare attitudes in relation to the balance between state, family and individual responsibility.
  Contact: Dr Harriet Clarke
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 8479
  Email: h.clarke@bham.ac.uk
• Public understandings of social policy; the politics of representation in social policy.
  Contact: Dr Stuart Connor
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 8031
  Email: s.a.connor@bham.ac.uk  
• Housing in europe; ageing populations.
  Contact: Professor John Doling
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5710
  Email: j.f.doling@bham.ac.uk  
• New migration, integration, community cohesion and inclusion; community engagement and community research methodology.
  Contact: Dr Lisa Goodson
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 4993
  Email: l.j.goodson@bham.ac.uk
• Race and gender; Asian women within the family and wider society; service provision within areas of disability and sexuality.
  Contact: Dr Surinder Guru
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 8481
  Email: s.guru@bham.ac.uk
• Youth and family policy; youth justice; crime and anti-social behaviour; comparative social policy, particularly Latin America.
  Contact: Dr Nathan Hughes
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 2881
  Email: n.j.hughes@bham.ac.uk  
• African Caribbean home ownership; Ethnic minotiryt housing wealth; Return migration; Ethnic minority communities; Life history methods.
  Contact: Dr Ricky Joseph
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 7233
  Email: r.joseph@bham.ac.uk
• Work with older people; community care; direct payments; health and social care interface; interprofessional education and user involvement.
  Contact: Rosemary Littlechild
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5728
  Email: r.j.littlechild@bham.ac.uk  
• Health policy/health inequalities; ethnicity; qualitative research methods; social inclusion.
  Contact: Dr Bob Matthews
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5718
  Email: r.n.matthews@bham.ac.uk
• Non-governmental organisations; community participation; neighbourhood regeneration; mental health; substance use and anti-poverty strategies.
  Contact: Angus McCabe
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5732
  Email: a.j.mccabe@bham.ac.uk
• Inequality, employment, social security, wealth, the balance between state, family and self-provision (such as pensions and child support); the secondary analysis of complex datasets.
  Contact: Professor Steve McKay
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 8559
  Email: s.d.mckay@bham.ac.uk
• Governance, management and regulation of housing associations; role of the non-profit sector in public policy; homelessness and access to social housing; new migration, equality and diversity.
  Contact: Professor David Mullins
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 3348
  Email: d.mullins@bham.ac.uk
• The welfare state in Britain since 1945; the Labour Party and the welfare state; the Conservative Party and the welfare state; the history of British social policy; social democratic social policy; the Swedish welfare state.
  Contact: Dr Robert Page, FRSA
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 8066
  Email: r.m.page@bham.ac.uk  
• New migrants and access to education, training, employment and housing; integration, social inclusion and social cohesion and new migrant communities; developing innovative researchmethodologies to facilitate inclusion of excluded groups; community research methodology.
  Contact: Dr Jenny Phillimore
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 7822
  Email: j.a.phillimore@bham.ac.uk
• Community development and social care services; the participation of community members, service users and providers in research and evaluation.
  Contact: Liz Ross
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5717
  Email: e.m.ross@bham.ac.uk
• Financial security of individuals, families and households including: assets and asset-based welfare; poverty, wealth and inequality; social security policy; financial planning and management (including savings, pensions, credit and debt); changing family forms, particularly the growth of lone parenthood.
  Contact: Professor Karen Rowlingson
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 8565
  Email: k.rowlingson@bham.ac.uk
• Policing and minorities; muslims and the criminal justice system - as victims, offenders and employees; victims of crime/victimisation; ethnicity and crime, fear of crime/crime related anxiety; counter-terrorism; religious diversity.
  Contact: Dr Basia Spalek
  Tel: +44(0)121 415 8027
  Email: b.spalek@bham.ac.uk  
• Social work with older people; community care policy and practice; adult service users' experiences of social work and social care services; enhancing service users' quality of life and mental well-being; service user involvement.
  Contact: Dr Denise Tanner
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 2941
  Email: d.l.tanner@bham.ac.uk
• Mental health, recovery and social inclusion; whole family approaches; wellbeing and resilience; personalisation and self-directed support; identity issues; social theory and social models of mental distress; service user and carer participation; social work and interdisciplinary working.
  Contact: Dr Jerry Tew
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 3640
  Email: j.j.c.tew@bham.ac.uk
• Gender; sexuality and sexual orientation; services for people with learning difficulties; relationships of care; narrative methods; social work ethics and values; adult social care; social inclusion; diversity and equality.
  Contact: Dr Nicki Ward
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5713
  Email: n.j.ward@bham.ac.uk
• The sociological analysis of professional judgement and decision making; the analysis of professional talk; policy development and the reform of social work; socio-tehnical systems design.
  Contact: Professor Sue White
  Tel: +44(0)121 414 5714
  Email: s.white.3@bham.ac.uk

If I gain a postgraduate research degree in this area, what are my career prospects?

The University of Birmingham has recently been ranked 9th in the UK, and 55th in the world, for post-qualification employability in a global survey of universities commissioned by the International Herald Tribune.

Over the last five years 98.6% of postgraduates from the School of Social Policy have been in work and/or will develop analytical skills and the ability to gather, assess and interpret data, all of which require clear and logical thinking.

Birmingham's School of Social Policy postgraduates enter a wide range of occupational sectors: the majority in the public sector in areas such as youth work but others including events, sales, administration and education. Graduates also opt to continue in academia.

What type of career assistance is available to doctoral researchers in this department?

The College of Social Sciences, to which the School of Social Policy belongs, has specially designated careers advisors and careers consultants who can provide guidance for doctoral researchers on career paths, CVs, training opportunities, application and interviews. The University’s central Careers’ Service also runs workshops and offers personally tailored advice and guidance including 1-1 careers advice, 1-1 CV advice. The Career’s Service also runs CV writing workshops especially for postgraduates in the College of Social Sciences, giving advice on how to compile CVs for both employment and for academic roles.

The University also has dedicated careers advisors for International students who run workshops and networking opportunities with potential employers. These are especially popular with International postgraduate researchers.