Social policy and social justice

Social policy and social justice research area brings together expertise on inequalities, policy processes and approaches, globalisation, justice and different forms of justice, welfare state, and state-led institutions. Our research is socially and policy-relevant, and we have a strong reputation for methodological innovation in qualitative mixed-methods research, visual methods, discourse analysis and ethnography:

Our research interests include:

• critical analyses of 'justice' and different applications
• drugs, drug use and drug policy
• globalisation, social policy and development
• harms to non-human animals
• homelessness and housing
• sites and processes of incarceration
• social harm and zemiology
• social inequalities and divisions
• the state and the welfare state
• utopias and utopian social theory
• youth un/employment and youth justice.

Many staff are members of the Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative (HERC); Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD); and Global Challenges and Social Justice Research Centre (GCSJ).  Research students are encouraged to participate in the supportive and collegial research culture in the discipline.

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English. 

Potential research projects

• Corporate crime and harm
• Critical analyses around justice – criminal, social and territorial
• Globalisation, social policy and development
• The harms of austerity and social injustice
• Harms to non-human animals
• The history of criminal justice
• Homelessness and housing
• Policing
• Prisons, and other sites and processes of incarceration
• Research methods
• Social harm and zemiology
• Social inequalities and social divisions of ‘race’, ethnicity, class, gender, age, sexuality, and locality
• The state and the welfare state
• Youth un/employment and youth justice
• Utopias and utopian social theory 
• Various forms of criminalisation, non-criminalisation, and regulation.

Many staff are members of the Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative (HERC); Innovation, Knowledge and Development (IKD); and Global Challenges and Social Justice research centre (GCSJ).  Research students are encouraged to participate in the supportive and collegial research culture in the discipline.

Current/recent research projects

We are open to receiving proposals on a wide range of research projects on this broad topic. 

Potential supervisors

This theme encompasses most department academic staff members. The departmental website gives the main areas of research expertise of academic staff, as well as links to their personal webpages and research publications.

• Dr Matthew Cole
• Dr Victoria Cooper
• Dr Lynne Copson
• Dr Deborah Drake
• Dr Lystra Hagley-Dickinson
• Dr Keir Irwin-Rogers
• Dr Isla Masson
• Dr Dan McCulloch
• Dr David Scott
• Dr Carly Speed
• Dr Stuart Taylor
• Dr Jaime Waters
• Professor Nicola Yeates

Fees and funding

Some of our research students are funded via 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, see Current studentships.

Links

• Social Policy and Criminology at The Open University
• Innovation, Knowledge and Development
• Harm and Evidence Research Collaborative (HERC)
• Centre for Global Challenges and Social Justice