Areas of Study

The Institute of Applied Social Research welcomes postgraduate research proposals that matches our areas of specialism.

Some areas of research tie in with the work of our research centres and research hubs:

Research areas of special interest include the Forced Migration Research Group and the Substance Misuse and Ageing Research Team (SMART), Systemic Practice Research, and the Autism and Systemic Practice Research Hub. We are therefore interested in recruiting students who work on the following research areas:

  • Social Work/Social Care (practice, policy or legal issues)
  • Evaluating strengths-based practice to improve social work practice (e.g. motivational interviewing and systemic practice)
  • Safeguarding adults or children
  • Child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation
  • Exploitation and trafficking of children and young people
  • Domestic Violence
  • Children in need and family support
  • Children in care (CIC), adoption, and leaving care
  • Systemic therapy, supervision and pedagogy
  • Systemic leadership, organisational consultancy and community development
  • Welfare policy in relation to children and young people
  • Refugee, asylum and migration studies, particularly unaccompanied children/young people
  • Youth Justice
  • Violence and youth gangs
  • Drug and alcohol use/misuse (social issues)
Methodological specialisms
  • Participatory research
  • CMO
  • Evaluations
  • Quasi-experimental studies
  • First person practitioner research
  • Collaborative inquiry
  • Arts-based research
  • Systemic Inquiry
  • Systematic reviews
  • Coordinated Management of Meaning
  • Contemporary Ethnographies

Please see Postgraduate Research for information about our Professional Doctorates, PhD, MPhil and MRes research degrees.

See the Research Centre for Applied Psychology for areas of research interest in psychology.

How to apply - information about the requirements for post graduate study and the format of your proposal.

telephone

University switchboard
During office hours
(Monday-Friday 08:30-17:00)
+44 (0)1234 400 400

Outside office hours
(Campus Watch)
+44 (0)1582 74 39 89

email

Admissions
admission@beds.ac.uk

International office
international@beds.ac.uk

Student support
sid@beds.ac.uk

Registration
sid@beds.ac.uk

social media