Social Work PhD

Social work research involves a wide variety of methods and topics, often geared at understanding the experiences of those who are disadvantaged, alongside exploring challenges in social work practice, or contemporary social problems. <br/><br/>While many of our students are qualified social workers, we also have a large number of students who are not, but who study social issues, policy practices or experiences that are related to social work. <br/><br/>Our social work researchers have expertise in a range of domains including:<br/><br/><br/>* mental health<br/><br/><br/>* children and their families<br/><br/><br/>* forced migration and refugees<br/><br/><br/>* criminal justice<br/><br/><br/>We have excellent links with leading professional bodies, policy-making organisations and professional and social work services in statutory and voluntary sectors throughout Scotland, the UK and internationally.<br/><br/>We also have a number of partnerships with agencies and organisations providing social work in the Global South.<br/><br/>The research interests of staff cover the full range of applied social work service specialisms, theoretical issues and research methods. This includes expertise in: <br/><br/><br/>* creative research methods<br/><br/><br/>* evaluation approaches, including advanced quantitative analysis<br/><br/><br/>* discourse analysis<br/><br/><br/>* documentary analysis<br/><br/><br/>* longitudinal research<br/><br/><br/>* narrative and biographical methods <br/><br/><br/>* numerous other types of qualitative methods<br/><br/><br/>Our work is enriched by the perspective of both international students and UK/EU students, including individuals who are experienced professionals studying part-time while working.