Further details

Lectureship/Associate Professor in Sociology and/or Social Policy

Our highly successful Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology has a strong international reputation for excellence in research and teaching. We were ranked #3 in the 2008 Research Excellence Framework and since this time have been part of three new ESRC research centres, based in the School of Social Sciences, with a wider portfolio of UK and international research funding in collaboration with partners across the University and beyond. Our research is interdisciplinary, comparative and international and closely linked with both our teaching and our relations with partners outside of the academy.

We have recently launched a new set of undergraduate programmes, including BSc Sociology, joint BSc programmes with Social Policy, Criminology and Anthropology and a new cross-University BSc in Web Science. In addition, we play an active role in the University’s curriculum innovation programme, offering a range of minor programmes and curriculum widening modules to students from across the University.

Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology in the School of Social Sciences

More widely, the Department of Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology (SSPC) draws our criminologists together with sociologists, social-policy specialists and anthropologistsin a highly collaborative environment. The Department offers undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes in Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy with a minor undergraduate pathway in Anthropology.

SSPC is located in the School of Social Sciences, which also includes the Departments of Economics; Politics and International Relations; Social Statistics; and Gerontology. Social Sciences is located within the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences (which also includes the Schools of Education, Geography, Mathematics, and Psychology).

Research

In the 2013 REF submission Criminologists joined colleagues in submitting work to the Social Policy panel. In the 2008 RAE this grouping was ranked us third in the UK, with a Grade Point Average of 3.0, one of the highest GPAs in the University. We anticipate a similarly strong outcome of the current REF exercise, based on significantly increased research income 2008-13 with associated strengthening of our published outputs. The successful candidate will be expected to provide evidence of a research profile which offers evidence of their contribution to this outstanding research profile and the future success of the Department.

In the Department, our research is currently organized under the following headings:

  • Work, Organizations and Civil Society: Research in this group is located in the Work Futures Research Centre (WFRC) and the Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC), funded by the British Academy, EPSRC, ESRC, NIHR, the Norwegian Research Council and The Nuffield Foundation. We explore the changing nature of work, both paid and unpaid, situated within a broad theoretical understanding that emphasises the inter-relations between these. Our research focuses on working lives and organizational change and includes studies of the public, private and third sectors in the UK as well Hong Kong, Norway, Russia, South Africa and in a range of countries with international aid activities. Within WFRC, specific projects concentrate on workplace design and environmental sustainability, youth and adult transitions to and within paid employment, older workers, work identities and career trajectories. WFRC has also developed a stream of research on work and work futures in the digital economy and plays a leading role in the interdisciplinary Digital Economy and Web Science initiatives at Southampton.
  • Methodological Innovation: Southampton has a longstanding reputation for excellence in the development and application of leading-edge social science research methods. In 2004 the international standing of this cluster was recognised in the establishment of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. NCRM has been successful in securing two further rounds of funding, securing its future until 2018. NCRM provides a strategic focal point for research, training and capacity building in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods – its aim is to promote a step change in the quality and range of methodological skills and techniques used by the UK social science research community. In addition to this NCRM members undertake research with a broad methodological focus, including qualitative longitudinal methods, survey methodology, and research ethics.
  • Population Change, Ageing and the Life Course: This research group focuses on investigating the drivers of population change and the implications for economic welfare and social support across the life-course. The group combines the development of theoretical perspectives on the family, ageing, migration and the life course with rigorous empirical research in the UK and internationally. The international standing of the group is exemplified by the award of the ESRC Centre for Population Change (CPC – which was awarded its second round of 5 year funding in summer 2013). Members of the Department are involved in investigating satisfaction with services amongst the black and minority ethnic community (funded by NIHR); the relationship between pensions and ethnicity (ESRC); and the role of NGOs in asylum seeker and irregular migrant voluntary returns (ESRC).
  • Social Cohesion, Crime and Community Relationships: Research interests in the criminology team include: internet crime; social psychology and crime; sexuality, victimisation and crime; policing; public opinion research; imprisonment and offender rehabilitation, violent and sexual offenders; and criminal investigation. Particular methodological innovation has been brought to the examination of the British Crime Survey and research on the educational needs and well-being of prison populations. The Institute of Criminal Justice Research (in partnership with the Law School) is located in Social Sciences. The Institute is a multi-disciplinary research hub that explores and develops the relationship between criminal justice research and scholarship and policy and practice. Members of the Institute are part of the newly funded What Works in Crime Reduction Centre funded by the ESRC -

This group also includes research on particular public policy areas including: multiculturalism and citizenship and climate change and environmental policies. Our critical examination of public policy is complemented by qualitative and quantitative research focusing on particular families, communities, neighbourhoods, and organizations. For example, this cluster includes research on minority groups including: Polish migrant families in England and Scotland; multiple-heritage families (ESRC); expatriate British communities in South Africa (British Academy); Indian diasporic communities (Leverhulme fellowship) and research on faith-based social innovation projects (AHRC).

These are closely linked to a number of research centres & institutes

  • The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods ()

NCRM is a national network of research groups, each conducting research and training in an area of social science research methods. The co-ordinating hub has been based in Southampton since 2004. The Centre is directed by Professor Patrick Sturgis, and Professor Graham Crow is the deputy director. The Centre’s mission is to promote research methods capability among members of the UK social science community across the range of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. It does this by conducting cutting-edge research and by a co-ordinated programme of training for social scientists across the range of disciplines, in all sectors, and at all career stages. Hub research focuses in particular on methodological innovation and interdisciplinarity.

  • The Work Futures Research Centre ()

The Work Futures Research Centre brings together researchers from across the University including a diverse range of disciplines from social science, education, health sciences, geography and engineering and computer science, who are developing exciting new research about work, organisations, training and the workforce in the 21st century. The Centre has active links with policy makers, employers and academics. WFRC is directed by Prof Alison Fuller (Education); Prof Susan Halford (Sociology and Social Policy); Dr Pauline Leonard (Sociology and Social Policy); and Prof Cathy Pope (Health Sciences).

  • The ESRC Centre for Population Change ()

This Centre is concerned with issues surrounding migration (both internal and internal), fertility, household change and ageing, and with the implications of population change for economic welfare and social support at national, local, household and individual levels. The Centre is part of a consortium including colleagues at the University of St Andrews and other Scottish Universities. Colleagues in the centre work in partnership with the Office for National Statistics and the General Register Office for Scotland. The centre is directed by Professor Jane Falkingham of the Division of Social Statistics.

  • Web Science Institute Members of the Department are strongly represented in this new cross-University Institute, launched in October 2013.
  • Institute for Criminal Justice Research

The Institute of Criminal Justice was established in the Law School at Southampton in 1986 under the direction of Andrew Rutherford (now Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Policy in the Law School). The Institute was re-launched collaboratively in 2012 by Social Sciences and the Law School as the Institute of Criminal Justice Research (ICJR). The Institute is envisaged as a genuinely inter-disciplinary research hub that seeks to reach out to colleagues of all disciplines (and indeed across all institutions) who feel that their research interests might include or complement criminal justice studies. Since its re-launch the Institute has built up a membership base of over 110 individuals drawn from across the University, partner institutions and criminal justice practice.

  • Centre for Research on Ageing ()

The Centre for Research on Ageing (CRA) is an international and multi-disciplinary research centre examining key issues in ageing and the lifecourse, informing policy and debate at the national and local level. It offers a range of part- and full-time postgraduate programmes in Gerontology which are tailored to meet the needs of graduates, mid-career professionals, and mature returners to education. It also provides a number of short courses for busy mid-career professionals, new entrants to the university and the social sciences, or returnees to education.

  • Centre for Citizenship, Globalisation and Governance ()

The terrain of citizenship is changing in response to global forces and bringing in its wake new governance demands. Migration, human rights, issues of global warming, pandemics of ill-health and a looming crisis in energy provision are challenges that cannot be contained or addressed within national boundaries alone. Merging insights from political science and international relations and drawing on participants throughout the School of Social Sciences and the wider University C2G2 focuses on the central political questions of today’s world about power, cooperation, security, inequality and democracy.

University Strategic Research Groups

The University of Southampton has created a series of University Strategic Research Groups to push forward its interdisciplinary research strategy, see

Many of these groups have close ties to our research:

  • Ageing and Lifelong Health
  • Complexity in Real-World Contexts
  • Computationally Intensive Imaging
  • Energy
  • Health Technologies
  • Institute for Life Sciences
  • Nanoscience
  • Neuroscience
  • Southampton Maritime and Marine Institute
  • Sustainability Science
  • Work Futures.

Teaching in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology

The Department delivers a suite of programmes based on our single honours BSc Criminology and BSc Sociology. We run MSc programmes in Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology and each is a recognised pathway for ESRC 1+3 funding through the University of Southampton Doctoral Training Centre.Applicants would be expected to contribute to teaching excellence across these undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The Department is also strongly involved in the University of Southampton’s Curriculum Innovation Programme, offering ‘free elective’ modules to students from across the University, including those in Social Enterprise and Work and Employment in Theory and Practice, and a range of ‘minor’ programmes.

The undergraduate degree in Criminology provides a broad introduction to the study of crime, criminal justice and policing and allows students to develop their interests in particular aspects of the discipline with research led teaching by experts in the field. We offer Criminology joint honours programmes with Psychology Sociology and Social Policy as well as a minor programme in Criminology.

The undergraduate degree in Sociology is designed to provide students with a broad-based introduction to the study of sociology, and allows students to develop areas of specialism across the three years, with research led teaching by experts in the field. We offer Sociology joint honours programmes with Social Policy and a combined BSc Sociology with Anthropology programme in addition to the joint programme with Criminology listed above.

In both suites of programmes students complete a 10,000-word research-based dissertation on a subject of their own choice. Throughout their programme, students are encouraged to participate in Curriculum Innovation Modules from across the University.

The Department is also host to the Social Science pathway for the University’s BSc Web Science an innovative cross-Faculty programme that combines our expertise in social and computational approaches to the Web.

Postgraduate programmes (

We offer postgraduate-instructional programmes in Social Policy and Social Research, Sociology and Social Research, and Sociology and Social Policy.

The Dip/MSc in Criminology is recognised by the ESRC as an advanced training pathway. It is designed to equip students with an advanced level of knowledge, understanding and skills in criminological and criminal justice research. All students take general methods courses in qualitative and quantitative research methods and the philosophy of social research and research design, together with subject-specific core modules in Criminal Behaviour and Criminal Justice and a range of specialist options including Contemporary Policing, Cybercrime, Security Studies and Life Behind Bars. On successfully completing the taught modules, students complete a 15000 word Masters dissertation.

The Dip/MSc in Sociology and Social Research is recognised by the ESRC as an advanced training pathway. It is designed to equip postgraduate students with an advanced level of knowledge, understanding and skills in the field of sociological analysis. All students take general methods courses in qualitative and quantitative research methods and the philosophy of social research and research design, together with subject-specific core modules in the understanding of modernity and social change. On successfully completing the taught modules, students complete a 15000 word Masters dissertation.

The Dip/MSc in Social Policy and Social Research is also recognised by the ESRC as an advanced training pathway. It has a similar structure to the Dip/MSc in Sociology and Social Research but the specialist core modules for this programme cover Key Concepts and Debates in Social Policy and The Mixed Economy of Welfare Delivery, and the project units are also more likely to be orientated towards social-policy concerns.

The Dip/MSc in Sociology and Social Policy has been designed for those students who wish to focus more on substantive issues rather than methodological training. Students who follow this degree take core units in both Sociology and Social Policy, and may submit a dissertation in either discipline.

Postgraduate research

The Division has a large number of postgraduate research students pursuing a wide range of topics, including such issues as migration and social change, the future of the voluntary sector, new methods for social media analysis, big data and peacebuilding,

For further information about the interests of recent and current students, see

ESRC Doctoral Training Centre

The breadth and quality of the doctoral training at Southampton has recently been recognised by the award of an ESRC Doctoral Training Centre (see In addition to the programmes which have already been mentioned, members of the Division have also been directly involved in the development of training pathways in Complex Social Systems; Economic and Social History; Energy, Environment and Resilience; Governance and Policy; and Health and Wellbeing.

Further Information

For more information about all the Department’s activities, and about the particular interests of individual members of staff, please visit our main website –

If you have any further questions, please contact the Head ofDepartment, Professor Susan Halford, by telephoning 023 8059 2572.

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