Overview
The School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences (ASPS) is a substantial multi-disciplinary, cross campus centre of research with members working on a wide range of cutting edge methodological, theoretical, empirical and policy related issues. It is distinguished by its applied, interdisciplinary research that draws on national and international comparative methods, to develop innovative and significant impact-centred work which pushes the disciplinary boundaries and promotes important changes within society.
ASPS has developed an international reputation for:
Pioneering theoretical ideas that change the way in which policy, governance, criminology and social work are conceptualised.
Developing cutting-edge research methodologies which produce unique, internationally significant data-sets.
Designing a range of innovative analytical tools that help reform and guide social practice.
Disseminating research outputs to a range of stakeholder groups in order to strengthen, and critically reflect upon, policy and practice. ASPS welcomes applicants interested in researching social policy, criminology and justice, politics, policing, prisons, public policy, social work, poverty, language policy, disadvantage, migration and welfare.
Summary
The strength and rigour of ASPS' research has been registered in successive research assessment exercises. In the most recent research assessment exercise, 'REF 2014', seventy percent of ASPS' research has been graded world-leading or internationally excellent, with a 160% increase in world-leading research since the 2008 assessment exercise. ASPS ranks 12th in the UK for outstanding research impact (4*) and 20th for world-leading research (4*).
ASPS distinguishes itself through a long-standing commitment to researching and shaping governance, policy, and practice in divided societies dealing with the legacies of violence and conflict. This focus is being expanded and enriched through strategic diversification into new applied research streams that inquire into, and confront, challenges presented by racism, inequality, economic marginalisation, institutional reform and the crimes of the powerful. Furthermore, the school aims to address blind-spots and lacunas in governance, policy and service delivery which conflict and transition can create, in areas such as gender, disability, ageing, health, criminal justice, and ethnic minorities. These streams are enhanced through transnational research that draws on growing international linkages to better understand how regional and global distributions of power, wealth, infrastructure, resources, and knowledge, impact on governance, policy, and practice on a variety of scales.
The school's research priorities are supported by a vibrant, aspirational culture that supports scholars to develop and pioneer innovative methodologies, analytical tools, and theoretical concepts that can sensitively and rigorously build evidence based, conceptually rich understandings of the complex processes that shape reform, accountability and service delivery. We embrace interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research that harnesses diverse tools and approaches to enhance our response to field-specific challenges.
The school aims to formulate and execute our research collaboratively, and share our findings through innovative mechanisms that cater to the precise needs of diverse user-group. ASPS has also demonstrated a preparedness, when needed, to confront injustice and significant failures in policy and governance in a robust manner, often with significant effect. This distinctive research agenda is operationalised through five research groups:
Social Policy
Criminology and Justice
Public Policy and Government
Social Work
Youth and Community studies
About
The administration of justice is an evolving and highly sensitive process. How states inquire into and prosecute crime takes place through a complex bureaucratic apparatus, which is shaped by a range of contested policies and political agendas. Contestation takes place through changing social constellations inclusive of civil society, government and the private sector, which leads to a range of policy and practice challenges for the criminal justice system.
Equally states themselves are perpetrators of crimes, which are often exposed and censured through national and international networks of civil society, and by official agencies of accountability.
ASPS research into crime and punishment is distinguished by its critical approach to the administration of justice, and its recognition that states themselves can be perpetrators of significant deviant conduct.
Key research themes include:
Prisons and Northern Ireland
Children and women's rights within the criminal justice system
Policing, human rights and accountability in a national and Transnational context
Truth recovery and the past
International state crime and human rights
Resistance and justice-making from below
Terrorism, security and intelligence handling
Crime mapping
Environmental criminology
Cyber-crime