We are a centre of excellence for generating new insights into contemporary health and social care problems and challenges for diverse populations across the life course (children and adults) through research. Our Centre staff and doctoral students undertake applied and theoretical research relating to some of our most pressing health and social care issues at national and international levels. This includes work which focuses on the implications for gender, age, health inequalities and housing for health and social wellbeing, as well as for informing inter-professional and inter-agency practice. We specialise in innovative and methodologically rigorous research, with collaboration and user involvement at the heart of our research.  

Our work is interdisciplinary and includes partners from across the University of Bristol, academic institutions globally, national organisations and charities, including Bristol City Council and many voluntary groups. Several of our team are research fellows of the NIHR School for Social Care Research. Our work is funded by research bodies, government organisations and charities, including the National Institute for Health Research England, the Economic and Social Research Council, Dunhill Medical Trust, Nuffield Foundation, Cruze Bereavement Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.  

We are committed to producing high-quality research evidence for informing practice and policy and we welcome discussions with prospective research students and collaborators on topics relevant to our focus.  Read more about our current projects here: link to pure feed 

Our Centre members are from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including social policy, social work, gerontology, social care, sociology and psychology and we lead on research-led teaching across a number of programmes in the School for Policy Studies, including childhood studies, social work and research methods.