The School for Policy Studies has an outstanding international reputation for its research and longstanding strength in depth across many disciplines, including social and public policy, social work, disability studies, criminology, social gerontology, political sociology and psychology. Research and impact activity is focused around six well-established and dynamic research centers (see below). Research centers address local to global social challenges, providing a home for intellectual synergy and support. At the School for Policy Studies, our research: 

• Examines policy areas that affect us all in day-to-day life ranging from housing and neighbourhoods to health care, family policy to social justice, health inequalities to domestic violence, child welfare to social care for older people, poverty to social work, governance to criminology. 

• Influences and challenges policies implemented by governments and institutions by looking at issues such as how we organise services for children and families, provide housing and health care for older people, develop our cities and neighbourhoods, and how effectively we provide social care and services for the vulnerable. 

• Investigates the issues, factors and attitudes underlying the social concerns that make our headlines every day: the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, migration, domestic violence, forced marriage, out-of-hours GP services, mental health services, how we apply criminal justice, the rise in obesity and less active lifestyles.