Social Work

Research groups

The school houses seven specialist research centres:

• Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences
  Staff in the Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences conduct research focusing on physical activity and nutrition, and their associations with health across the lifespan. The primary areas of focus include biomedical, psychosocial and socio-environmental aspects of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and nutrition.

• Children and Families Research Centre
  This centre is a hub for research and training in child welfare, family policy, social work and young people's relationships. Our members have backgrounds in social policy, social work, psychology and sociology. We have strong national and international links with child welfare academics, policy makers, practitioners and service users.

• Centre for Gender and Violence Research
  The centre is a leading site for the study of gender-based violence. Members have a long history of researching violence against women and gender-based violence in different contexts, including theoretical and empirical studies and evaluations of policy and practice locally, nationally and internationally. Our research covers victims/survivors, perpetrators, children, agency approaches and international comparisons using a gendered analysis.

• Centre for Research in Health and Social Care
  This centre is a focus of both applied and theoretical research around key health issues at national and international level. We currently have around 30 members including staff and postgraduate students who work across a wide spectrum of research areas: inter-professional and inter-agency work, evidence-based care, health inequality, mental health and health issues relating to ageing, children and gender.

• Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice (including the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research)
  The centre was formed in 1998 to provide a more integrative perspective on existing scholarships in criminal justice, socio-legal studies, poverty and social exclusion. Our members come from a wide range of disciplines and have expertise in a number of policy areas, with particular strengths in data analysis and social statistics. We aim to promote a supportive arena for critical national and international analysis and research into monitoring the nature and extent of poverty, social exclusion and injustice.

• Centre for Urban and Public Policy Research
  Research at the centre is concerned with governance, housing, citizenship, globalisation and the transformation of social and economic life in cities. Centre members come from the disciplines of economics, social policy, history, geography, social economics and social work. We combine interests in theoretical approaches to social and urban theory with practical involvement in current issues of policy in the UK and across the world. Our staff members have active research links with institutions in east and south-east Asia, the European Union and Europe, particularly the Balkan countries. This results in work with a strong international and comparative dimension, which we see as one of our key strengths.

• Norah Fry Research Centre
  The Norah Fry Research Centre is a leading international centre specialising in research with and for disabled adults, children and their families. The centre is known for its work to include people with learning disabilities in the research process, as well as the development of accessible, easy-to-understand information and the dissemination of research findings in multiple formats to different audiences.

Careers

Studying social work equips students with a wide range of knowledge and skills across a broad spectrum of interests and fields. As a result, studying social work and developing skills in analysis and research is relevant to vocational or non-vocational work in many different settings and subject areas.

Previous University of Bristol social work students have entered employment in higher education, policy-related fields, local government, other public sector bodies and third sector organisations. Careers have included those related to health and welfare, social work practice, academic posts, community work, the criminal justice system, management and research consultancy.