Research & Consultancy
Staff in the Department of Social Sciences are engaged in a wide range of research and consultancy work, at a local, regional, national and international level, including recent and ongoing research in Asia, Latin America, Africa, USA, the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Over one third of the Department’s research was recognised as internationally excellent (3* and above) in our Social Policy submission to the RAE 2008. Since then, over 20 new research active staff have joined the Department, making it one of the largest multi-disciplinary groups of social sciences researchers in the sector.
Research Centres
The Department’s Research Centres cover some of our main areas of research expertise and include: Civil Society and Citizenship; Centre for Offenders and Offending; and International Public Policy and Management. Staff in the Department are also involved in interdisciplinary research networks across the University in areas such as Disability, International Development, and Resilience. The Centre for Public Policy is also based in the Department and, with its own specialist research staff, leads on contract research and analysis for a wide range of external organisations.
Research Funding
Staff in the Department have received external funding for research and consultancy in these areas from a range of sources, including the UK research councils, UK and European government departments and institutions, international organisations and voluntary sector bodies. Recent awards in 2010-2011 include funding from: The Ministry of Justice; The North East Offender Health Commissioning Unit; The British Academy: The ESRC National Centre for Research Methods; The ESRC and the Technology Strategy Board; The British Academy; The European Commission; Newcastle City Council; Newcastle Youth Offending Team; The Cyrenians; The Department of Health; The Millfield House Foundation; CAFOD (Catholic Overseas Development Agency); JISLAC (Joint Initiative for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean). The Department has also recently been awarded a Home Office Framework contract for the following three research themes: Victims and Witnesses of Crime; Race and the Criminal Justice System; Violent and Sex Offenders. In 2011, the Department hosted the British Society of Criminology Annual Conference.
Publications and External Activities
Staff publish widely in top-rated social policy and social sciences journals, and act as reviewers for journals and applications to funding councils. Members of staff are editors of Disability and Society (Prof Alan Roulstone) and the Journal of International Organization Studies (Dr Kirsten Haack). Our staff sit on editorial boards for journals including Crimes and Misdemeanours; Sociology; the Journal of International Development; Crime Prevention and Community Safety; the International Journal of Development Education; Crime, Media and Culture, and the African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies. They also sit on a range of advisory boards and steering committees, including the Skills for Justice Higher Education Policing Forum; NHS North of England Cheap and Illicit Tobacco Steering Group Committee; the Development Education Research Centre, Institute of Education, London; and the Developing Areas Research Network. Professor Keith Shaw is a member of the Management Committee of the Institute of Local Governance.
Postgraduate Research
Staff in the Department are also involved in a supervising a wide range of PHD topics. In 2011, the PGR community in the Department included over 30 PhD students, working on a broad range of topics.
