Centre for Social Research
“Active, relevant and engaged” with real world problems
Welcome to the Centre for Social Research at the University of Salford, UK. The work of CSR-Salford is characterised by a close engagement with policy makers, practitioners and the wider community to produce relevant and influential research. The Centre aims to build “positive partnerships” with outside agencies that focus on revealing and disseminating important messages for tackling problems and challenges faced by contemporary society. CSR-Salford’s members share a commitment to innovative and excellent social research that will both develop our understanding of these problems, and make a positive social impact upon them.
Bringing to bear a wide range of expertise
CSR-Salford is a multidisciplinary group of active researchers, coming from a wide range of research backgrounds – and combining to address key social issues. By uniting different subject, methodological and conceptual expertise, we are able to bring to bear a varied research knowledge base on key social issues relevant to the wider community.
This ‘package of expertise’ enables us to tackle each social issue using multiple methods and perspectives in order to produce maximum insight, usefulness and impact.
Staff disciplinary backgrounds include:
- Sociology
- Social policy
- Criminology
- Cultural studies
- Law
- Geography
- Social theory
Methods specialisms include:
- Large-scale evaluations
- National quantitative surveys
- Cross-national comparisons
- Qualitative studies on sensitive topics
- Research involving children and young people
Specialist units of expertise
CSR-Salford’s members have organised ourselves into seven specialist clusters or Units. Members of each unit work together in proposing and undertaking research projects, organise symposia on key contemporary issues, and collaborate on a wide range of publications. Centre members may belong to more than one cluster, depending on their research interests. The seven clusters are:
- Crime Unit (including the Salford University Centre for Prison Studies)
- Contemporary Research Methods Unit
- Communities, Localities and Inclusion (including Community Finance Solutions)
- Popular Culture
- Social Interaction
- Media and Technology
- Health and Risk
The Centre works collaboratively with other groups across and beyond the University both providing research methods expertise and to further enhance our research and dissemination. In particular, we work with:
- Digital cluster
- Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research Centre
- Centre for Social Justice
Postgraduate opportunities
The Centre for Social Research, as part of the School for English, Sociology and Contemporary History, has a thriving postgraduate community, and we offer numerous funding opportunities. These include Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 1+3 PhD studentships and ‘CASE’ studentships.