Centre for Policy, Citizenship and Society

The Centre for Policy, Citizenship and Society (CPCS) conducts research that seeks to understand the ways in which society operates, especially in relation to policy, theory and practice in social contexts. These issues are explored through sociological, socio-political, cultural, economic and organisational lenses. They are underpinned by theoretical and applied research that seeks to understand and inform social and public policy.

Research in the Centre spans a range of themes, including exploring issues of identity (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, age, social class), identity construction, youth research, citizenship, security, the workplace, social exclusion, as well as research examining the interplay between policy and the changing nature of societies. Much of this work takes a critical lens, with researchers in the Centre also actively researching decoloniality. The CPCS is highly interdisciplinary, involving researchers from areas including social work, sociology, politics, international relations, psychology, education, and other fields.  

Our primary purpose is to facilitate and support knowledge production and dissemination and have a positive impact on communities at the local, national and international levels by informing policy, practice and knowledge exchange. We work with partners in the public, private and third sectors to achieve these goals. The CPCS also directly supports colleagues submitting to the C20 (Social Work and Social Policy) Unit of Assessment to ensure a strong return for Research Excellence Framework purposes.

The CPCS has an interdisciplinary and broad research agenda that focuses on the following:

• Exploring the relationship between various forms of insecurity (both in practice and theory). This includes the manifestation of these insecurities, the causes of conflict between individuals and groups seeking to promote their own security, the impact of these forces on contemporary politics, and local and international relations.
• The promotion of social and democratic inclusion and transformation at global, national and local levels through the critical examination of the myriad ways gender matters in shaping people’s identities, experiences and opportunities.
• Critically examining the changing nature and sustainable futures of democracies by considering the changing relationship between citizens and democratic processes, the restructuring of politics and democratic institutions, and emerging issues in democratic representation and political participation.
• Embedding an ethos of social justice and aspiring for socio-political transformation in social science research. This is done by studying inequality, social movements, critical pedagogy, service-learning practices, university-community engagement, public sociology, and theories of transformation.
• Investigating complex and diverse communities, the sense of community in a range of locales (physical and virtual), and issues of territory, space and place. This includes exploring urban sociology, cities and rights, hybrid space and community well-being, rural communities, social sustainability, and social exclusion.
• Combating the coloniality of knowledge that comes from the exclusion of colonial inquiry in Westernised universities.
• Examining ways to improve the health and well-being, working lives, and productivity of individuals, teams, and organisations in industrial and post-industrial economies.

The Centre is made up of seven research groups based in the School of Social Sciences:

• Multiple Exclusion Research Group
• The Youth Research Group
• The Gender Research Group
• The Work Futures Research Group
• Cities and Community
• The Work, Wellbeing and Performance Research Group
• Governance, Security and Sustainability Research Group