Social Sciences

Research Environment

Key Research Areas

Research centres and groups

Psychology

Brain and behaviour

Our researchers working in this area investigate the neural bases of a variety of cognitive functions in healthy humans as well as in patients suffering from mental or neurological disorders. They draw upon a wide range of approaches including psychophysics, cognitive modelling, neuroimaging and neurostimulation. We are currently using novel approaches such as between subjects’ real time fMRl interaction, pattern recognition analyses, as well as using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to better understand the link between hormones, metabolites and cognitive function.

Enhancing thinking

Research on thinking processes has a long tradition in cognitive psychology but much of the impact of our thought processes is on our behaviour in domains that are the subject of other sub-disciplines of psychology. In recognition of this breadth of impact, at Surrey we have formed a research theme, which cuts across traditional psychology sub-discipline boundaries, that is focused on both understanding the fundamentals of thinking and on applying this knowledge to develop ways of enhancing thinking processes at multiple levels of activity (individual, group, organisation, society) and in multiple domains.

Health and wellbeing

The Health Research Group has a strong focus on both theoretical and applied research particularly in the areas of health, environmental, occupational, clinical and counselling Psychology. It investigates a range of health-related behaviours such as exercise, smoking, diet and communication, focusing on risk perception and consultation.  Current projects focus on food allergy, food labelling, rumination and recovery from work stress, recovery from office based surgery, rehabilitation following bariatric surgery and dietary control.

Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre (FCBHRC)

In addition to an understanding of the fundamental biological effects of foods and nutrients on health, there is a crucial need to understand consumer behaviour and choice of foods and to integrate these insights with those from the biological sciences. FCBHRC offers a solution to integrate the social and biological sciences needed to address these crucial issues. The major driving force behind the research centre is the need to translate basic biological knowledge on food safety, diet and health in order to facilitate the improvement of people’s lives.

FCBHRC research is wide ranging in terms of topics being addressed (e.g. food choice, policy development, food labelling), and methodologies used (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, stakeholder consultation). The centre’s research seek to understand how to change food-related behaviour; communicate effectively about food-related risks and benefits; and engage the public in food-related scientific debate and policy decision making. Research is funded by the European Union, the UK’s Food Standards Agency and UK research councils.

www.surrey.ac.uk/psychology/research/fcbh/index.htm

Sociology

Criminology and criminal justice

The group conducts empirical research on the principal institutions of the criminal justice system, notably the police, the prison and probation services, the voluntary criminal justice sector and the courts. We also explore more theoretically oriented work on the nature of deviance and social control in contemporary society. Members of the group also participate in the Crime and Security initiative.

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/groups/criminology

Developments in methodology

As a leading centre of expertise in social research methodology, this flagship research group focuses on developing methodologies, cutting-edge methods and innovation in the application of new research technologies. Current research priorities include: work on social simulation; statistical modelling; visual methods; secondary analysis of datasets; GIS techniques, especially in relation to qualitative methods; virtual methods; advanced computationally supported qualitative methods; and new technologies for social research.
There is a special interest in the use of mixed methods, methodological integration and triangulation, and methodological synthesis. This work is integrated through specialist advanced methodology centres, including CRESS (Centre for Research in Social Simulation) and CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Networking Project).  

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/groups/methodology

Identities, generation and everyday life

The focus of research in the Identities, Generation and Everyday Life grouping is on contemporary social identities and their expression in socio-cultural forms, with particular emphasis on ethnicities, culture and identity, marginalised sexual identities, and youth cultures. We also explore contemporary social life and social issues in relation to later life and ageing, childhood, and youth within communities.
Innovative research is undertaken on the practices (and doing) of everyday life in respect of identity, sleep, health, work, popular culture, and sexuality, particularly investigating these within the frameworks of age, generation and the life course. Finally, we engage with questions concerning health and welfare provision in the context of ethnicities, gender, generation and age.  

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/researchgroups/identities_generation_and_everyday_life.htm

Media, culture and communication

The Media, Culture and Communication research grouping conducts research across a wide range of subjects in culture, media and new media – from the theory and philosophy of media and communications, to political communications research, projects on the internet and mobile media, research on audiences, as well as explorations of 'high', 'popular', youth- and sub- cultures (especially as they are articulated via new/media).
Members of the group bring critical, sociological perspectives to bear on some of the most pressing questions to emerge from a fast-changing new/media and cultural landscape - How do our changing communicative practices transform our political, social and cultural lives? What roles do (intergenerational) sociality and affect have to play in media and communications? How are culture, society and economy mediated and (re)produced through changing media technologies, institutions, texts and contexts? What roles do media and communication play in democracy, equality and governance?

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/researchgroups/media_culture_and_communication.htm

Science, environment and technologies

Our work on science and technology develops sociological frameworks to examine a wide array of contemporary developments, with particular concentrations of effort on contemporary communications media, the applications of computational technologies such as the grid and high-performance computing in the social and natural sciences, sociology of the environment, public understanding of science and social aspects of risk.  There is also a multidisciplinary Sustainable Lifestyles Research group with other departments and faculties within the University.

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/groups/environment

Work, organisations and inequalities

This new grouping conducts novel research into the historical core of sociology; macro-level structures, and processes and outcomes of social inequalities. Sociological analyses of work include explorations of non-standard employment and ‘body work’. Also of interest are inequalities that unfold along the life course, such as in the transition from education to work, as well as in criminal justice, family, health,
earnings, and occupations.

New research areas include environmental inequalities, and inequalities associated with new media and the Internet. Organisational subjects span the management of art museums and galleries and cultural policy from a neo-institutional perspective, to organisational features of police forces, as well as schools and universities as organisations. These topics are explored with a mix of methods, from ethnography to analysis of large-scale secondary longitudinal datasets.

www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/researchgroups/work_organisations_and_inequalities.htm

Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender (CRAG)

CRAG is internationally prominent and hosts numerous international visitors. Research within CRAG examines how gender differences in the earlier life course in terms of paid work, family roles and social relationships influence the ability of women and men to live fulfilling and socially engaged lives, while coping with ageing and increasing disability. CRAG has completed projects on food and older people, older men’s social worlds and healthy lifestyles, women and pensions, the social influences on sleep in children, teenagers, couples and mid to later life women, and is currently leading a New Dynamics of Ageing collaborative research project, SomnIA, on ‘Sleep in Ageing’.

www.crag.surrey.ac.uk

Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS)

The Centre for Research in Social Simulation (CRESS), based in the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, is a multidisciplinary centre bringing together the social sciences, software engineering and agent-based computing to promote and support the use of social simulation in research in the human sciences. 

http://cress.soc.surrey.ac.uk/web/home

Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS (CAQDAS)

Now in its 16th year, the CAQDAS Networking Project is internationally known for pioneering work on systematic qualitative data analysis techniques, providing practical support and training generations of researchers in the use of qualitative software.
CAQDAS hosts QUIC (Qualitative Innovations in CAQDAS), which delivers its ongoing and well-established Training and Capacity Building programme in qualitative software, and explores three new developments. The first concerns qualitative software support for integrating qualitative and quantitative data in mixed method research. The second relates to multistream visual data. The third concerns geo-referencing qualitative software to enable users to add a spatial dimension to qualitative data analysis. QUIC explores these three new areas by applying them to the field of environmental risk.

http://caqdas.soc.surrey.ac.uk

Digital World Research Centre (DWRC)

DWRC aims to develop and apply a process of user-centred innovation in digital media technology, based on the interplay of user, design, business and technology research. We also strive to apply this technology for social benefit through various forms of inclusive research and design.

The centre runs a combination of PhD and post-doctoral research projects on topics such as digital storytelling, community journalism and digital photography. Projects are funded by a variety of government and industrial sponsors. Government funding has come from UK research councils such as the EPSRC and ESRC, and from the EU. Industrial funding has been provided by companies such as Vodafone, Microsoft, Kodak, British Telecom, Orange, Hewlett Packard and Fujitsu. We also have a strategic partnership with the Faculty of Industrial Design at the Technical University of Eindhoven and encourage a flow of postgraduate projects and people between the two universities.

www.dwrc.surrey.ac.uk

Politics

Political theory

This group is conducting research on concepts of active citizenship, gender perspectives on citizenship, education and learning policy, and political theory. We are currently involved in research on the theory and practice of research

www.surrey.ac.uk/politics/research/areasofresearch

European Politics

Covering a wide range of individual specialisations, the European politics grouping builds out from questions of identity and belonging into the relationship between national and European polities at the theoretical, institutional and policy levels, and into questions of European foreign and security policy and the role of the European Union as an international actor.

www.surrey.ac.uk/politics/research/areasofresearch

International Politics

This group focuses on cross-cutting issues such as human rights and humanitarianism, nuclear non-proliferation, security and defence, and foreign policy analysis. Particularly innovative is the work on the politics of international intervention, looking at key drivers of foreign policy such as post-conflict reconstruction and stabilisation.

www.surrey.ac.uk/politics/research/areasofresearch

Centre for International Intervention

“Making Sense of International Intervention”

cii – the Centre for International Intervention at the University of Surrey – is a new initiative designed to provide critical scrutiny of the range of interventions used in international relations today. These include developmental projects situated within peace building/state building operations in conflict-affected and “fragile” states, military intervention and humanitarian assistance in situations of extreme crisis, and ‘softer’ forms of intervention such as mediation and diplomacy. cii’s purpose is to develop an in-depth, solid, understanding of how interveners conceptualise, rationalise, and operationalize their interventions, of the response from recipient communities, and of the consequences for both. It undertakes this task with the aim of enhancing both academic and practical understanding of intervention.

cii provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, research, and data to enable local and international stakeholders from diverse fields and backgrounds to 'make sense of international intervention' in line with the above perspective. It achieves this by carrying out innovative multi-disciplinary research into theoretical and practical dimensions of international intervention, developing strong collaborative links with other institutions involved in the study and practice of intervention, and organising workshops and conferences aimed at feeding back insights to relevant bodies and to inform future research in the area. This is done by producing briefs for different audiences including academics, policy-makers, the military, NGOs, and the corporate sector.

www.surrey.ac.uk/politics/cii

Centre for Research on the European Matrix (CRonEM)

CRonEM is a multidisciplinary research centre housed in the School of Politics. At CRonEM, we research European integration as a matrix of overlapping layers of governance, institutions and processes that shape how people of this continent live their lives and are governed, as well as how Europe engages the rest of the world. The integration process has produced a novel Euro-polity in which many policy areas are governed jointly by member states, but in which persistent diversity remains at national and sub-national level. Citizens thus experience European integration differently in the various member states of the EU. Moreover, the EU is best considered as the core of this governance matrix, but not its entirety: other organisations and processes exert a significant influence over the evolution and impact of European integration.

We have a distinctive approach to the study of Europe, with the following characteristics:

• An ‘evaluative’ epistemology, which focuses on critique and proposals for improvement of EU policy/institutions as appropriate;
• A focus on the lived experience of European integration, i.e. how integration is shaped by, and shapes, our lives as European citizens;
• An understanding of European integration as a complex constellation of processes, institutions and actors including, but not limited to, the EU;
• Openness to multi- and intra-disciplinarity;
• Openness to how EU studies and European studies are understood in different disciplines and outside the Anglo-sphere;
• Academic-practitioner cooperation.

CronEM organises a series of research seminars, and annual conference and other events aimed at outreach beyond academia, particularly in the Surrey region.

www.surrey.ac.uk/cronem

Law Enforcement, Defence & Security (LEDS) Network

The LEDS network brings together research staff from within the Faculty and across the University who are actively engaged in research that is directly beneficial to the law enforcement, defence and security sectors. Some of the topics that are currently being researched include communication systems, (semi/automated) precision strike capabilities, military decision making, digital forensics, cyber security, online identity, and intelligence analysis. Research is funded by research councils such as EPSRC, government bodies such as HO/CAST, and the EU. Industry is also a stakeholder in some of the research being conducted by network members.

In order to provide innovative and comprehensive solutions to the some of the challenges faced in present-day law enforcement, defence and security environments, the LEDS network strives to design and conduct multi-disciplinary research. The network brings together engineering and technology-based disciplines with the human sciences.

Research Academics - Politics

Research Academics - Psychology

Research Academics - Sociology

Career Development

Links with Industry