The Criminology, Social Policy and Social Work pathway addresses three distinctive – yet interrelated – key topic areas. Criminological research within this pathway ranges from critical assessments observing components of, and practices within, the criminal justice and penal estates, including matters relating to ‘crime’, criminality, ‘victims’ and victimisation. Questions of social policy are frequently a core aspect of such research, but a dedicated focus on Social Policy is also considered a substantive research area in its own right, offering a wide remit of postgraduate and postdoctoral research possibilities.

Issues pertaining to Social Work likewise present fundamental agendas to be addressed within this pathway, engaging with historical and contemporary social problems, and covering a broad variety of social injustices and social inequalities pertaining to, for example, family, education, and the provision of care. Close collaborative (e.g. CASE studentship) work is also undertaken and encouraged within this pathway with relevant external organisations. The disciplinary boundaries within this pathway therefore often transcend the three substantive topical areas, but this pathway additionally fosters potential linkages with other substantive pathways including, for example, the Socio-legal Studies and Sociology pathways – our two closest cognate training routes.

Programmes eligible for NWSSDTP funding

The list below includes all Master’s programmes that are eligible for NWSSDTP funding and the typical PhD programmes that are supported under this pathway. Other PhD programmes within these universities may be considered – please reach out to the relevant Pathway Representative (see contact details below) or the NWSSDTP Office if the PhD programme you are interested in is not listed here. Please note that the NWSSDTP does not fund standalone Master’s programmes – these can only be funded as part of a Master’s + PhD Studentship.

Keele University

• MSc Social Research
• MSc Forensic Psychology
• PhD Criminology
• PhD Social Policy
• PhD Social Work

University of Lancashire

• MSc Social Research Methods
• PhD Criminology and/or Social Policy and/or Social Work

Lancaster University

• MSc Social Research
• MSc Criminal Justice and Social Research Methods
• MSc Criminology and Social Research Methods
• PhD Criminology
• PhD Sociology

University of Liverpool

• MRes Criminological Research
• MA Criminology and Criminal Justice
• MA Social Research Methods
• MRes Social Research
• PhD Sociology and Social Policy

University of Manchester

• MA Criminology
• MRes Criminology
• MSc Social Network Analysis
• PhD Criminology
• PhD Social Work

For information on how to apply for funding, please visit our How to Apply page.

Pathway Representatives

Contact details for Criminology, Social Policy and Social Work Pathway Representatives can be found here: https://nwssdtp.ac.uk/about/contact-us/pathway-leads/

Current Criminology, Social Policy and Social Work Pathway Students and Alumni

Deaf parents and safeguarding: cultural linguistic perspectives on parenting assessment process

In partnership with Manchester City Council, this project involves the exploration of parenting assessments in relation to Deaf BSL (British Sign Language) users and safeguarding. It is an important recognition of the significance of cultural competence in assessments involving Deaf parents who are more readily regarded as disabled than as minority language users from a recognised cultural community.

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Domestic violence protection orders: Imposition versus agency

Civil domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) are used increasingly as part of a criminal justice response to intimate partner violence.  This research questions whether orders designed to stop or curtail perpetrator behaviours whilst simultaneously holding them to account aligns with victim empowerment?  Using a qualitative methodology including interviews, focus groups and case-studies, the victim-survivor experience regarding the DVPO system is explored.

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Researching the organisation and governance of tax compliance in UK professional football

My research investigates different forms of variably illicit tax minimisation in UK professional football. I am conducting interviews with individuals with expert knowledge of football taxation with a view to building an understanding of how these forms of tax minimisation are organised and how their governance and control can be improved.

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What role do police sergeants play in shaping the way frontline police constables understand and operationalise discretion?

This research project will consist of extensive observational fieldwork with policing teams and interviews with participants with the aim to generate original insights into frontline policing. New insights gained from observation-based analysis will create a better understanding of the influence sergeants have over how PC’s operationalise discretion and will inform the development of role-specific training.

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Living with the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence: A Cross-Case Analysis of the Experiences and Support Needs of Older Women

This PhD aims to better understand the experiences of older women, who are living with the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV), with a view to improving support services. This is a mixed-methods study involving in-depth interviews with older, female victims-survivors followed by focus groups and key informant interviews with key stakeholders.

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Young People, Socialisation and the Online/Offline Interface: Exploring the Formation of ‘Mixed’ Extremist Ideologies

This project seeks to explore the varied properties of the contemporary hybridised threat of extremism. In particular, the prevalence of ‘conflicted’ (previously ‘mixed, unstable or unclear’) ideologies, new forms of extremism including incels and misogynistic-driven violence within prevailing notions of masculinity and the ‘manosphere’, and the role of ‘toxic’ online milieus in normalising and rationalising extremist attitudes.

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‘The Price of Compliance’ – An Examination of the Decision-Making Process of Financial Compliance Actors within the UK’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Regime

My research explores the interpretation, construction, and organisation of anti-money laundering compliance within the financial sector. A qualitative methodology using interview data is used to develop a holistic understanding of why and how actors engage with anti-money laundering regulation and the practical effects of this process on compliance behaviour.

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The experiences of Disabled women students in UK Higher Education

An intersectional exploration of Disabled women’s experiences through higher education in the UK. Using mixed methods and an intersectional framework to explore the disadvantages and protective factors that Disabled women face throughout the whole journey through UK HE.

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County Lines, Criminal Exploitation and Keeping Safe in Illicit Drug Markets

My research focuses on exploring and understanding experiences of harm, danger and safety within criminal exploitation and illicit drug markets, particularly ‘County Lines’ operations. I’m seeking to understand how families and professionals cope and make sense of the conflicting and complicated issues of exploitation, victimisation and offending in contemporary drug markets.

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Measuring and investigating the repetition of crime to improve police performance: a focus on situations of domestic violent crime and vulnerability

This project was a CASE studentship with Lancashire Constabulary and Lancaster University. The aim of the project was to improve police collection and use of data to respond effectively to reports of domestic violence. The project used mixed-methods involving observations of Lancashire Constabulary and quantitative analyses of police data.

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Mediating Militarism: Chronicling 100 Years of British ‘Military Victimhood’ from Print to Digital, 1918 – 2018

This CASE project took advantage of unique access to print and digital materials captured and held by the British Library, to chronicle and explore the changing public portrayal of the British war dead from the print to the digital age.

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‘Building Better Relationships? Interrogating the ‘Black Box’ of a Statutory Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programme’

This research study explored the experiences of men who were mandated to a domestic violence perpetrator programme facilitated within a private Community Rehabilitation Company. The experiences of practitioners who implemented the programme were also captured. A key finding to date is that proposals to increase referrals to this programme should be halted until the quality of provision has been addressed.

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Is Domestic Violence Violent Crime?

Investigating types of violent crime in relation to frequency and severity (injury and harm) to identify the relationship of these and whether the sex of the victim and victim-perpetrator relationship are significant. This will answer the question of whether domestic violence should have its own aetiology or whether it should be included in the aetiology of violent crime.

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