Department of Social Policy and Intervention

Last updated

Department of Social Policy and Intervention
Established1914
Academic staff
40
Postgraduates 35 CSP, 30 EBSIPE
55
Location
Oxford
,
England
Head of DepartmentJane Barlow
Affiliations University of Oxford

The Department of Social Policy and Intervention is an interdisciplinary centre for research and teaching in social policy and the systematic evaluation of social intervention based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It dates back to Barnett House, a social reform initiative founded in 1914 by a reform movement clergyman, Samuel Barnett (known as Canon Barnett), becoming a department of Oxford in 1961. [1]

Contents

The department hosts two main research units: the Oxford Institute of Social Policy (OISP) and the Centre for Evidence-Based Social Intervention (CEBI).

In 2021 Professor Jane Barlow followed Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus as head of department. [2]

Research

The department was ranked first among all social policy departments in the Research Excellence Framework 2014, which assess the research performance of institutions of higher education in the UK, with 79% of its research classified as world-leading. [3] The Department of Social Policy and Intervention is a multidisciplinary centre of excellence for research in social policy and the development and systematic evaluation of social interventions. [4] Within the department, research is organised around two main units:

Whilst the majority of work is focused on OECD countries, faculty members also address important social policy issues in developing countries. The academic backgrounds of members of staff in the department include anthropology, demography, economics, health services research, political science, psychology, social policy, social work and sociology. The substantive focus of research in the department covers a wide range of policy areas including; Children and Families, Family Policies, Health Policy, Education Policy and Social Policy, Pensions, Poverty and Social Exclusion, Welfare and Work, Demographic and Population based problems and a wide range of social and psycho-social interventions. Whilst the majority of work is focused on OECD countries, faculty members also address important social policy issues in developing countries.[ citation needed ]

Teaching

The department offers teaching on two core graduate study tracts: Comparative Social Policy (MSc and MPhil) and Evidence Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation (MSc and MPhil). Research courses are offered in Social Policy and Social Intervention (DPhil). Additionally the department provides teaching on the undergraduate Politics, Philosophy and Economics course. [7]

Notable people

Notable former heads of department have included Leonard Barnes, A. H. Halsey, Stein Ringen, Martin Seeleib-Kaiser and Bernhard Ebbinghaus.

The Barnett Professor of Social Policy is based in the department. Notable academics have included:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine</span> UK public research university

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institution was founded in 1899 by Sir Patrick Manson, after a donation from the Indian Parsi philanthropist B. D. Petit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Internet Institute</span> Research institute at the University of Oxford

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Sciences Division in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford</span> Department of the University of Oxford

The Department of Computer Science is the computer science department of the University of Oxford, England, which is part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. It was founded in 1957 as the Computing Laboratory. By 2014 the staff count was 52 members of academic staff and over 80 research staff. The 2019, 2020 and 2021 Times World University Subject Rankings places Oxford University 1st in the world for Computer Science. Oxford University is also the top university for computer science in the UK and Europe according to Business Insider. The 2020 QS University Subject Rankings places The University of Oxford 5th in the world for Computer Science.

Warwick Medical School is the medical school of the University of Warwick and is located in Coventry, United Kingdom. It was opened in 2000 in partnership with Leicester Medical School, and was granted independent degree-awarding status in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford</span> Department of mathematics in University of Oxford

The Mathematical Institute is the mathematics department at the University of Oxford in England. It is one of the nine departments of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. The institute includes both pure and applied mathematics and is one of the largest mathematics departments in the United Kingdom with about 200 academic staff. It was ranked as the top mathematics department in the UK in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. Research at the Mathematical Institute covers all branches of mathematical sciences ranging from, for example, algebra, number theory, and geometry to the application of mathematics to a wide range of fields including industry, finance, networks, and the brain. It has more than 850 undergraduates and 550 doctoral or masters students. The institute inhabits a purpose-built building between Somerville College and Green Templeton College on Woodstock Road, next to the Faculty of Philosophy.

Susan Fiona Dorinthea Michie is a British academic, clinical psychologist, and professor of health psychology, director of The Centre for Behaviour Change and head of The Health Psychology Research Group, all at University College London. She is also an advisor to the British Government via the SAGE advisory group on matters concerning behavioural compliance with government regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, she was appointed Chair of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health.

Trevor A. Sheldon is a British academic and University administrator who is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of York and Dean of Hull York Medical School. He has held academic posts at the University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Leicester and Kingston University.

David Anwyll Coleman is a demographer and anthropologist who served as the Professor of Demography at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford from October 2002 until 2013, and a lecturer since 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Development Studies</span> UK research institute

The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is a research and learning organisation affiliated with the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, and based on its campus in Falmer, East Sussex. It delivers research and teaching in the area of development studies.

The Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) was established in 1982, as part of the University of Oxford's Department of International Development, in order to promote the understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migration and to improve the lives of some of the world's most marginalised people. Its philosophy is to "combine world-class academic research with a commitment to improving the lives and situations for some of the world's most disadvantaged people".

Bernhard Ebbinghaus is a German sociologist and comparative social policy expert at the University of Mannheim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge</span> A faculty of University of Cambridge, UK

Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge is the School of Education at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It was established in 2001. It is part of the school of humanities and social sciences at the University of Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Department of International Development</span> Department of Oxford University

The Oxford Department of International Development (ODID), or Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), is a department of the University of Oxford in England, and a unit of the University’s Social Sciences Division. It is the focal point at Oxford for multidisciplinary research and postgraduate teaching on the developing world.

Margaret Jean Snowling is a British psychologist, and world-leading expert in language difficulties, including dyslexia. From 2012 to 2022 she was President of St John's College, Oxford and Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. Snowling was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2016 for services to science and the understanding of dyslexia. She was born in South Shields.

The various academic faculties, departments, and institutes of the University of Oxford are organised into four divisions, each with its own Head and elected board. They are the Humanities Division; the Social Sciences Division; the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division; and the Medical Sciences Division.

The Department of Information Studies is a department of the UCL Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vikram Patel</span>

Vikram Harshad Patel FMedSci is an Indian psychiatrist and researcher best known for his work on child development and mental disability in low-resource settings. He is the Co-Founder and former Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Co-Director of the Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions at the Public Health Foundation of India, and the Co-Founder of Sangath, an Indian NGO dedicated to research in the areas of child development, adolescent health and mental health. Since 2024, he has been the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, where he was previously the Pershing Square Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship in 2015. In April 2015, he was listed as one of the world's 100 most influential people by TIME magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theresa Marteau</span> British health psychologist

Dame Theresa Mary Marteau, is a British health psychologist, professor, and director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge, Fellow and director of studies for Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamsin Mather</span> Professor of Earth Sciences

Tamsin Alice Mather is a British Professor of Earth Sciences at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford and a Fellow of University College, Oxford. She studies volcanic processes and their impacts on the Earth's environment and has appeared on the television and radio.

The Department of Economics is an academic department of the University of Oxford within the Social Sciences Division. Relatively recently founded in 1999, the department is located in the Norman Foster-designed Manor Road Building.

References

  1. "History | Department of Social Policy and Intervention". Spi.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  2. "Home | Department of Social Policy and Intervention". Spi.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  3. "Results & submissions : REF 2014". Results.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  4. "Research | Department of Social Policy and Intervention". Spi.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  5. "Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention | Department of Social Policy and Intervention". Spi.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  6. "Oxford Institute of Social Policy | Department of Social Policy and Intervention". Spi.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  7. "Department of Social Policy and Intervention : Full History of the Department". Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.

51°45′21″N1°15′05″W / 51.755875°N 1.251386°W / 51.755875; -1.251386