The applied criminal justice research strand has a dual focus on promoting non-criminal identities and evidence-based policy transfer and is pursued through collaboration with key criminal justice stakeholders (ie Youth Offending Teams, the Youth Justice Board, the Police, Probation and Prison services). Our objective is to inform and shape evidence-based policy and practice agendas through participatory research with vulnerable groups such as children, victims and ex-offenders.

Theme lead: Prof. Stephen Case

The children, young people and families cluster focuses on generating and delivering high quality, high impact academic research with an applied objective – to inform and influence government policy and professional practice (both nationally and globally) on children and families, and to transform lives. Our work includes research on young carers, low income households and youth justice. Our research is designed to enhance participation and inclusion and promotes the rights and 'voices' of all those who take part. The Centre for Research in Social Policy is world-renowned for its influential work on the Minimum Income Standard, as well as on experiences of families on low incomes and the effects of child poverty.

Social identities such as gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, religion, age and disability can empower and mobilise people to action, but societal structures, hegemonic norms and power relations also work to marginalise and oppress different constituencies and individuals. Researchers within this theme examine how intersections between social identities influence and are influenced by societal processes such as migration, nationalism, social cohesion, collective movements and citizenship practises. Research in this cluster intersects with research in the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture and the research theme of Migration, Identities and Governance in the School of Social Sciences.

Theme lead: Dr Line Nyhagen

Digital and other new technologies are changing individuals’ social interactions and identities, healthcare systems and practices, cultural institutions, inequalities and economic and financial structures and processes. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies (STS), Critical Realism and classical theories in sociology and medical sociology, researchers in this cluster investigate how new technologies are changing our everyday lives and practices, healthcare and cultural institutions and the operations of global economies and finance. Research in this cluster intersects with research in the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture and the Health and Wellbeing Global Research Challenge.

Theme lead: Dr Paula Saukko

Researchers working within this cluster explore the processes by which consumption practices and cultural engagements are shaped by and influence upon social identities and structural inequalities. Exploring how cultural preferences and consumer habits unfold within the everyday lives of individuals, groups and communities reveals complex dynamics of freedom and constraint. Research in this area informs public and policy debates about consumption, culture and lifestyles as sites of belonging and self-expression as well as poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Research in this cluster intersects with research in the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture and the Centre for Research in Social Policy.

Theme lead: Dr Thomas Thurnell-Read

Social and Policy Studies is proud to be part of the ESRC Midlands Graduate School DTP in partnership with the universities of Warwick, Nottingham, Birmingham, Aston and Leicester.