Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
Our students and researchers enjoy a lively and innovative teaching and learning environment in one of the country’s top Schools of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy at Loughborough
Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy, a department in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, is home to world-leading, original and internationally excellent research in sociology, social policy and criminology, with an expert team academic staff who are leaders in their respective fields. Our students and researchers question the world around them and to draw on classic and contemporary theories and methods to understand, explain and respond to the challenges faced in times of change and uncertainty.
Master's degrees
Research degrees
Research and teaching
Our criminology and social policy research has world-leading impact, particularly in services for children, minimum income standards and legal aid and in improving justice responses to gendered violence. Our research and analysis of ‘A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom’ is the leading standard of its kind in the UK and is being replicated internationally. Other key areas where our criminology research is influencing national and international policy relates to our work on drugs policy, child first justice, desistance and youth justice and justice responses to sexual violence.
Our sociology research also focuses on intersections of class, gender, race, religion and other social identities and structural inequalities, migration and citizenship, digital media, health, and consumption, culture and inequality.
Links with industry
We are committed to delivering outstanding research that transforms lives and societies and influences and informs government policy. Our staff work with a wide range of public and third sector bodies, including the National Police Chiefs Council, the Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service, New Scotland Yard, Rape Crisis England and Wales, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the NHS, Child Poverty Action Group among many others.
Career opportunities
Our graduates have gone on to work for companies and organisations such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations in the United States, the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, China Development Research Foundation, the Metropolitan Police Service, the Home Office and NGO’s such as Justice is Now and Everyone's Invited.