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Welcome to the Department of Sociology

We are 4th in the UK for research impact in REF 2021.

The Department of Sociology submitted thirty-two members of staff, comprising 30.6 Full Time Equivalent (FTE), to the REF Sociology UoA21. The submission included five Early Career Researchers and all five of the departmental research themes detailed below were strongly represented. 

 

Find out more about us
1st in the UK for Criminology - The Guardian University Guide 2022
Research leader in domestic and gender-based violence and abuse
More than 50 postgraduate research students
Athena Swan Silver Award in Gender Equality

Advocating for fairer university admissions

Research by our Department of Sociology is helping widen access to Higher Education.

Statistical analysis of university applications and admissions data by Professor Vikki Boliver showed that leading UK universities were less likely to admit ethnic minority applicants than comparably qualified white applicants. Further research also showed that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds were being systematically excluded by high and rising academic entry requirements.
Read the full case study
Fair admissions variant-1

Sociology Research at Durham

For almost 60 years, Durham’s Department of Sociology has been working on theoretically informed research that makes a positive difference to the lives of individuals and communities often regarded as ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘marginalised’.  

Currently, we do this in five key areas: 1) Violence and Abuse, 2) Higher Education and Social Inequality 3) Communities and Social Justice 4) Health and Social Theory, and 5) Criminal Justice, Social Harm and Inequalities.  

Our academic staff are obviously hugely devoted to this work, but they do not and could not do this work on their own:  

  • We are highly dependent on our collaborations with our research partners – academics in other universities, voluntary and community sector groups, statutory sector organisations, people with lived experience of the topics we are researching. We work with these partners locally, regionally and internationally and their work and ideas are integral to the research questions we ask, the data we collect, the findings we share, and the change we create.  
  • The people support us ‘behind the scenes’ in our research are often less visible in the research process – these are our colleagues who work in our library, in research administration, in partnerships, in finance amongst others – we are all one part the jigsaw that makes research successes happen and we want to thank and recognise those who are less visible in this.  

Sociology REF Impact Case Studies

Sociology submitted 3 impact case studies including abuse and university fair admissions. 

Click below to read more about our case studies

Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes

Project Mirabal is award-winning research that has changed how Domestic Violence Perpetrator Programmes are understood, funded, and implemented.
Sirens

Achieving Fairer Admission to UK Universities

This research has been used by the UK government to end longstanding inequalities in admissions to higher-tariff universities.
Students in line for graduation

Children and Young People with harmful sexual behaviour

Research into children who sexually abuse/harm others has transformed policy and practice in the UK and shaped international responses to this issue.
NSPCC News

 

 

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Research Themes

Durham Sociology Department's research activity is organised around five overarching research themes: Violence and Abuse, Higher Education and Social Inequality, Communities and Social Justice, Health and Social Theory, and Criminal Justice, Social Harm and Inequalities.

More about our Research Themes

Like to Know More?

Durham Sociology is home to two interdisciplinary University Research Centres – The Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse and The Centre for Social Justice and Community Action

  • Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse

    The Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA) is the largest grouping of violence and abuse researchers in the UK - whose members meet weekly in a supportive, feminist, collaborative environment.
    A wordle about Violence and Abuse
  • Centre for Social Justice and Community Action

    The Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA) is well known internationally for work on the methodological and ethical underpinnings of participatory action research and for research collaboration with a range of ‘experts by experience’.
    Phoenix project, graffiti art, N. Shields

Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse

The Centre for Research into Violence and Abuse (CRiVA) is the largest grouping of violence and abuse researchers in the UK - whose members meet weekly in a supportive, feminist, collaborative environment.
A wordle about Violence and Abuse

Centre for Social Justice and Community Action

The Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA) is well known internationally for work on the methodological and ethical underpinnings of participatory action research and for research collaboration with a range of ‘experts by experience’.
Phoenix project, graffiti art, N. Shields