The Department of Social Policy and Intervention offers a DPhil in Social Policy and welcomes graduate students from across the world to apply for our unique Oxford PhD. Doctoral research students are an important part of our academic community, and they will be fully involved and immersed in the life of the Department. We are the top-ranked Social Policy department in the UK, and second globally.
The Department welcomes DPhil candidates who are interested in a wide range of areas of social policy research. These include family and family policies, theorisation and measurement of poverty, educational inequalities and the role of policy, economic and social inequalities, health and social care, gender inequality, social mobility and inequality of opportunity, labour market institutions and policies, retirement and pension reforms, politics of welfare state reform, the role of organised interest groups in social policy, social policy as a vehicle of development, and public attitudes towards social policy issues. Work using a range of methodogies and approaches is welcome. Comparative approaches are also welcome, including work comparing welfare systems in advanced economies in Europe and OECD countries as well as that studying social policy in other parts of the world.
The varied research portfolio of staff is organised within the Oxford Institute of Social Policy and its research groups. The DPhil programme in Social Policy is also available on a part-time basis. The part-time version of the degree has the same high standards and requirements as the full-time degree, but spread over 6-8 years. The degree is particularly well suited for students who are seeking flexibility and it provides an excellent opportunity for professionals to undertake rigorous long-term research that may be relevant to their working life. For more information, please contact admissions@spi.ox.ac.uk.
