Graduate School

Social and Political Studies research overview

Social and Political StudiesThe School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies (SSHLS) is based at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, housed in a grade II listed building of historic significance, at the heart of the Central University campus.

At SSHLS we are particularly proud of our well-developed research culture and strong commitment to scholarship and publication, which informs all our teaching and provides an up-to-date education in a research active learning environment. We offer excellent higher degrees supervision and Master's courses on a full time and part time basis in all of our subject areas.

Our researchers conduct their projects under the umbrella of the Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR) at the University of Portsmouth, whose research was rated 'top in the UK' according to the Research Power Index compiled by the prestigious journal Research Fortnight.

For more information about how to apply please contact the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences using the Contact us page.

If you have any questions about studying for a research degree at the University of Portsmouth, please complete our enquiry form.

Key Facts

RAE Rating:   Our researchers' work was entered under the European Studies Unit of Assessment in the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 (RAE). We are especially proud of the results: we achieved 5* "international excellence" for our research on European history, politics, policy, culture and language, sociology, sociolinguistics and in the fields of  Slavonic, francophone and French area studies.

Academic staff: 54 please see staff list webpage.

Postgraduate research students: 20

Internal links: The School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies has close links with the research centres in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: the Centre for Studies in Literature (CSL), the Centre for European Studies and International Research (CEISR) and the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies.

External links:  The School has research partnerships with the University of Krakow, the University of Aachen, the University of Maastrich, the Hague School of European Studies (The Hague University) and the University of Trondheim.

Research Centres

Centre for European Studies and International Research (CEISR)
The Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR) is a major interdisciplinary centre for research on Europe, its diasporas and its relations with the wider world. CEISR was established in 1997 and is now the largest centre of its kind in the UK. It brings together over 70 researchers from across the University including linguists, historians, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and specialists in area studies.

Resources

Our postgraduate research students have full access to the University, Faculty and Departmental facilities, including the University Library's resources. We have a well-equipped computer laboratory with a wide range of statistical packages and qualitative data analysis software.

You, along with all the Faculty's full time postgraduate research students (pooled hot desk for part time students) will be based at the Postgraduate Research Centre in Park Building. This will allow you to immerse yourself in a thriving and vibrant research environment, where you will work in your own allocated research space with computer and printing facilities.

Our postgraduate research students take part in our regular research seminars and we hold an annual 'Postgraduate study half-day', where our students have the opportunity to present their research in progress to their peers as well as to academic staff from across the Faculty, and receive feedback on it. The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences also provides many teaching opportunities to support the development of our postgraduate research students as future academics.

Research Areas

Sociology

If your interests lie in this area, we can offer you high quality research supervision in the disciplinary field of sociology and in the interdisciplinary domain of social theory.  Our researchers are internationally recognised scholars who have expertise in a broad range of areas, including:

  • Classical and contemporary sociological thought (including critical theory, Foucault, Baudrillard, Lyotard)
  • Consumer culture and economic life
  • Globalisation
  • Gender and ageing
  • Sociology of risk
  • Animals in society
  • Environmental sociology
  • Ethics and morality in contemporary society
  • Modernity and identity
  • Taste, social class and culture
  • Sociology of food
  • Youth culture and student life
  • The sociology of sport
  • Material culture
  • Violence and war
  • Urban sociology
  • Comparative social policy
  • Couple and family relationships

Please visit the School's research pages to find out more. 

 Politics and International Relations

We offer postgraduate research degrees supervision for a wide range of specialist areas in politics and international relations.  Our researchers are active members of two major research clusters: Transnational Europe and Security studies.  Iin particular, we welcome candidates whose research projects have a contemporary and historical perspective that fall within these clusters' research strengths:

  • Growth and role of transnational political and policy networks
  • Issues of policy transfer and socialisation
  • Issues of cultural transfer and convergence
  • European institutions and policy-making
  • Organised civil society participation
  • Origins of new EU policy fields
  • Transnational terrorism and counter-terrorism

Further information on the Transnational Europe and Security studies clusters and their members can be found at www.port.ac.uk/ceisr.