Research

Research

Sociology at City University London is one of the largest and best-established sociology departments in London. It has undergone considerable expansion since 2001, having almost doubled in size since then to a present complement of 20 full-time academic staff.

The Department expresses its global purpose in its academic staff, its curricula, and in its approach to the discipline. Our academic staff are a cosmopolitan mix, we welcome students from around the world (as well as from London), and our curricula set out to make sense of the astonishing global processes and movements that are currently transforming our lives.

The Department's central London location facilitates the study of a pre-eminent 'world city' that is a centre of power and innovation, with diverse cultures, peoples and global connections. Not surprisingly, we have an international reputation for research on matters such as socio-economic and cultural transformations, globalised communications, multicultural citizenship, human rights, migration, and security and surveillance. Underpinning this orientation is a recognised tradition of expertise in social research methods that ensures the highest levels of methodological competence in the research we undertake and the students who study with us.

The Department is also the home of the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys (CCSS), established in 2003, which hosts the multi-nation European Social Survey (ESS) funded by the European Commission, European Science Foundation and national funding agencies.

Department identity

The Department embraces the view that its teaching is research-led, while it remains student-centred in its approach to teaching. We have a cohort of about 270 undergraduates, with over 150 students taking postgraduate programmes, and approximately 25 research students.

Research in the Department of Sociology is organised through a number of clusters

These groups connect with others wherever possible to develop shared curricula and themes.

Prominent themes currently include:

Research groupings

There are six broad research groupings within the Department (including the Centre for Comparative Social Surveys mentioned above), which have been developing on the basis of both externally funded and scholarly research:

Centre for Criminology & Criminal Justice

This interdisciplinary grouping brings together members of the Department with research interests in: crime, media and cultural practices; policing, security and human rights; and victimology, youth studies and community justice.

Centre for International Communications & Society (ICS)

This grouping has an established international reputation for its research on the interface between media and sociology. It has particular research interests in communications policy, media occupations and organisations, international communications, new technologies, political communications, transnational media, information society studies, crime and the media, and media and conflict.

Social Research Methodology Centre

This grouping reflects the Department's long established interest in social research methodology and the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods in empirical social research. This is an interest that is underpinned by our postgraduate teaching in this field.

Centre for Race, Ethnicity & Migration

This grouping is carrying out research in core areas of race and ethnic studies, global migration and refugee studies, and theoretical work related to these fields of scholarship. It has developed a number of funded research projects linked to these core interests.

Centre for Food Policy

This grouping focuses on interdisciplinary learning and research on food policy within the School and the University. Its interests range across local, national, European and global levels of policy-making, with a strong commitment to exploring the processes and the public interest.


Other research activities

The work of all the above groupings is supported by externally funded research, an active engagement in research networks, engagement with important international journals and participation in international conferences and workshops.

We have an ongoing programme of research seminars, workshops and conferences that bring together scholars and researchers in the Department with the wider academic and research communities.

We also support seminars hosted by our research centres and in collaboration with our research students.