Promoting evidence-informed policy and practice in education, health and welfare through ethical and participative social research.
Founding Director: Professor Ann Oakley
Director: Dr Rebecca Rees
Founded in 1990, SSRU's mission is to engage in and promote rigorous, ethical and participative social research and to support evidence-informed public policy and practice across a range of domains including education, health and welfare.
About us
- Focus areas
Our work is guided by a concern for human rights, social justice and the development of human potential. To this end, we engage in:
- research and scholarship of international significance;
- the communication of evidence to relevant audiences;
- high quality, research-informed learning and teaching programmes, consultancy and other work.
- Our staff
Founding Director
- Ann Oakley, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy.
Director of Centre
- Rebecca Rees, Associate Professor.
Assistant Director
- James Thomas, Professor of Social Research and Policy.
Professors
- Priscilla Alderson, Professor of Childhood Studies
- David Gough, Professor of Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice
- Sandy Oliver, Professor of Public Policy
Staff
- Deniz Arzuk - Lecturer in Childhood and Programme Leader MA Sociology of Childhood and Children’s Rights.
- Alison O'Mara-Eves, Senior Research Officer.
- Antonia Simon, Research Officer.
- Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Lecturer in Social Theory and Social Policy.
- Carol Vigurs, Research Officer.
- Chris Maidment, Research Associate.
- Claire Stansfield, Research Officer.
- Dylan Kneale, Research Officer.
- Gillian Stokes, Research Officer.
- Ginny Brunton, Senior Research Officer.
- Hayley Jones, Lecturer in International Social Policy.
- Ian Shemilt, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Evidence Synthesis Methodology.
- Irene Kwan, Research Officer.
- Janice Tripney, Lecturer in Social Policy.
- Jeff Brunton, Research Officer.
- Jonathan Sharples, Professorial Research Associate.
- Karen Schucan-Bird, Research Officer.
- Kate Hinds, Research Officer.
- Katy Sutcliffe, Research Officer.
- Kelly Dickson, Research Officer.
- Kirrily Pells, Lecturer in Childhood Studies.
- Lorna Collins, Research Fellow.
- Mark Newman, Reader in Evidence-Informed Policy and Practice in Education and Social Policy.
- Mary Sawtell, Research Officer.
- Meena Khatwa, Research Associate.
- Meg Wiggins, Senior Research Officer.
- Michelle Richardson, Research Officer.
- Mukdarut Bangpan, Research Officer.
- Preethy D'Souza, Research Associate.
- Rachel Rosen, Lecturer in Childhood.
- Rebecca Rees, Senior Lecturer in Evidence Informed Policy and Practice.
- Ruth Stewart, Research Officer.
- Sarah Lester, Research Officer.
- Sergio Graziosi, Information Systems Officer.
- Funders
For their generous support, we would like to thank:
- Arthritis Research UK,
- Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID),
- British Academy,
- British Council,
- Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),
- Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS),
- Department for Education (DfE),
- Department for International Development (DfID),
- Department of Health (DH),
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),
- Education Endowment Foundation (EEF),
- European Commission (EC),
- European Food Standards Agency (EFSA),
- Health Education England (HEE NHS),
- Health Education North Central and East London,
- Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF),
- International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie),
- Islington Council,
- Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC),
- Leverhulme Trust,
- London School of Economics,
- and Political Science (LSE),
- Medical Research Council (MRC),
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE),
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR),
- Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC),
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) / International Development Research Centre (IDRC),
- Research Councils UK (RCUK),
- SHINE Trust,
- Sightsavers,
- University College London (UCL) / IOE Strategic Fund,
- World Bank,
- World Health Organization (WHO).
Study with us
- Programmes
Teaching is an important part of our work as it allows us to disseminate our innovative research methodologies and findings to social science researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.
Master's
- Short courses
We also offer bespoke training courses and a number of stand-alone courses in research methods, with a particular focus on evidence-synthesis for policy and practice:
For further information please contact us: IOE.EPPIadmin@ucl.ac.uk
View all IOE short courses
Our activities
- Research
We have a research portfolio of projects such as:
See also:
- UCL Research Portal, IRIS for more info about our researchers, publications, activities, groups and themes.
- Seminar series
SSRU runs research seminars which are free and open to staff, students, alumni and the public. All are welcome to attend.
See upcoming seminars in the following series:
- Consultancy
We provide guidance and support to people undertaking research projects and offer training in conducting research. Our staff can provide independent evaluations and help with disseminating research findings for policy and practice.
We also provide access to our web-based software tool EPPI-Reviewer to external groups. The software allows users to undertake and achieve sustainability in systematic reviews.
To find out more about:
- how to use EPPI-Reviewer, email EPPISupport@ucl.ac.uk
- our consultancy services, email ioe.ssruadmin@ucl.ac.uk
Latest news
Forthcoming events