SPRU's prime objective is to carry out high quality research which makes a distinct contribution to policy and practice

Three strong commitments have underpinned SPRU’s research:

• to reflect, and communicate, the experiences and views of the users and beneficiaries of services and policy interventions;
• to recognise that people’s lives do not divide into neat segments which coincide with agency and professional boundaries, and to engage in research which crosses these boundaries;
• to make our research influential in bringing about change, and therefore to communicate findings effectively to key audiences; and engage actively with policy makers and practitioners in thinking through their implications

To date most of our work has been within the related fields of social security, social work, social care and health care, and is organised within four teams. There is also a longstanding research programme funded by the Department of Health which combines the expertise of two of our teams. Click on the name of the team in the menu sidebar to see what we are researching currently and also to view completed research.