Undergraduate study

Gain real world skills leading to careers where you will make a positive impact on society.

Postgraduate study

Refine your specialist knowledge with world ranked educators as part of a diverse student body.

Undergraduate study

Gain a qualification which entitles you to apply to register as a social worker.

Postgraduate study

Develop yourself with qualifications leading to Social Worker registration and professional training.

You will be part of a Graduate School with a wide range of backgrounds from across the globe, making our Department one of the most academically stimulating to study in.

You will have the opportunity to participate in seminars to explore ideas with other Graduate School students and researchers.

You may be eligible for a scholarship.

How to apply for our PhD and MPhil Programmes 

Pursue your passion for research with high quality training and support.

We hold a Bronze Athena SWAN Award

"Receiving an award means a huge amount of analysis and self-reflection has taken place in these departments to understand where they can make changes to tackle the everyday barriers that still exist in the pursuit of true gender equality."

Professor Kiran Trehan, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Partnerships and Engagement, and Chair of the Athena SWAN Steering Group.

Read more about the Athena SWAN Charter and our Bronze award submission and action plan.

Our research

The Department of Social Policy and Social Work at York is a world class research community well known for its emphasis on theoretically-rich and empirically-grounded research that directly influences policy and practice.

Our research    Our staff

COVID realities: families on low incomes

The project will influence the evolving policy response; generate insight into how social security policy making in the UK changes, and is changed, by COVID-19.

Disability and fuel poverty

Our research enabled a more nuanced understanding of why some households are more vulnerable to fuel poverty and how policy can support them.

Conditions, welfare and responsibility

We are leading an international network of researchers focusing on welfare conditionality within social security systems across the world.

Women are homeless in greater numbers than has previously been assumed, new research shows

Women's homelessness occurs at a far greater scale than is recognised and systemic failures leave many in a “state of survival,” new study reveals.

Assistance dogs significantly improve the lives of people living with hearing loss

New research shows that assistance dogs trained to support deaf people, and those living with hearing loss, have positive and wide-ranging impacts on people’s lives.

Groundbreaking research centre to explore how policing can better service the needs of vulnerable groups

The universities of York and Leeds are to jointly lead a £10m research centre dedicated to better understanding how the police and other services can prevent and reduce vulnerabilities.

Centrepoint launch a new University of York report on the evaluation of a two year Housing First for Care Leavers pilot project

The evaluation results strongly suggested that a Housing First model for care leavers is worthy of replication in other settings.