We have an active research community within the fields of child protection, theories of welfare, gender and sexuality, family support and family justice, law and social work, community care, and health and social care. Recent work has been informed by a growing emphasis on issues of equal opportunities, social justice, poverty and social exclusion.You will join an international and interdisciplinary community with students working on PhDs in Sociology, Gender Studies, Science Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and Applied Social Science. You will be assigned PhD supervisors (usually two), and consideration will be taken to match you with supervisor(s) whose current active research interests and expertise are relevant to your chosen topic. Close working relations are enjoyed with other departments at Lancaster, and in some cases, there is cross-departmental supervision.A programme of skills and dissertation workshops designed specifically for postgraduate students within the Sociology Department runs throughout the year.In addition, you are encouraged to attend any relevant MA taught modules but are not required to take any for credit as part of your degree.