121 PhD programmes in Social Policy

The joint PhD Programs in Social Policy at Harvard University combine the disciplinary depth of a PhD in political science or sociology with multidisciplinary perspectives and problem-driven research on questions of social policy.

The PhD in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at University of British Columbia is an interdisciplinary program which allows students to explore their interests in diverse areas while employing feminist, intersectional, and decolonizing methodologies. 

Students in Public Health and Health Policy programme at University of Strathclyde are expected to undertake research that results in a thesis which contributes to the wider literature in the field, thereby making an original contribution to current knowledge.

The Social Policy programme at University College Dublin has commencement dates in January, May and September annually.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Hosted by Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice Faculty) program from Queensland University of Technology offers the opportunity to work with an experienced supervisory research team to make a significant and original contribution to disciplinary knowledge.

Economic inequality shapes our times. The research training group in The Macroeconomics of Inequality provides a unique research environment that brings together ambitious doctoral students, expert members of the University of Bonn economics faculty, and external academics.

Studying for the Social Policy program at Swansea University gives you the opportunity to pursue in-depth your own personal or professional research interests in this wide-ranging field, which encompasses such diverse policy areas as health, education, housing, disability, crime, poverty, and the family.

At the University of Liverpool, we offer our graduate students a phd programme in Sociology and Social Policy.

The Department of Educational Policy Studies at University of Alberta strives to develop critical and creative scholars who have a substantive understanding of the important systemic and contextual factors that bear upon Canadian and international education.

The Doctor of Public Health - Maternal and Child Health Policy program at The University of Alabama at Birmingham provides training in public health leadership, policy analysis, and empirical research with a focus on MCH populations.

The Department of Social Welfare at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) offers the Master of Social Welfare (MSW) and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare.

The Educational Policy and Leadership Studies Doctor of Education (EdD) at The University of Iowa will take your leadership to the next level with a supportive cohort in a rigorous and convenient program steeped in the latest research and delivered by renowned faculty.

The PhD in Health Policy at Stanford University trains students to be scholarly leaders in the field, as well as to become highly knowledgeable about approaches that can be applied in the development of improvements in health policy and the health care system.

The doctoral program in Educational Culture, Policy and Society from the University at Buffalo mis for you if you are interested in the links between educational institutions (P–16+) and broader social, cultural, political and economic forces and consequences. 

The Social Policy programme offered by Queen's University Belfast develops advanced research expertise in social welfare, inequality, wellbeing, public policy, and social change, enabling students to investigate complex societal challenges through multidisciplinary research with local and global impact.

The Migrations, Diasporas, Transnational Communities discipline at The Open University UK has extensive interests and an international profile in this field. It is engaged in a number of lived-experience, policy-, welfare- and criminologically related research projects.

University of Plymouth’s Social Policy programme has a long and distinguished history and has an international reputation for research excellence.

As a PhD researcher in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Stirling, you’ll benefit from our desire to engage with communities around the world and produce research that makes a positive difference to society.

Enhance your professional capability and critical reflection on the theories, methods and practices of policymaking with this Professional Doctorate in Policy Research and Practice at the University of Bath.

The Social and Public Policy programme offered by Swansea University is a part-time doctoral research degree, equivalent to the PhD but different in that it is professionally orientated to focus on ‘applied’ research, rather than ‘pure’ research.