Applied Social and Economic Research

Overview

This involves the use of secondary data to answer socially relevant research questions and we offer supervision in: social stratification, social class and other forms of disadvantage; social behaviour, beliefs and values; occupational choice and mobility; migration; social change; life cycle and biography; social group identity; sociology of education; and family and socialization.

Within our Institute for Social and Economic Research, you will be allocated a supervisor whose role it is to guide you through the different stages of your research degree. In some cases, you may have joint supervision by two members of our staff.

The support provided by your supervisor is a key feature of your research student experience and you will have regular one-to-one meetings to discuss progress on your research. Initially, your supervisor will help you develop your research topic and plan.

Twice a year, you will have a supervisory board meeting, which provides a more formal opportunity to discuss your progress and agree your plans for the next six months.

Career 

Some of our Applied Social and Economic Research programme from University of Essex students now work at:

• Department of Economics, University of Chicago US
• Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia
• Department of Economics and Public Finance, University of Turin, Italy
• Department of Economics, University of Linz, Austria
• Centre for Research on Social Dynamics, Bocconi University, Italy
• Applied Microeconomics Research Unit, University of Minho, Portugal
• World Bank, US
• School of Health Administration, Dalhousie University, Canada.