About the Institute

Social policy research within the Department of Social Policy and Intervention is coordinated under the umbrella of the newly established Oxford Institute of Social Policy (OISP).

The institute is a centre of excellence for research on a variety of social policy topics. It has a multi-disciplinary outlook and employs a wide range of research methodologies and theoretical perspectives.

Research within OISP is focused around five key topics:

• Children and families
• Education and social policy
• Housing
• Poverty and social exclusion
• Welfare and work

We also have four cross-cutting research themes:

• Comparative analysis
• Policy evaluation
• The politics of social policy
• Social Policy in developing countries

In addition, OISP hosts the Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy (CASASP).

OISP also runs a range of student research groups, each of which is convened by a senior member of academic faculty and attended by DPhil students and by MPhil students in their second year of study.