Background

For information about staff, see our staff page

There is a long tradition in the college of successful social work education, medical sociology and research into health and social care, which led to the formation of a specialised new department in 2002. This reflected the greatly increasing number of taught courses and students, and research work being undertaken.

The department is located on two sites. The current Undergraduate and Masters programmes are located on the College campus at Egham in Surrey, and the continuing professional development social work programmes and the Lifespan Research Group offices located in our central London site at 11, Bedford Square WC1. This latter facility optimises access for practitioners in the 26 partner London Boroughs for their continued professional development. The Bedford Square base is also a pleasant reminder of our roots in Bedford College - the first women's college in England founded in 1849 and first located in Bedford Square. The two colleges merged in 1984 with The Lifespan Research Group retaining its central London base following this merger.

Department Aims:

To deliver high quality teaching and research outputs and to develop and support research literate practitioners and policy/practice literate researchers. We attempt to break down traditional barriers between these groups at all levels.

The entire range of research and teaching within the Department of Health and Social Care derives from the key objective of ensuring that contemporary health and social work policy and practice can be informed at every level by a sound knowledge base.

We undertake a wide variety of commissioned research in the national and international health and welfare arena. This in turn underpins our taught courses for social work/health and social care practitioners at both qualifying and post-qualifying levels. We are committed to facilitating access to this knowledge base for service-users and agency staff across the London and SE region and beyond.

Agency Partners and Stakeholders

The Department works in close partnership with a large number of statutory and voluntary agencies, including the majority of London boroughs, and child care agencies. We are also involved in a consortium of seven universities West of London under WestFocus, a knowledge exchange programme.

International Work

We are committed to international collaboration and exchange and have links with universities, development agencies and research institutions, worldwide in India, USA and Canada, China and Trinidad as well as European - in Scandinavia, Austria, Portugal, , Russia, France, Belgium and Italy. Many students from overseas come to the Department and we have arrangements in place to ensure they are effectively supported.

Courses in Health and Social Care

The Department has taught Programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and post qualification levels. We work in partnership with local authorities and voluntary agencies to provide professional courses across health and social care settings that reflect the increasing multi disciplinary nature of social work.

Diversity and Widening Participation

We have a diverse student body and staff group reflecting our commitment to inclusion and participation. Our undergraduates benefit from the wide-ranging expertise of our staff team and visiting practitioners as well as the varied experiential and practice learning opportunities offered within their practice placements. We offer a supportive learning experience, and are committed to equal opportunities and provide an established framework for continuing professional development.