Education and Youth Studies

Join one of our world-leading research centres

Work on interdisciplinary research that promotes social justice and challenges social inequalities to transform young people’s lives.

Read below to find out more about your new home of research or get in touch with an Education and Youth Studies professor today.


For an informal discussion about Education and Youth Studies research at Manchester Metropolitan, please contact Professor Hannah Smithson.

Work with real-world impact includes our Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership, which supports evidence-based decision making for service delivery in the youth justice system.
Professor Hannah Smithson

Our research strength

Research into education and youth is led by the Education and Social Research Institute and the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies.

Our research is at the cutting edge of methodological innovation. We have expertise in participation and co-creation, policy development, youth justice, educational and community participation, global citizenship, identity and belonging, health and wellbeing, migration and diversity, language and literacies, climate activism, and marginalisation and exclusion.

The work we do is strongly underpinned by theoretical rigour and is recognised for its ethos of youth-informed and youth-led research methods carried out with children and young people.

In REF 2021, we were ranked for the power of research in both Education and Sociology, where we were 9th and 12th respectively.

Our research in Education is in the top 150 QS world university rankings for 2022, and we’re 13th for research quality in Childhood and Youth Studies in the Complete University Guide 2023.

We have won national awards for the impact of our work in Education and Youth including a Times Higher Education award for the best knowledge transfer initiative for a project on youth justice.

Global research impact

We have extensive partnerships with agencies and organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors – both in the UK and internationally.

Recent projects have been in partnership with the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Youth Justice Board, the Children’s Society, Comic Relief, and the British Muslim Heritage Centre.

We’re in networks and partnerships with leading universities across the world, including UNSW and La Trobe in Australia; Columbia University in New York; the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India; the North South University, Bangladesh; and the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

You’ll also be part of a dynamic research environment with over 60 active researchers and a diverse postgraduate community that’s enriched by our membership in the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership.

Hear from our professors

Joining Manchester Metropolitan has been a great move for me. It's brought me into contact with wonderful, supportive colleagues and the most creative and innovative educational research community I've ever had the pleasure of working with.
Professor Nicola Ingram
One the great things is that there are minimal barriers to cross-disciplinary working here, making it incredibly easy to collaborate with colleagues across different faculties.
Professor Dominic Medway
As a researcher, I’ve always been independent, worked hard and had goals. But feeling valued and being recognised by Manchester Metropolitan has made me even more motivated. Wherever you are, someone recognises you and values your contribution, so you will feel rewarded.
Professor Liangxiu Han