Explore creative and collaborative methods of engagement and research that embrace human rights and social justice to transform people’s lives.
Read below to find out more about your new home of research or get in touch with a Health and Social Care professor today.
For an informal discussion about Health and Social Care research at Manchester Metropolitan, please contact Professor Rebecca Pearson.
Manchester Metropolitan is refreshing. It's a progressive, forward thinking and vibrant place to work. Plus, the diversity of my peers and the student body is so appealing.Professor Sara Ryan
Our research strength
Our Health and Social Care research is led by the Centre for Health, Psychology and Communities in the Faculty of Health and Education. With over 150 active researchers, we have one of the largest communities of health and social care research in the UK.
Research strengths include learning disabilities and autism, mental health, communication disability, neuroscience of ageing, impaired mobility, domestic violence and abuse, and death and dying. In REF 2021, we ranked in the top twenty for the power of research in both Allied Health Professionals and Social Work and Social Policy.
As people are living longer, access to high-quality health and social care becomes ever more important – particularly in Northern England where population health outcomes are poor. In Manchester, the devolution of health and social care budgets provides a unique opportunity for researchers to contribute to transformational change that impacts the lives of millions of people.
To address these issues, we partner with the NHS, local authorities, universities, regulators, think tanks, advocacy networks, professional bodies and, most importantly, local communities. We co-produce work that is often focused on themes of social justice, which drives us to do higher quality and more impactful research.
We have strong international links, particularly in the Global South where our researchers work with the UN and other agencies in Africa and South Asia to enhance the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Current and recent research projects
Domestically, recent projects include the first large-scale study of domestic homicide reviews in England and Wales as featured in a BBC news special report.
Our NIHR-funded work is supporting reforms of the Mental Health Act, and a major MRC study that has improved services and outcomes for children who use augmentative and alternative communication.
We have also played an important role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic with MRC research on the disease’s impact on people with learning disabilities, as well as working on an ESRC study on domestic violence.