Faculty of Social Sciences » Faculty of Social Sciences News

Shaping a Vision for VET in England by 2050

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:10:00 GMT

The VET2050 project is launching a series of vision workshops bringing together practitioners, policymakers, employers, and learners to co-design what high quality vocational education and training could look like in England by 2050. These workshops explore long-term challenges and opportunities, from technological change to regional inequalities, and invite participants to imagine ambitious, evidence informed futures for the sector.

VET2050 is funded by the Youth Futures Foundation and delivered by the Institute for Employment Research (Terence Hogarth, Emily Erickson and Stef Poole) in collaboration with colleagues at SKOPE, University of Oxford (James Robson and Yushan Xie ). Our recent blog post provides more detail on the project’s aims, approach, and how these workshops contribute to a wider programme of research and engagement.

If you’d like to stay informed about upcoming workshops, publications, and project activities, we warmly invite you to join the VET2050 mailing list by visiting the our project website.

Faculty of Social Sciences Cements Place in Global top 50 QS Rankings

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:08:00 GMT

The 2026 QS rankings, released today, show the Faculty of Social Sciences has once again maintained its position in the global top 50 institutions: 43^rd in the world for Social Sciences & Management. This is underpinned by strong rankings across multiple subjects: Economics (25^th), Marketing (25^th) ��TV & Management Studies (35^th), Philosophy (38^th), Accounting & Finance (39^th), Politics & International Studies (49^th), Sociology (61^st) and Law (84^th). The result is eight subjects from six departments inside the QS top 100.

West Midlands event showcases transformative impact of social science research on people and places

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 14:14:00 GMT

The event marked the launch of a new report published by the Academy of Social Sciences, in partnership with eight Midlands-based universities.

Dennis Novy becomes lead economic advisor to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 14:57:53 GMT

Congratulations to CAGE Impact Director, Dennis Novy who has been appointed as Chief Economist and Director of Analysis at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Professor Novy becomes the lead economic adviser to the Foreign Secretary on the UK’s foreign and international development policy. He will offer analysis, advice and thought leadership to the whole Ministerial team on the issues before them. He will also provide leadership for the FCDO’s analysts, helping to ensure that policies are based on robust data, evidence and evaluation, and represent the UK to counterparts on foreign government and global institutions such as the World Bank.

Dennis’ research interests have focused on international trade, international finance and macroeconomics. His work analyses the behaviour of international trading firms in advanced and emerging economies, the economic impact of trade policy and exchange rate fluctuations.

🎉 Funding Opportunity Alert!

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 14:44:28 GMT

The Inclusive Education Team is thrilled to invite colleagues to apply for funding to help drive forward inclusive practice across the Faculty of Social Sciences!

Do you have a bold idea to make learning more inclusive? Want to embed equity and accessibility into your department’s everyday practice? Now’s your chance to make it happen.

🗓 Applications are open now and close on Friday 17th October – don’t miss out!

💡 Find out more about eligibility, criteria, and how to submit your bid via the link here: Faculty funding - Inclusive Education - ��TV.

Stay Connected with FSS on LinkedIn!

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 08:30:00 GMT

Stay up to date with the Faculty of Social Sciences at ��TV—follow us on LinkedIn for news, events, and insights from across the Faculty.

📢 Got something to share? Tag us in your posts—we love seeing and celebrating your work!

👉 Faculty of Social Sciences, University of ��TV | LinkedIn

��TV Delegation to Washington University in St. Louis

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:28:03 GMT

Prof Olympia Palikara, Deputy Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences for External Engagement, recently joined a ��TV delegation to Washington University. Follow the link below to read her update about the visit.

External engagement: Joint ��TV Delegation visit to Washington University in St Louis (WashU) - May 2025 - Social Sciences Grand Challenge - News

New Digital Empowerment Library

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:26:44 GMT

The Digital Health & Rights Project consortium, hosted by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), have launched a new online repository offering free digital human rights training tools with over 200 resources, including guidelines, curricula, and workshop toolkits.

Digital Empowerment Hub - Digital Health & Rights Project

Economics Represented in Royal Economic Society Founding Fellows List

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:24:52 GMT

Prof Roger Farmer, Emeritus Prof Michael Waterson, and former Dean of ��TV in London Prof Abhinay Muthoo are among the 58 Founding Fellows recently announced by the Royal Economic Society.

Winners of the 2025 ��TV Research Celebration

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:18:00 GMT

Congratulations to all winners of this year's Research Celebration event, including Prof Ravi Thiara (Sociology), Prof Vanessa Munro (School of Law), Prof Olympia Palikara (Education Studies, SELCS) and Prof Steve Mann (Applied Linguistics, SELCS).

Meet the winners: ��TV Research Celebration 2025 Winners