Research
The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences holds to the University's original mission to be a pioneer in challenging established thinking and championing new ideas through high-quality research.
'Remarkable results' for Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Science in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021)
Two disciplines in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster University achieved the highest possible score for impact in the Research Excellence Framework results published on 12 May 2022. Educational Research and the Linguistics and English Language in the School of Social Sciences are both rated ‘outstanding’ for 100% of their research impact and both are rated joint top in the UK for impact. Read more about the notable successes in our other departments.
Featured research
Research expertise in schools
Specialist Research Centres
The Faculty is home to a diverse range of research centres. You can find out about some of them here.
Specialist Research Centres accordion accordion
CeMore initiated the new mobilities paradigm in the social sciences, arts, humanities and sciences. It was the first such centre (founded in 2003 by John Urry and Mimi Sheller) and continues to be at the heart of this burgeoning global field.
CeMoRE (the Centre for Mobilities Research)
CASS is a Centre designed to bring a new method in the study of language – the corpus approach – to a range of social sciences.
CASS (the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science)
The Centre for Alternatives to Social and Economic Inequalities (CASEI) is based in the School of Social Sciences at Lancaster University and thinks globally and acts locally in researching the causes of, and offering solutions to, a range of inequalities. There are alternatives to these challenges and we are committed to producing and practicing them.
CASEI is an inter-disciplinary venture across Lancaster University which connects with collaborators in Lancaster and across Morecambe Bay.
The Centre for Child and Family Justice Research is co-hosted by the School of Social Sciences and School of Law and works in close collaboration with the Data Science Institute. Critical to our work is collaboration with a range of national and international policy and practice organisations.
As one of the oldest centres in the world conducting higher education research, we are committed to enhancing and transforming the higher education sector and its role in society, economy and culture.
The Centre for Social Justice and Wellbeing in Education is a vibrant network of active researchers engaged in exploring questions about equity, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in education. Our research spans a wide range of formal and informal education environments including schools, higher education, home and the workplace.
The Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning focuses on theoretical and practical challenges related to educational uses of technologies for teaching and learning in formal and informal educational settings.
The Centre for War and Diplomacy provides the historical context and strategic analysis to inform understanding of today's geopolitical challenges. Based in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University, it promotes discussion across disciplines through research, teaching, consultancy and public events.
We are a globally recognised open and exploratory design-led research lab at Lancaster University, one of the top ten universities in the UK. Founded in 2006, we apply our exploratory research to address the complex challenges identified by industry, public and private sectors, national and international governments.
Established in 2014, the Regional Heritage Centre promotes and celebrates the rich social and cultural heritage of North West England by engaging with the regional community.
The Richardson Institute is the oldest peace and conflict research centre in the UK, based in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University.
The Ruskin is home to the leading collection of works by the epoch-defining writer, artist and social thinker John Ruskin (1819-1900) and his circle.
The Wordsworth Centre was established in 1987 by Professor Keith Hanley. It is currently co-directed by Sally Bushell and Simon Bainbridge. Its primary aim is to promote interest in Wordsworth and the Lake District at an undergraduate, postgraduate and wider level. It is also interested in exploring wider questions about poetry and landscape, poetry and conservation, and in looking ahead from Romantic poetry to the present day.
Lancaster University is widely recognised for new research and developments in social practice theory. The Centre for Practice Theory at Lancaster – a joint venture between the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Science and Lancaster University Management School – brings some of this work together and fosters international, interdisciplinary networks of people working in this area.
Lancaster’s Digital Humanities Centre brings together internationally recognised centres of excellence in the spatial humanities, corpus linguistics and natural language processing (NLP), and combines these with broad expertise across the digital humanities as a whole.
The Centre for International Law and Human Rights (CILHR) builds on the established reputation of the School of Law in the areas of international law and human rights, and its strong taught and research postgraduate programmes.
The Centre for Law and Society encourages innovative, critical, policy-engaged scholarship, grounded in socio-legal, empirical, theoretical and inter-disciplinary methodologies, dealing with local, national, and global challenges at the intersection of law and society.
The principal aim of the Centre for Crime Law and Justice is to facilitate and enhance the overlapping research interests of the School of Law with regard to criminology, criminal justice and criminal law, as well as to engage both internationally and nationally in research connections and collaborations.
Faculty Research Ethics Committee
The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Lancaster University Management School have a joint Research Ethics Committee (FHASS-LUMS REC) that oversees ethical review of proposed research in all Departments of both Faculties.
Research Ethics Committee
Postgraduate Community
Lancaster University is home to a dynamic postgraduate community. All departments, institutes and centres in the Faculty have a lively, collaborative culture. Find out more about our postgraduate community and the specialist short courses we provide to support your studies.
Faculty postgraduate community
