Why Social Science?

In recent years, Government has become much more responsive to the contribution social science can make to an improved and modernised society. British research in the social sciences is ranked first in Europe and is highly valued worldwide.

The creation of ICOSS provides a direct response to recent Government initiatives promoting integrated responses to policy questions and encouraging partnerships between academia, industry and the public sector.

With a clear Government agenda for modernisation and an emphasis on practical strategies that can be evaluated and proven to work, the evidence-based research undertaken at ICOSS can be seen to have a very clear value.

Problems in applying social science research

Historically social science research has tended to be disciplinary in nature making it difficult for policy makers to access information that can address the diverse nature of social problems.

Difficulties in the exploitation of social science research can arise when many individuals from different backgrounds apply research findings to a range of issues in very diverse settings.

Communication between user groups can be poor making it difficult for practitioners to extract conceptual frameworks to inform their work.

In addition, public policy questions can require many different forms of evidence from hard statistics and evaluative studies through to more qualitative data.

What solution can ICOSS offer?

The Centre aims to address these concerns by providing a radical new approach - an interactive, interdisciplinary centre where experts and users from different backgrounds can share techniques, methods and data, produce knowledge, and inform and evaluate policy initiatives and their impact.

This commitment to high levels of interaction and effective interdisciplinary models of working is reflected in the design of the new ICOSS building.