Research in the IASR takes place through two distinct but cross cutting strands of work: 'Social Work and Social Care Research' and 'Research with and for Young People'. The IASR also engages in interdisciplinary research which focusses on three key themes: 'Forced Migration', 'Substance Misuse and Ageing', and 'Building Resilience and Wellbeing in the Helping Professions'.

Social Work and Social Care Research

• Tilda Goldberg Centre for Social Work and Social Care Tilda Goldberg (1912-2004) was a pioneering social work researcher and the Director of Research at the National Institute for Social Work. The Goldberg Centre was set up in 2010 with core funding from her bequest to address the need to guide policy and practice by developing excellent social care research and supporting the use of evidence-based approaches in practice.

Research with and for Young People

• Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime - The centre develops empirical studies of youth crime and victimisation, policing, the operation of the youth justice and community safety services and the analysis of policy and practice in these fields.
  
  
• The Safer Young Lives Research Centre - Previously known as ‘The International Centre: Researching child sexual exploitation, violence and trafficking’, we research young people’s experiences of abuse, working in partnership with young people and others to better prevent and respond to these.

• Exploring the racial disparity in the youth justice system - This project will investigate racial disparities in diversion from the youth justice system (YJS). Children from minority ethnic backgrounds are overrepresented in the YJS. This is partly explained by decisions about whether children who come to police attention are diverted through informal measures, or receive formal outcomes (charge or caution).

Interdisciplinary Research

• Substance Misuse and Ageing Research Team - A collaborative working group consisting of researchers from a variety of disciplines including public health, social work, social care and those with lived experience of later life alcohol problems.
  
  
• The Forced Migration Research Cluster (FMRC) - This group is being established to capture research into human displacement and forced migration in all its forms. This includes refugees, asylum seekers, people who have experienced human trafficking and unaccompanied minors as well as more conceptual work around sanctuary, refuge, hope, aspirations, memory and forgetting.