Research and Engagement

Welcome to Research in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

CAHSS is a vibrant and diverse community of researchers, committed to producing outstanding research that enriches our culture and society, and enhances justice, well-being and sustainability across the globe.

Inspiring and enabling our academic community to achieve their ambitious goals for research and knowledge exchange is our core focus. This is largely delivered through governance and support structures in our 11 Schools, which cover the spectrum of disciplines in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

Much of our most innovative research is also delivered through structures that straddle Schools and Colleges, allowing our researchers to collaborate across disciplines to produce knowledge that helps address major societal and global challenges. Hosted in CAHSS, Edinburgh Futures Institute provides a hub for research and practice that marshals data to advance societal good; and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities continues to provide a base for international collaboration with world-leading scholars across all of our disciplines.

Our 2021-2026 Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) strategy sets out our priorities and goals for the next five years, and the enablers that will support delivery of these goals. It seeks to adapt our structures and ways of working to new challenges in higher education, and the wider national and international environment.

Our world-leading research has wide-ranging impact on society, whether working with local communities, advising government or influencing international business practices. Our work makes a difference to policy, professional practice, business performance and the wellbeing of communities and cultures. 

Humanities and Social Sciences

An overview of research in Schools within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Students face each other through pane of glass

We support research collaborations across Schools, mobilising expertise across disciplines to produce new insights and address major societal challenges.

We support our researchers to adhere to the highest standards of research integrity, and effectively meet the challenges of an increasingly complex research environment. Our College is integral to the ongoing development and implementation of a new University online ethics application system and a new publications policy.

Audience in Playfair Library at Old College

We achieved a superb result in 2021, cementing the gains we made in the last assessment and securing our ranking among the UK’s leading universities.

Paper dolls circling the globe

Information and resources for College staff on all aspects of research and knowledge exchange, accessible on our intranet.

Diagram showing the nine College research themes mentioned in the page

Our research themes showcase the breadth and key research strengths across our 11 Schools and foster exciting collaborations across disciplines and topics.