Arts and Social Sciences profile

Our aim is to educate, motivate and inspire by example; to nurture and unleash creative talent; through our distinctive mix of disciplines and in our approaches to teaching and learning and rigorous scientific enquiry, and our focus on the professions and practitioner training, to act as a beacon which will inform, illuminate and enhance lives and society, and provide tomorrow's leaders, in Scotland, the UK and the wider world.

Professor Chris Whatley, Vice Principal and Head of College, says, "The college's mission statement encapsulates very well what we do; in some senses it is inspirational. Success in future requires that we remain committed to the ideals it sets out."

"In addition however we are searching for distinctiveness - activities that mark us out from other universities. We have some of these already, in the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science - which is establishing an international reputation in water-related issues, and the Queen's award winning Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy."

"The new schools of social sciences and humanities offer opportunities for staff in the disciplines concerned to forge new partnerships. This will happen by developing unique teaching programmes, as well through initiatives in inter- or multi-disciplinary research, although not at the expense of the very real strengths there are in particular disciplines."

"Synergetic academic links are being built with other parts of the university at Dundee, the Social Dimensions of Health Institute for instance in which St Andrews is also a partner, but also with other institutions - through the work of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (partnership between 13 Higher Education Institutions and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland), and town and regional planning with Aberdeen."

"We have invested in new staff in the professional schools of accounting and finance, and law, as well as in psychology, so enabling these disciplines to build up their research capacities and reputations."

"Innovative new masters' programmes are already drawing high-quality postgraduates to law and accounting and finance not only from the UK, but from overseas too. Without losing sight of the enormously important role the school of education, social work and community education plays in producing graduates for the professions and in reviewing and shaping policy, locally, in Scotland and further afield, our aim is to raise the research reputation of the school - thus ensuring that Dundee is at the cutting edge of developments in social and educational theory as well as practice."

"Our location may be Dundee, but our aspiration is that the work of each of our schools should be recognised and make an impact on the world stage."

The College of Arts and Social Sciences is made up of seven different Schools, has a turnover of £32.5 million and 469 staff - of which 330 are academic or academic related.

Each School is making positive headway in developing distinctive contributions towards the College aims:

School of Law
Dean: Professor Alan Page says,
The Law School is delighted that two recent publications rated the School among the top 15 Law Schools in the UK. We continue to recruit strongly, meeting our new undergraduate intake target despite the recently raised entrance requirements.

Our students continue to perform to the highest standards: over 25 sponsored prizes were presented to students at the annual prize-giving and former student Audrey Dishington, won the legal Trainee of the Year Award 2007.

September saw the full launch of the School' s new LL.M. programmes with 18 students from countries as diverse as Norway, the United States, Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. The School has new agreements with Universities in Norway and has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Symbiosis Law College in India.

Postgraduate School of Management and Policy
Acting Dean: Mr Ian Ball says,
The Postgraduate School is made up of three units: UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, CEPMLP - Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy and CEM - Centre for Enterprise Management.

The focus of the School is on research, postgraduate teaching and consultancy with particular focus on leadership and policy development, aimed at government bodies, NGO's and business throughout the world.

In the last year, UNESCO has secured 1.7m SRDG grant while CEPMLP continued to build on the Queens Award status with new collaborative agreements with Trinidad and Tobago and two new initiatives relating to Executive Education and International Oil and Gas Arbitration.

The Enterprise Gym has played an important part too, in terms of increasing students' employability through encouraging creativity, innovation and business acumen.

School of Social Sciences
Dean: Professor Rob Duck says,
Our School comprises three disciplines - Economic Studies, Geography and Town and Regional Planning.

Geography recently led the initiative to establish a £2.1M Scottish Institute for Policing Research - the founding Director and two new support staff are based within the School.

The Scottish Institute for Research in Economics, with funding of £0.9M to Dundee, is bringing one new professor and two new lecturers to the School in the field of 'health and well-being'.

In Town and Regional Planning, the highly successful MSc in European Urban Conservation has recently received accreditation by the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and the Royal Town Planning Institute.

School of Accounting and Finance
Dean: Professor John Burns says,
The emphasis in the School will be on enhancing our reputation, which in Scotland - and Europe - is rising, as indicated by the undergraduate applications and recruitment. We're also building on collaboration with local and national organisations such as exciting recent developments with Alliance Trust and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The School will increase taught Masters programmes, including an MSc in international finance. We are already a strong player, nationally and internationally, but the future is about building on those brands and getting the staff, the students and the recognition for the School that it deserves.

School of Humanities
Dean: Professor Nicholas Davey says,
The School is comprised of History, English, Politics, Philosophy, American and European Studies, Communication and Language Studies and Archives. The School already has a substantial student population of over 900 students and excellent departments - History achieved a 5* rating in the 2000 RAE and has attracted substantial external grant income, something we hope that all our divisions will emulate in the 2008 RAE.

Discussion is taking place concerning the creation of research groupings in areas such as Twentieth Century Studies, Early modern / Eighteenth-century Studies and Enlightenment and Post-modern thought. These will be housed in a new Arts and Humanities Research Institute which will lend an international face to the School's operations.

The School also plans to use such mechanisms as a Festival of Ideas to consolidate its sense of purpose and identity in both the University, amongst scholars and in relationship to the local community.

School of Psychology
Dean: Professor Trevor Harley says,
The School of Psychology has built up an international reputation for its work in human experimental psychology. The research of the School falls into three broad areas: language and visual cognition, neuroscience and development, and self and identity.

Some recent topics of particular interest include: how language and vision interact; how the eyes understand poetry; language, ageing, and Parkinson's disease; the effect of early diet; detecting early signs of autism, sports injury, and schizophrenia; and how groups form and split. The School is involved with the development of brain imaging facilities at Ninewells.

School of Education, Social Work and Community Education
Dean: Professor Elizabeth Leo says,
The School is a highly regarded national leader in undergraduate and postgraduate education for the professions of teaching, social work, educational psychology and community professionals. Our programmes are among the most sought after in Scotland and beyond.

We aim to be renowned internationally for our excellence in quality of learning and teaching, research and contribution to public debate in the fields of education and applied social science. Our overarching focus for research and teaching is on interdisciplinary thinking and learning in relation to the key themes of policy, professions and communities. We plan to generate external grant income of over £750,000 in key areas of our research and scholarship such as applied psychology in learning, disability, science education and leadership development.

The College has 7,100 students, recruits 40 per cent of the University's UK students and two thirds of the full time overseas masters' students, representing 75 nationalities. With eight professorial Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, two '5' RAE related disciplines (History and Law), and growing success in applying for, and winning, external grant income, there is also a strong research base in the college. The future looks good.