Research funding in the UK social sciences: summary data report for 2013/14 to 2021/22

  • Policy & Research

July 2024 

The social sciences is one of the largest of the higher education (HE) sectors and features, to varying extents, in almost all higher education institutions. In the academic year 2021/22 the HE social sciences sector had a total of 893,250 full time equivalent (FTE) enrolled students and 29,235 FTE academic staff on ‘teaching and research’ contracts.

This report draws largely on published annual Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) research funding data for the nine academic years between 2013/14 and 2021/22, to document the scale and trends in research funding for the social sciences across UK higher education.

It presents a selection of the data available and analysed for the social sciences sector in comparison with the three other sectors: medical and biological sciences, arts and humanities, and physical science, technology, engineering and maths sectors; and for the individual cost centres within the social sciences sector.

As a result, the report is important in:

  • sharing knowledge about the quantum, distribution and change over time of research funding for the social science sector as a whole and across disciplines and discipline clusters within it;
  • acting as a reference study for the documentation of change in the future, and in identifying areas of particular concern that the Academy’s learned society members may wish to follow up on for ‘their’ disciplines; and
  • the questions it raises about what the UK wants from its social science sector research and the appetite to fund that.

This report forms part of the Academy of Social Sciences work to monitor the ‘health’, standing and impact of the social sciences in the UK and also supports our advocacy for the social sciences. We aim to continue to monitor, analyse and report social science research funding data at regular intervals in the future.

If you require a copy of any images or graphs contained within this report in a different colour or format, please email office@acss.org.uk.

Download the report

For full accessibility features, including alternative text, please download the report as a pdf document.

The social sciences include the disciplines of:

  • Anthropology
  • Business, Finance and Management
  • Development Studies
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Education
  • Geography and Environmental Studies
  • Law
  • Planning, Architecture and the Built Environment
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Social Psychology and the Social aspects of Healthcare
  • Social Work and Social Policy
  • Sociology and Criminology
  • Tourism and Leisure Studies
  • plus, a number of cross cutting study areas such as Regional Studies and Social Statistics, and many sub-disciplinary specialisms.