What research areas are represented in Penn SP2's PhD in Social Welfare?

Faculty and doctoral students at Penn SP2 conduct research across a wide range of areas relevant to social policy and practice. The program encourages interdisciplinary collaboration across Penn’s schools and research centers.

Is the Penn SP2 PhD in Social Welfare fully funded?

Admitted doctoral students in the PhD in Social Welfare program receive a multi-year funding package that includes tuition coverage, stipend, and health insurance.

How long does it take to complete a PhD in Social Welfare at Penn SP2?

Most students complete the PhD in Social Welfare in 4–5 years. The program includes two to three years of coursework followed by comprehensive exams and dissertation research. The program provides mentorship and milestones throughout to support timely completion.

What careers do Penn SP2 PhD in Social Welfare graduates pursue?

PhD graduates typically pursue faculty positions at research universities and schools of social work, as well as research and policy leadership roles at government agencies, think tanks, foundations, and health systems. The program prepares graduates to produce rigorous scholarship and translate research into practice and policy.

What methodological training is offered in the Penn SP2 PhD program?

PhD students receive training in a range of social theories and both quantitative and qualitative research methods both in-house and across the university. The program is designed to encourage students to take theory and methods courses and to draw upon faculty expertise in multiple disciplines.

How do I apply to the PhD in Social Welfare at Penn SP2?

Applicants submit an application through Penn’s graduate application system. Prospective students are strongly encouraged to attend an applicant information session offered during the Fall semester.

Doctoral Degree

PhD in Social Welfare

Bring your intellect, curiosity, and creativity to tackling complex social challenges.

The Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare (PhD) Program will transform you into a scholar well-equipped to identify and solve social problems – both close to home and around the world. Grounded in innovation and academic rigor, the SP2 PhD allows you to explore diverse perspectives and approaches to social work, social welfare research, social policy, social theory, and social justice.

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An Invitation from the Director

“Social welfare” a complex term. Its basic definition is deceptively simple—the collective welfare or wellbeing of a given society. But what constitutes that wellbeing and how it can and should be achieved, who belongs in that society and can and should form and formulate the “social,” are abiding questions that have been posed, debated, and contested for as long as collective human settlements have been in existence. World-shaping works of art, science, and philosophy have been crafted to answer these questions. Disagreements on those answers are at the heart of the social, cultural, and political tumult in which the U.S. is embroiled. Social welfare is, in other words, a weighty, vital, and pressing field of study.

The social welfare field draws from all social science disciplines and the discourses of multiple professions including social work. Whatever the domain of interest—health, poverty, education, incarceration, climate change, racism, migration, philanthropy, homelessness, history, and whether it is framed as a theoretical, methodological, issue-focused, or population-based inquiry—what we seek is students interested in not only finding the answers but in critically interrogating the questions themselves. Given the school’s commitment to advancing social justice in all of its programs, the courses of study students engage in should, no matter the specific domain, actively attend to issues of power, inequality, and disparity.

I believe that the vitality of the social welfare field is maintained by the passion for social justice brought by those who enter it. SP2’s rigorous yet flexible curriculum aims to provide the training necessary to forge the students’ passion into disciplined scholarship. To encourage each student to develop unique work and an individual scholarly voice, the program is intentionally interdisciplinary, designed to expose students to an array of approaches to social welfare offered by the world-class faculty of the school and the university.

The PhD in Social Welfare prepares students for careers as outstanding researchers and scholars committed to critically and rigorously analyzing social problems to propose effective, research-based solutions, to offer new theories and methods for approaching research and scholarship, and to formulate new paradigms for social welfare. I welcome your questions about the program and the School, and invite you to join us in this endeavor.

“Whatever the domain of interest—health, poverty, education, incarceration, climate change, racism, migration, philanthropy, homelessness, history, and whether it is framed as a theoretical, methodological, issue-focused, or population-based inquiry—what we seek is students interested in not only finding the answers but in critically interrogating the questions themselves.”

Yoosun Park, MSW, PhD

Director, PhD in Social Welfare Program

The SP2 Difference

A highly selective program for students with a proven record of academic excellence and strong potential to contribute to their field
Instruction and mentoring from world-class faculty researchers and practitioners in multiple disciplines
Four years of support in the form of tuition, fees, individual health insurance, and stipend
Access to Penn’s vast institutional resources
A diverse global alumni network in academia and industry, government, nonprofits, think tanks, and research institutes

World-Class Faculty

The PhD program faculty are here to help you shape your specific area of expertise, drawing on their own decades of scholarship, teaching, and experience in areas including mental health, queer studies, sex work, homelessness, incarceration, gerontology, foster youth, and more.

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Curriculum

Coursework provides students with core knowledge and skills as well as the opportunity to develop a specific expertise area. Papers and projects in core courses, combined with strategically selected electives, ensure a broad understanding of the field as well as deep study in the theoretical and empirical aspects of a specific area.

Students work with their academic advisors to develop an individualized plan for five electives. Graduate-level electives can be taken in any Penn department. At least one of these electives must be an advanced methods course, such as advanced statistical methods or qualitative research methodology.

Full Time

Courses may be offered in varying order and year of program. Students are notified of such arrangements well in advance. Curriculum is subject to change.

Fall Semester

SOCW 8110: Social Theory
SOCW 8520: Social Welfare Research Methods
SOCW 9010: Proseminar
SOCW 6300: Quantitative Reasoning/Social Statistics

Spring Semester

SOCW 8030: Advanced History and Philosophy of Social Welfare
SOCW 8540: Introduction to Qualitative Research: Epistemology, Design, and Analytic Judgement
SOCW 8550: Advanced Social Welfare Research Methods
SOCW 9010: Proseminar
SOCW 8970: Applied Linear Modeling

Fall Semester

SOCW 8610: Advanced Policy Analysis Research Methods or elective
SOCW 9010: Proseminar
Theory Course or Elective
Advanced Methods Course or Elective

Spring Semester

SOCW 9010: Proseminar
Theory course or elective
Advanced methods course or elective
Elective

Fall & Spring Semesters

Dissertation research & writing
Teaching practicum

Your Experience

Research

You’ll devote 15 hours per week to a research fellowship during your first year and 20 hours per week during your second through fourth years. You typically begin by working with your first-year advisor to identify research experiences that align with your skills and interests. To develop a broad range of methodological skills, we encourage students to work on multiple faculty projects as well as their own research.

Research Areas

Advising

Each student is assigned a doctoral advisor upon entering the program. At the end of their first year, students are encouraged to assess the arrangement and decide whether to continue with that faculty member or to choose another advisor from among the Graduate Group faculty. The advisor helps the student prepare an individual educational plan, choose courses, form a dissertation committee, and become familiar with SP2 and Penn’s wide array of educational resources. Students are responsible for initiating meetings with their advisors at regular intervals.

Please see University guidelines(opens in a new tab) for best practices around academic advising and building strong mentor relationships.

Exams

After completing all required coursework, typically at the end of the second year, students must take the Preliminary Exam.

After completing the required coursework and passing the Preliminary Exam, students defend their dissertation proposal. Upon a successful defense, students become PhD candidates.

A dissertation defense serves as the program’s final examination. Passing this defense completes all degree requirements.

Dissertation Committee

With assistance from their faculty advisor, students select a Dissertation Chair who advises them on selecting a Dissertation Committee. The Committee consists of at least three persons: two members of the Graduate Group in Social Welfare and one member of the standing faculty from another department/school of the University of Pennsylvania. The Dissertation Committee chair must be a member of the Graduate Group.

The Dissertation Committee is responsible for approving the candidate’s dissertation research plan and the format of the dissertation. The committee determines the acceptability of the completed dissertation.

Students are responsible for initiating regular meetings with their dissertation chair and committee members.

Advising

Please see University guidelines(opens in a new tab) and the Advisee and Advisor Guide for SP2 PhD Students for best practices around academic advising and building strong mentor relationships.

Graduate Group in Social Welfare

Sara (Sally) Bachman, PhD

Dean
School of Social Policy & Practice

Tamara Cadet, PhD

Chair
School of Social Policy & Practice