Social work and welfare: roles for doctoral graduates

Doctoral graduates are well placed for employment in a range of occupations even though their qualification is not essential for working within the sector (except in highly skilled occupations, for example in forensic psychology, or in psychiatry). Doctoral graduates considering managerial positions in the sector need not have a specific PhD qualification; all doctoral candidates should in theory possess all the skills essential for managerial and strategic roles in the sector.

Professional postgraduate study is required for most roles involving research, practice education, policy-making or lecturing, as well as for social workers who do not have an accredited qualification. Many workers within the sector may choose postgraduate study purely out of dedication and interest, and not just for improving their employment chances. Due to the high levels of empathy required for the workforce, this is not an uncommon trait in the sector.

Data from ‘What Do Researchers Do?' shows that three and a half years after graduation, around 13.7% of doctoral graduates were known to be working in social work and welfare, and that proportion was down slightly from the 14.9% seen six months after graduation; this is the next most popular employment sector, after higher education.

Doctoral graduates from recent years are known to have worked in the sector in the following profiled roles:

• Biochemists
• Biologists
• Civil engineers
• Clinical psychologists
• Editors
• Education officers
• Education psychologists
• Financial analysts
• IT consultants
• IT systems developer
• Medical scientists
• Microbiologists
• Secondary school teachers
• Social science, arts and humanities researchers
• Social and market researchers
• Software designers, programmers and engineers
• Statisticians
• Training and development officer