This first line forms the basic pillar of research which aims to find out about the social reality from different perspectives, to analyse its characteristics and to formulate intervention proposals designed to improve social cohesion from social work and from other social intervention disciplines.This research focuses on recent social phenomena such as chronic poverty, worker poverty and increased vulnerability, and aims to analyse innovative responses to these situations.We are at the crossroads of a new era that requires research whose goal is to discover a new reality and to review the concepts from which to interpret it.

The second line of research complements the first, and emphasises people and collectives.From this perspective, we are interested in analysing forms of discrimination and violation of citizenship rights, formulating policies designed to combat these discriminations and proposing interventions that guarantee the adequate exercise of individual and collective rights.The current focus is on people who have experienced discrimination for reasons of gender, sexual orientation or origin, but the line of research is open to other collectives who find barriers to exercising their citizenship rights.

This third line of research refers to an aspect that is crucial in addressing the different conflicts that affect a society as complex as ours: dialogue between the different actors involved in each of the sectoral areas we can analyse.We interpret this dialogue as the democratisation of public administrations and public policies; this generic subject heading allows us incorporate studies linked to managing networks, transversal organisation, multi-level governance, management structures and strategies, innovation and civic engagement.All these experiences imply a transformation in the forms of social intervention, but it is also the step that must be taken towards to a fairer, united society.

Last, we would like to highlight that as a university research group we are interested in both competitive research projects and applied research.In both cases our work is not only be guided by theoretical frameworks of the social sciences, but is also of the highest methodological rigor and always respectful of the ethical principles of the research.In brief, our research is committed to its social environment and based on excellent academic work.