University of Essex is rated 4th in the UK for our research excellence in social sciences, with our politics research recognised as the best in the UK (REF 2014). Our Faculty of Social Sciences is home to some of the most highly-rated social science departments and researchers in the country. Alongside core departments and disciplines (Economics, Government, Language and Linguistics, Psychosocial and Psychodynamic Studies, and Sociology), the Faculty also hosts internationally renowned research institutes and centres, such as the Institute for Social and Economic Research, the UK Data Archive, and the ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre, among others.