About us

SORD conducts applied health and science research concerning d/Deaf people, their families, social networks and service provision.

Spanning the lifecourse, our work addresses health inequalities, the impacts of minoritisation, evidence-based service provision and practice with d/Deaf people, the contribution of d/Deaf people to wider society and the richness of Deaf language and culture.

We are a sign-bilingual research group comprising Deaf and hearing people with researcher drawn from a range of professional and academic backgrounds. SORD team members comprise early career interns through to post-doctoral career academics, both Deaf and hearing. We regularly work in partnership across academic disciplines and very closely with service providers in the field and d/Deaf organisations.

Key aims

We carry out our research in line with our key aims:

• to carry out research that will promote and safeguard the wellbeing of d/Deaf individuals and communities;
• to pursue multidisciplinary applied social research connected with family, service and community contexts that involves d/Deaf people;
• to explore, recognise and value Deaf life experiences in their own right;
• to promote and convey d/Deaf people’s contribution to health, education and social care policy and practice from an evidence-based perspective;
• to develop Deaf researchers of the future;
• to create an academic environment that promotes the mutual learning and development of d/Deaf and hearing people to equip them for research in this field of study.