Research Degrees

The Department of Psychology offers 3 to 3.5 year PhD funding schemes and 1 year Master’s research degrees (full time or part time). These research degrees offer the unique opportunity to tackle research questions at the forefront of psychological science.

Students will be supervised by world-leading experts in their field of study and will be part of a thriving community of researchers within the department. Students are active members of their research groups and benefit from a large range of opportunities to present and discuss work with their colleagues in seminars and research workshops.

Research degrees are examined by writing a thesis and, in the case of a PhD, students undertake a viva (oral) examination. In addition to research work, students have the opportunity to undertake some teaching in order to gain valuable teaching experience. The university also offers a wide range of training and personal development courses. Students who are interested in undertaking post-graduate research are encouraged to approach members of staff within their field of interest to discuss and to develop potential research projects suitable for PhD or Master’s by research degrees.

Here is a sample of some project ideas suggested by individual staff.

These are very much intended only as starting points - prospective students are also welcome to contact staff to discuss their own ideas for PhD or MRes projects - see our list of Staff and Research Groups.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Staff	Project
Dr Anthony Atkinson	The visual perception of social interactions Foveal and extrafoveal processing of features within a face underpinning social perception
Dr Ulrik Beierholm	Testing Bayesian inference models of perception Rewards, punishment, vigour and decision making
Prof Alex Easton	Novelty in the rodent brain; compatibility of rodent and human memory
Dr Daniel Smith	PremotorEX: An Oculomotor Theory of Covert, Exogenous Attention
Dr Lore Thaler	Human Echolocation - A window into human brain plasticity and sensory function

Developmental Science

Staff	Project
Dr Dorothy Cowie	How children learn to control their movement, and how they represent their own bodies.
Prof Marko Nardini	Learning new senses (in adulthood and/or childhood) Development of spatial cognition
Prof Nadja Reissland	Foetal exposure to light and sound stimulation Lateralized behaviour from the prenatal to the postnatal period

Staff

Project

Dr Dorothy Cowie

 How children learn to control their movement, and how they represent their own bodies.

Prof Marko Nardini

Learning new senses (in adulthood and/or childhood)

Development of spatial cognition

Prof Nadja Reissland

Foetal exposure to light and sound stimulation

Lateralized behaviour from the prenatal to the postnatal period

Quantitative Social Psychology

Staff	Project
Prof Lynda Boothroyd	Visual media, culture and body ideals in rural Nicaragua Body size ideals in virtual reality environments
Dr Niklas Ihssen	Exposure to Visual Food or Drug Cues – Behavioural and Neural Dynamics
Dr Mario Weick	Top and Bottom, Rich and Poor: Understanding Social Hierarchies
Dr Holger Wiese	Neural Correlates of Familiar Face Recognition

Application details

Check out how to discuss and coordinate your application ahead of time with both a potential supervisor and the Psychology postgraduate admissions team.

Find out how to apply