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.
Neuropheomenology – bringing together experience and brain activity.
Testing Bayesian inference models of perception
Exploring factors that shape psychedelic experiences and outcomes
NeuroAI: linking neural circuits and artificial intelligence
Neuroplastic effects of psychedelics on emotional memory circuits
A real-world approach to navigation and memory
From Memory to Attention: Dissociating Functional Representations in Visual Working Memory
Learning new senses
The role of sparse perceptual representations in visual consciousness
Understanding individual differences through self-relevance effects in information processing
What dissociating different forms of attraction can tell us about the human experience of desire and partnership
Future proofing: Predictive processing in real-world scene viewing, understanding and memory
Cognition and action in Parkinson’s disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP)
Visual perception difficulties after brain injury
Neural Correlates of Face Recognition
Statistics Education in Higher Education
The Multiple-Cue Account of Language Acquisition
Dr Haemy Lee Masson
Learning to see the 3D world
Dr Bruce Rawlings
Are children’s creativity and innovation influenced by where they grow up?
Prof Nadja Reissland
Fetal Face and Sound Recognition as Early Indicators of Emerging Consciousness
Transforming bitter vegetable flavour acceptance by in utero exposure: tailoring and targeting interventions for pregnant women
Dr Paddy Ross
Can kids ignore what they are hearing when it comes to emotion recognition?
Repairing The Human–Nature Relationship Through Nature Connectedness Interventions
When do Female Role Models Help Women’s STEM Outcome?
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