The School of Psychology focuses on exploring the science behind the human brain and human behaviour. Researchers cover a wide range of topics within the school's Research Groups, ranging from the intricacies of neural networks and brain function, to the developmental, biological and social mechanisms that shape who we are, to increasing our understanding of physical and mental health issues, and how they can be treated.
These studentships are supervised by leading academics in their respective fields and students will have the opportunity to engage and collaborate with a range of stakeholders.
Applications are now open for the advertised projects (overview below) follow the links for more information and how to apply or contact the School.
How can we support children’s maths learning? Understanding the role of misconceptions and maths anxiety
Many children struggle with fractions, often developing misconceptions that persist and contribute to mathematics anxiety and negative attitudes. This PhD project will investigate how fraction understanding and errors develop across two years of primary school, examining how misconceptions emerge, evolve, and affect children’s feelings about mathematics. It will also explore ways to design explanations that directly refute errors and support positive engagement with fractions. The project combines developmental and applied research, offering opportunities to analyse and visualise longitudinal data, conduct school-based studies, and extend the work to adult learners. The candidate will receive advanced methodological training and gain experience in both research and impact activities.
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How hearing loss affects older adults’ participation in conversation: Insights from psycholinguistics
Seamless conversation is at the heart of social connection, yet many older adults with age-related hearing loss (ARHL) struggle. Interestingly, some of their conversational difficulties persist even when hearing aids make speech audible, suggesting the problem lies deeper than just being unable to hear. This project will yield a detailed understanding of which conversational difficulties are experienced by people with ARHL and which continue to persist despite improved audibility, laying the foundation for interventions that mitigate these difficulties.
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Cancer screening and home screening for physically Disabled women and people with a cervix
Disabled people are at higher risk of delayed diagnosis and cancer mortality, partly because of lower screening uptake. Around 20% of the UK population has a disability, yet very little research has explored the experiences of disabled people and the barriers and facilitators to accessing cancer screening. This project will build on the supervisor's most recent research to explore the experience of cervical screening with physically Disabled people alongside their experiences of HPV self-sampling. There will be scope to refine and define the precise nature of the project according to the interests and experience of the candidate.
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Cognitive Shortcuts: A Computational MRI Approach to Human Learning Strategies
This project investigates how humans achieve rapid and flexible learning in complex environments by using "cognitive shortcuts" (simple strategies) to avoid overwhelming the brain with a large amount of sensory information. We will develop challenging learning tasks for human participants and employ computational modelling to precisely define these strategies. By combining this behavioural analysis with brain imaging, we will pinpoint the neural circuits responsible for enacting these simple strategies. Ultimately, this research aims to identify how individual differences related to psychiatric traits such as impulsivity and anxiety influence the efficiency of these strategies, providing a deeper understanding of cognitive flexibility deficits seen in mental health conditions.
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Understanding Adolescent Paranoia and Increased Risk of Developing Psychosis
Many teenagers experience paranoia - the feeling that other people want to hurt or harm them, even when there's no real threat. Research shows that about 1 in 4 teenagers have these worrying thoughts at least once a week. People who experience paranoia often also have distressing mental images that pop into their heads unwanted. This happens to most people with paranoia (up to 3 out of 4 people). There are new treatments being developed to help with these troubling thoughts and images. Sometimes, paranoia in teenagers can be an early warning sign of more serious mental health problems developing later. The PhD project will study paranoia in teenagers by:
- Checking if teenagers with paranoia might be at higher risk of developing more serious mental health conditions
- Looking at whether paranoia might overlap with conditions like autism
- Using special research methods (like smartphone apps that ask people about their thoughts throughout the day) to better understand paranoia and the images that come with it
