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  • Psychology

Psychology PhD, UK | Doctoral degree in psychology

Psychology is an established and vibrant research discipline at the 九色视频. We welcome approaches for doctoral research into or through psychology and its methods as well as cross-disciplinary investigations drawing on aspects of psychology.

Our research is at the forefront of developments in applied psychology, critical psychology, community psychology, social psychology, health psychology, sports psychology and emerging fields such as cyberpsychology and ecopsychology.

九色视频 researchers in psychology have addressed a wide range of topics such as mental health and wellbeing, animal-human interactions, friendship, identity, poverty and social exclusion, forensic psychology, health and wellbeing, leisure and exercise, security and surveillance, crowd control and public order, gender, sexuality, intimacy, migration, elite sport performance, nature-based interventions and climate change.

We offer PhD study in both full and part-time modes and welcome students with significant professional experience, who are able to use and share the career skills they have developed, as well as those who have completed first degrees and wish to take advantage of their academic momentum.

Gaining a PhD in Psychology can enhance career opportunities across a number of fields including academic posts, research and development, central and local government, non-governmental organisations, social research, the justice system, teaching, journalism and the media.

Recent and current PhD students have been successful in obtaining studentships covering both fees and living costs through the 九色视频’s involvement in the . 

Contact an expert in this field

Successful applicants have invariably had support with their application from one of our academics. We suggest you approach a suitable academic staff member with relevant research interests before progressing with your application.

Details of our PhD in Psychology

We are renowned for a creative approach to methods and have specialist knowledge across both quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in psychology, incorporating the latest technology (including state of the art eye tracking and biopack equipment) via our lab resources. Research collaborations have included both academic and non-academic partners and we have strong links with various community groups and organisations.

In addition, the 九色视频 fosters a range of research that integrates psychology with a number of related disciplines including wider social sciences and humanities including philosophy, literature, arts histories and practices, medicine and sport, so is also well-placed to develop cross-disciplinary projects with subjects that make use of psychological practices and methodologies. We very much welcome proposals for investigations using innovative psychology research alongside other methods or draw on academia and practice more widely. 

The 九色视频 is celebrated for its applied and impactful research into and benefiting social justice, equality, humanitarian values and under-represented communities. We believe this resonates throughout our academic work and knowledge exchange and welcome PhD proposals that draw on and bolster this reputation. 

Research supervisors for your Psychology PhD 

You will benefit from research supervision comprising two or maximum three members of academic staff. To ensure the right mix of expertise alongside specialists, one of the supervisors might come from the wider branches of social science and humanities, from university expertise in, for example, arts, education, sport and leisure or medicine. An external expert or practitioner may also input to the supervisory team.

You will identify your primary potential supervisor for your doctorate in psychology from the early stages of application and they will usually then support you throughout your programme of study, helping you find any additional support to carry out your research, guiding your learning of rigorous research methods and preparing you for the next stage of your career.

You should consider the staff listed at the foot of the page and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism.

Research training and support for your doctorate in Psychology

As a PhD student in psychology you are offered a range of developmental opportunities to help challenge and broaden your academic and professional thinking. There are opportunities to develop skills not only towards your PhD but also to prepare for life beyond it. These might include writing skills and project management, conference presentation preparation, research planning and publication activities as well as grant applications and network-building, digital storytelling or developing a public profile.

You will have the opportunity to network with other doctoral students and staff across the university to share ideas and expertise, for example by joining a research centre or group. Psychology students have benefited from joining the Understanding Childhood and Adolescence Research Excellence Group and the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, Centre for Arts and Wellbeing or Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender. Whatever the focus of your PhD project, you will be able to draw on research approaches from a variety of related fields. 

As a member of the Brighton Doctoral College, you will benefit from regular opportunities on a training programme designed to support postgraduate researchers at all stages of the PhD and help them achieve their career goals. Attendance at appropriate workshops within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the various seminar series hosted by the school and the annual Postgraduate Research Festival. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

 

Resources for PhD  students

Our research environment offers significant breadth and depth, with impact and knowledge exchange high on our priorities. We have nurtured partnerships with a range of organisations, locally, nationally and internationally including Age UK, Brighton and Hove City Council, the Sussex Partnership Trust, National Trust, Mind UK, the Hope Foundation (India), and University’s including Sussex, Leeds and Guelph (Canada). Our research attracts funding from AHRC, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, ERC and the Independent Social Research Foundation and others.

As a PhD Psychology student you will enjoy a vibrant environment for doctoral study, with opportunities to work with leading researchers in psychology and related disciplines and to make use of our excellent research facilities. Notable for psychology researchers are the Applied Cognition lab, a dedicated research space for psychological research involving measures such as electrodermal activity (EDA) and electroencephalography (EEG); the Life lab which, for example, includes dedicated space to conduct assessed role play or interviews with children; and the VR and Eye-Tracking lab which has adjustable lighting and a blackout blind for maintaining consistent lighting conditions during eye-tracking research, as well as sensors to allow individuals to move freely around the room during virtual reality research; and dedicated creative methods and qualitative research labs.

As well as academic staff experienced in many aspects of psychology, you will benefit from access to internationally-linked research resources, including a contemporary range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as the physical book and journal collections housed within campus libraries. The library services are connected to national and international collections and students also have the option of inter-library loans.

Research Excellence Framework

The 九色视频 had an outstanding performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and its earlier iterations with significant output contributions from our psychology researchers.

Supervisors for your doctorate in psychology

We strongly recommend that you apply with the support of one of our academics. By establishing your supervisor from the early stages of application, you will be supported through the application process and can make the best start to your programme of study.

You should consider the staff listed below and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism and your place in the wider context of the department's research ambitions. Their contact details are available on their full profile.

Our primary staff supervising in the discipline are listed. For further information on university supervisory staff, including cross-disciplinary options, please visit 

Profile photo for Dr Matthew Adams

Matt supervises PhD students addressing a range of topics including human-animal relations, more-than-human and multispecies methods, Anthropocene studies, the posthumanities, psychology and the climate crisis, climate activism, mental health and distress, social and cultural identity.

He is especially interested in supervising students adopting qualitative and creative methods. Interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome.聽

Profile photo for Dr Emma Anderson

I welcome applications from postgraduate students interested in research projects that are rooted in the disciplines of critical social and community psychology. Particular areas of interest are: critical approaches to health and citizenship, critical discursive psychology, creative methodologies, the role of media in everyday life, and post-feminist sensibilities.

Profile photo for Dr Abby Barras

I am colead supervisor for a PhD candidate who is researching gender creative parenting using creative research methods. I am also third supervisor for a TECHNE funded PhD candidate, whose research explores heritage visbility for gender diverse young people in the Traveller, Gypsy and Romany (GRT) community.

Profile photo for Dr Hannah Cassidy

I would be very interested in supervising postgraduate students conducting projects on:

  • Vulnerability and forensic investigative interviewing;
  • Evidence-based child forensic interviewing techniques;
  • Working with police (nationally and internationally) to overcome barriers to prosecuting cases involving children and adolescents;
  • Understanding factors that promote decisions to disclose and designing strategies to promote honesty.
Profile photo for Dr Chris Cocking

I am interested in supervising people with an interest in social psychology, crowd behaviour, or collective action. For example I am currently researching the protests calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East conflict & would welcome PG research projects into these and other topical collective action protests.聽I am also interested in public intervention in emergencies/mass casualty incidents (a concept known as 'zero-responders') and public behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its implications for emergency planning and response. Therefore, I would be especially interested in supervising emergency responders and other public health professionals who wish to do PG research.聽

I am also interested in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the broader area of collective resilience in response to general adversity. I would be keen to work with health professionals interested in postgraduate research in any of these areas.聽聽

Profile photo for Dr Gemma Graham

I'm happy to supervise PhD students on a range of topics broadly relating to Forensic Psychology and Cyberpsychology. I am especially interested in supervising students adopting an Eye Tracking methodology. Current PhD projects I聽am supervising address the following:

  • Terror Management Theory approaches to climate change communication (Joe Rennie-Taylor)
Profile photo for Dr Emma-Louise Jay

Emma is particularly interested in supervising B. Sc., M. A. and Ph. D. theses on any aspect of dissociation and the philosophy of psychiatry and mental disorder. In addition, she is interested in the psychological trauma experienced by all victims of Colombia鈥檚 armed conflict including journalists, members of the resistance and writers. Bi-culturality and plural cultural identities also interest Emma.

She has also worked as a Research Assistant as part of the Service-User Research Enterprise and has an awareness of the anti-psychiatry and user movement philosophies.

Profile photo for Dr Helen Johnson

Helen supervises PhD and MD students with an interest in arts-based interventions in healthcare, education and wellbeing, and/or the use of creative, arts-based research methods.聽 She is interested in talking to doctoral applicants who are interested in researching creativity and the arts, with foci including: art therapy; arts interventions for health and wellbeing, including invisible chronic and contested conditions; social prescribing; creativity and the lived experience of dementia; arts education; spoken word and poetry slam; art worlds/communities; arts inclusivity; everyday creativity; and the artistic process. 聽 She is also interested in supervising students who wish to work with creative, arts-based and/or participatory methods, including: poetic inquiry; autoethnography; photo voice; photo elicitation; collaborative poetics; and participatory action research.聽 Helen currently supervises four doctoral candidates, who are researching: the lived experiences of women with borderline personality disorder (including creative coping strategies); neurologic music therapy with young people with juvenile dementia; black people's experiences of intimacy and psychosis; and decolonial praxis in museum learning.聽 She has previously supervised and examined work covering topics that include: perceptions of frailty in the undergraduate medical curriculum; the impact of austerity policies on homeless people; spoken word with young offenders in a Macedonian prison; the performance and perception of authenticity in contemporary UK spoken word poetry; and NHS staff experiences of work.聽

Profile photo for Dr Joanna Kellond

I welcome PhD projects related to any of my research interests. I am particularly interested in working on projects related to: the intersections between psychoanalysis and Marxism, in particular socialist-feminism; the work of Donald Winnicott and related theorists; psychoanalytic feminist theory and philosophy; gender, sexuality and kinship; and the politics of reproduction and care. More broadly, I am interested in working on projects related to psychoanalysis as it intersects with cultural, social and political questions and debates. This includes studies focused on literature, visual culture, Critical Theory, philosophy, history or politics. I am also interested in supervising projects in the field of Critical Theory that relate to the themes of care, reproduction, gender, sexuality or feminism.

Profile photo for Dr Anastasiya Khomutova

My research and supervisory interests cover Sport and Exercise Psychology, with particular focus on cultural sport psychology (immigrated athletes and coaches, culturally diverse sport teams, acculturation and adaptation in a new environment), as well as athletes' well-being (safeguarding, coach-athlete relationship). I currently lead an international research project on behalf of FEPSAC, which investigates career trajectories of sport psychology graduates in Europe.

Profile photo for Dr Charlie Lea

I would be interested in supervising doctoral students in areas of聽Positive psychology,聽specifically how people think about life satisfaction; the cognitive processes underpinning life satisfaction and happiness; the importance of money to life satisfaction; improvisation and how it relates to wellbeing. More broadly, this encompasses: well being; life satisfaction; happiness; hedonic wellbeing; eudaimonic well being; flow. I would also consider some aspects of聽Social psychology, specifically聽the relationship between friendship and coping behaviours.

Profile photo for Dr Linda Tip

I supervise PhD students on a variety of topics that focus on the psychological side of migration. I welcome proposals from students who want to investigate well-being or mental health of migrants, refugees, or international students. Within that topic, I am particularly interested in the role of social relationships and/or the role of digital technology in wellbeing and mental health. I also accept projects looking into British people's attitudes towards migration: i.e., what are predictors of negative and positive attitudes and behaviours towards migration, and what can we do to improve these attitudes and/or support for migrants?

Examples of PhD projects under my supervision:

  • Exploring resilience of international students from a social policy perspective (Isaac Thornton).
  • Exploring the role of digital and print resources in English language and literacy acquisition in relation to wellbeing of refugee children (Liliane Broschart).
  • The impact of digitalisation on public and third sector services supporting people for whom English is an additional language (Sidney Lupupa Mushinge).
Profile photo for Dr Liam Wignall

Liam is interested in supervising students in the following areas: kink/BDSM identities/practices/behaviours (especially in relation to non-heterosexual populations); sexual health and well-being; sexual identities/behvaiours/subcultures and cross-overs with the internet.

Profile photo for Dr Anna Zoli

I am interested in supervising a number of topics rooted in the disciplines of Critical Social Psychology, Critical Community Psychology, and Discursive Psychology, with a transdisciplinary ethos. Broad areas are: non-normative sexualities, religious and ideological discourses, nature and sustainability. For example:

- Non-normative sexualities, LGBTI+ issues

- Sex work, sex workers, and intersectionalities

- Religious and ideological discourses on sexuality

- Transdisciplinary approaches to sexuality and gender

- Permaculture, Transition Towns, group dynamics, grass-root social movements

- Transdisciplinary approaches to environmental crisis, peak oil, and climate change

- Non-clinical approaches to mental health

- Values of space in shaping people鈥檚 social identities

- Critical Community Psychology

- Critical Social Psychology, and Discursive Psychology

 

Making an application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the 九色视频 through our . When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the 九色视频 staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

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Fees and funding

 Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2025–26

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
StudentFull-time feesPart-time fees

UK

£5,006 

£2,503

International (including EU)

£16,390

N/A

International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law

£14,950

N/A

PhD by Publication
Study methodFees
Full-time  N/A
Part-time £2,503

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the 九色视频 we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

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