We welcome applications for postgraduate study in our team.
Studying for PhD takes 3-4 years, and students pursue an individual research topic, with guidance from a supervisor. A PhD in cognitive development is likely to include a series of between 5 and 10 experimental studies and is written up as a thesis. Postgraduate students are encouraged to attend and present their work at conferences, and to write up their findings for publication in journals.
The department also offers an MRes course. This is a 1 year course that provides training and experience in research methods. Taking a placement in cognitive development as part of the MREs programme would involve conducting experimental work in a local school and offer an excellent opportunity to learn about our research field.
If you are interested in studying with us, please contact Ian Apperly or Sarah Beck to discuss possible projects.
Recent PhD theses
Martin Rowley: The development of an interpretive theory of mind from middle childhood to adolescence
Dan Carroll: Interactions between children's reasoning and executive function
Katherine Broomfield: Children's understanding about prosocial lies
Sarah Beck: Children’s handling of ambiguous input
Emma Whitcombe: Young children's source monitoring: decisions about what to believe and ability to report the source of their beliefs
Laura Davison: Effects of re-presenting recalled information on further recall in children
Ian Apperly: Children's mental representation of referential relations: representational partitioning and "theory of mind"