Teaching and learning

The School of Psychology delivers transformative education in academic, practitioner-focused and applied programmes of study across the fields of psychology and neuroscience. Across our suite of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, we engage students and trainee practitioners with the latest research and evidence-based psychological interventions. Our programmes build on our specialisms in research, research translation, and psychological practice, especially in cognitive, computational and clinical neuroscience, mental health, developmental science, and applied psychology.

Teaching and assessment methods

Our teaching and assessment methods are designed to provide the structure for students to become independent and creative graduates with significant appeal in the job market, be that as a graduate from our bachelors or masters degrees or as a fully qualified clinical or forensic psychologist graduating from one of our postgraduate and doctoral professional training programmes.

 We teach students and trainees across a range of formats including lectures, workshops, laboratory practicals and smaller group seminars and tutorials. All of our live teaching is interactive and supplemented by rich online content and tools, and access and guidance to the latest scientific literature. Our programmes are designed to encourage students to lead their own academic and professional development by engaging with the latest research in their independent study so that they can get the best from live interactive teaching with leading psychological researchers, practitioners and educators.

Our hands-on lab-based teaching provides students with the methods and skills in research methods and data science equipping them to conduct independent research and providing a strong set of transferable skills in qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Students take a balance of in course assessments and exams and will encounter a wide range of different assessment types in our programmes, including research dissertations, poster and oral presentations, essays, lab reports, case studies, and research proposals. All students are supported to develop their academic skills by their personal academic tutor who works with them individually and in small groups through their programme.

Our programmes of study

We offer a number of undergraduate bachelors and masters programmes including the three-year BSc Psychology and BSc Human Neuroscience, and the four-year MSci Psychology and Psychological Practice which includes a professional placement in the final year. A study abroad option in which students spend a year abroad between the second and third year of undergraduate study is available.

Our specialist masters programmes are taught by experts from the research centres in our school, including the MSc Mental Health (lnstitute of Mental Health), the MSc Developmental Science and Neurodiversity (Centre for Developmental Science), and the MSc Cognitive Neuroimaging and Data Science (Centre for Human Brain Health).

The Centre for Applied Psychology trains the next generation of psychological practioners, delivering professional training programmes at postgraduate and doctoral levels including the Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (High Intensity Practitioners), the Clinical Psychology Doctorate (ClinPsyD), the Forensic Psychology Doctorate (ForenPsyD), and the Forensic and Clinical Psychology Doctorate (ForenClinPsyD).