Psychology

Entry requirements

• MPhil or PhD with progression from MPhil: You’ll need a Bachelor degree or equivalent with first or upper second class honours, in a related subject area.
• PhD: You’ll need a Master degree or equivalent in a related subject area.

Please note we consider candidates for PhD with progression from MPhil in the first instance. If you want to be considered for direct entry to the PhD route then this can be discussed at interview if you are shortlisted. Please note you’ll also need to provide academic justification for this request.

Months of entry

January, April, September

Course content

Students undertaking a PhD in Psychology at Anglia Ruskin become part of a newly established and rapidly expanding centre of research excellence. We have world-leading staff members in each of the core areas of Psychology, with particular strengths in cognitive neuroscience, cognition and emotion, social psychology and health psychology.

PhD students in the School of Psychology and Sports Science have a range of state-of-the-art research laboratories and equipment at their disposal. MSc-level training in quantitative and qualitative methods is available to upgrade students’ existing research skills and additional specialist training in software and equipment will allow students to develop new research abilities. Training is also available in research writing and presentation skills and all our students are expected to publish their results in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and are supported to present their work at leading international conferences in their subject areas.

Each PhD student is supervised by a team of experts in their subject area who guide them through the design and implementation of their research project, while supporting students’ academic career development.

We work within two main research centres in Psychology with each covering a number of research areas:

ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour:

• Cognition
• Development and Lifespan
• Body and Self
• Clinical and Wellbeing

ARU Centre for Societies and Groups:

• Societies
• Groups and Social Processes

Successful applicants to our doctoral programme will join a thriving community of PhD students with dedicated research study areas. Our Psychology PhD community is actively engaged in the research culture of our School, attending regular meetings within their research clusters as well as the School's fortnightly research seminar series which hosts talks by leading psychology researchers from across the UK and beyond. Students also organise their own activities, including social as well as research events and together they host an annual Psychology PhD student conference at which students present their work to an audience of staff and students from across the University.

Fees and funding