Postgraduate research

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience is one of the world’s leading centres for mental health and related neurosciences research. All of our postgraduate research students operate in world-class facilities, and benefit from fantastic support networks and training opportunities, including the Researcher Development Programme (RDP). The RDP provides our students with a range of training and development courses, aimed at enhancing personal, professional and career skills.

The Department of Psychology’s research interests span a wide range of mental health problems, including anxiety disorders, trauma, somatoform disorders, pain, psychosis, depression, antisocial personality, disorders in childhood and adolescence, emotion and personality, and neurodegeneration. In physical health, we work at the interface between physical health and mental health, focusing on understanding mechanisms that underlie symptom experience, adjustment and self-management in long term conditions and the development and evaluation of new behavioural treatments in these areas. We use a wide range of methodologies, experimental designs, and analytical techniques. We are also pioneers in Digital Therapeutics and LGBTQ research.

The Department offer two postgraduate research programmes, the Psychology Research MPhil/PhD and the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy). The Psychology Research MPhil/PhDs and DClinPsy are both doctorates, and both last three years, but are quite different qualifications. The Psychology Research MPhil/PhD is a research thesis, consisting of a series of research studies in an area of interest carried out under the supervision of at least two expert academics. The DClinPsy is a professional training programme in clinical psychology which entitles graduates to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council as a clinical psychologist and the British Psychological Society as a chartered psychologist. Trainees spend three days a week on supervised clinical practice placements and two days a week are dedicated to teaching, study and research.

Join our research programme