Psychology PhD

Psychology is an established and vibrant research discipline at the University of Brighton.

Our research is at the forefront of developments in applied, critical, community, social and health psychology and emerging fields such as cyberpsychology and ecopsychology. It addresses a wide range of topics such as mental health and wellbeing, friendship, identity, poverty and social exclusion, security and surveillance, gender, sexuality, intimacy, migration, nature-based interventions and climate change.

We are renowned for a creative approach to methods and have specialist knowledge across both quantitative and qualitative approaches, incorporating the latest technology (including state of the art eye tracking and biopack equipment) via our lab resources. We often collaborate with both academic and non-academic partners and have strong links with various community groups and organizations. In addition, the University of Brighton fosters a range of research that integrates Psychology and related humanities and social science subjects, so is also well-placed to develop cross-disciplinary projects with subjects that make use of psychological practices and methodologies.

Gaining a PhD in Psychology will enhance your career opportunities in academia and beyond. Opportunities include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at the University of Brighton and elsewhere, as well as roles in central and local government, non-governmental organisations, social research, teaching, journalism and the media.

Apply to 'Applied social Science' in the applicant portal

Key information

As a Psychology PhD student at Brighton, you will benefit from:

a supervisory team comprising 2-3 members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional supervisor from another School, another research institution, or an external partner from government or industry. 
desk space and access to a computer in a space specifically designed for research students. There are a range of facilities on the Falmer site include various catering options.
access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Falmer Library and other campus libraries. 
access to state-of-the-art research facilities and support from the Psychology Laboratories in our Watson Building, Falmer
a range of social and research events and activities, including the Social Science Forum, a fortnightly opportunity for researchers to share their work and contribute to the development of each other’s research, an annual ‘Festival of Social Science’ for social scientists and their collaborators across the university, and an annual Social Science Public Lecture which is included in the Brighton Festival Fringe programme.

Academic environment

Our Psychology PhD students are based within the School of Applied Social Science (SASS) at the University of Brighton’s Falmer campus. They join a School with a significant breadth and depth of Psychology provision and a stimulating programme of study at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

The school provides 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. In recent years we have significantly invested in research facilities, equipped with research-grade eye tracking and psychophysiology monitoring equipment, wearable cameras, and dedicated creative methods and qualitative research labs.

SASS is an interdisciplinary school of over 75 academic and research staff. Researchers tend to work collaboratively across multiple research groups in addressing challenges of social, health, psychological, spatial, and environmental injustice, seeking to transform policy and practice on global and more local scales.

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 Horizon 2020 and the Independent Social Research Foundation and others.

Within the school we work primarily in these Research and Enterprise Groups:

Care, health and emotional wellbeing REG

Cities, injustice and resistance REG

Depending on the nature of your PhD project, you will also be invited to become a member of one of the university’s Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (CORES):

Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics

Centre for Digital Media Cultures

Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics

Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender

Some of our supervisors

Dr Matthew Adams

I supervise PhD students on a range of topics broadly relating to identity, ecology, climate change, human-animal relations and mental health. I am especially interested in supervising students adopting qualitative methodological and critical theoretical approaches. Interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome. Recent/current projects I have supervised address the following:

Terror Management Theory approaches to climate change communication
Ethnography of place in the Anthropocene
Empirical application of social practice theory to no-fly holidays
Foucauldian analysis of ecotourism practices
Practices of contemporary fatherhood
Ethnography of mental health interventions in lifestyle TV

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.

Dr Josh Cameron

Josh Cameron is an experienced research supervisor at masters and doctoral level. He is interested to support research into the following research areas: mental health recovery; mental health and employment; meaningful work; and social justice orientated resilience. His primary expertise lies in the use of qualitative methods within a (critical) realist methodology. Josh encourages his students to adopt collaborative and particpiatory approaches to their research projects.

Dr Hannah Cassidy

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

Child and adolescent discourses surrounding sex in different cultures/countries;
Development of telling secrets and lies (decision-making, social context, motivation);
Secrets as a social currency in social interaction;
Online deception (use of impression management strategies to explore online identity);
Challenges facing police who interview child and adolescent victims of abuse;
Perceptions of children with sexually harmful behaviour towards other children;
Children's understanding of truths/lie and how to promote honesty.

Dr Apurv Chauhan

I welcome research ideas related to risk and trust in and healthcare settings, perspectives on vaccines (including hesitancy and refusal); public understanding of science; poverty, deprivation, and social exclusion. Research related to Indian subcontinent and the Global South are particularly welcome. Interested students are encouraged to send a short email to me with their initial ideas.

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 am supervising address the following:

Terror Management Theory approaches to climate change communication (Joe Rennie-Taylor)

Prof Angie Hart

Students drawn to studying with me are generally people with a commitment to social change. All of them share my passion for researching resilience-related topics and most of their studies involve some form of co-production with communities, policymakers or practitioners. Many of them also volunteer for our social enterprise Boingboing and there are loads of opportunities in our CRSJ for students to get involved in some fabulous personal development activities, for example attending conferences on behalf of our Centre, being on the Management Group, staffing a stand at international events, etc.

Prospective supervisory topics I get excited about include:Co-productive and resilience-based approaches to tackling social and environmental issues including:Child, family and adult mental healthPractitioner stress and burnoutSchools practicesHigher Education community-university partnership practices.

Dr Helen Johnson

Helen is interested in supervising doctoral students who wish to work with creative, arts-based and/or participatory methods on a range of subjects, including: arts interventions for health and well being; lived experiences of dementia; homelessness; arts education; spoken word and slam; and arts inclusivity. She currently supervises three doctoral candidates, who are researching: the impact of austerity policies on homeless people; medical perceptions and teaching of fragility; and the lived experiences of women with borderline personality disorder.

Dr Nichola Khan

I am interested in supervising students in the interdisciplinary areas of migration, war, conflict, violence, refugees, transnationalism, ethnicity, mobilities, cities, migrant health and mental health, social inequalities, and environmental violence- particularly those working on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and migrant populations in Europe. My past and present students also work on very different kinds of topic, including race and sexuality, autophenomenography and psychotherapy, childrens’s violence to parents, adolescent refugee mental health, refugee women and government yoga, honour based violence and the British police, and FGM in the UK.

Dr Charlie Lea

I would be interested in supervising doctoral students in areas of Positive psychology, 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 Social psychology, specifically the relationship between friendship and coping behaviours.

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’s social identities

- Critical Community Psychology

- Critical Social Psychology, and Discursive Psychology

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. 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 University of Brighton staff. We 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.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistance 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 2020–21

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/EU and international students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK/EU	£4,407	£2,204
International	£14,976	£7,488
International students registered in the School of Humanities or in the Brighton Business School	£13,194	£6,597

Professional doctorate
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,673 (UK/EU)

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,204(UK/EU)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton 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.