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Postgraduate Research
Join our vibrant and supportive PhD community.
Studying for a PhD is a highly rewarding and challenging process.
As part of a research group and with individual supervision you will become a leading expert in your area.
All of our academic staff are active researchers, who are at the cutting edge of their research field. We have an outstanding reputation for research in our specialist areas.
You are encouraged to explore our research groups and contact the academic whose interests match your own.
Research Groups
Our research is divided into four themes. Each research group is led by staff who are at the forefront of their fields.
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Language and Cognition
Our expertise focuses on language at multiple levels from phonemes to literacy, and cognition from behavioural regulation to embodied cognition, and beyond.
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Perception and Action
We investigate human interactions with the world via sensory and motor processes.
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Social Processes
We use a range of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to study the social and cognitive processes that shape human actions and evaluations of others.
PhD Supervisors
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How to Apply
How to apply
Funded PhD Studentships
Each year the Psychology Department offers several fully-funded PhD scholarships (commencing the following October), as well as opportunities to apply for other studentships vis the ESRC's North West Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP).
In all cases, we are looking for academically excellent students, who are passionate about doing research and have an exciting project they want to pursue.
Self-funded applications
To begin the process, you will need to find a PhD Supervisor whose research interests align with your own. You will need to contact them to discuss your application.
Your research proposal
We will require a research proposal on the area/s you are interested in joining us to study. This proposal will be used to help us determine who will be the most suitable potential academic supervisor for your research.
This step is the starting point to find a suitable supervisor who will then, if interested, contact you for a phone interview. In this interview, you will discuss the proposal and intended research, meaning your plan is not your permanent topic for your PhD studies and open to negotiation. Past guidelines have suggested the following:
- a section that defines and characterises your selected research area
- a section that briefly surveys and sums up state-of-the-art in this area
- a section that identifies deficiencies in the state of the art which you would like to address in your PhD
- a section that outlines some possible research directions that you might pursue
- a list of references that you cite in the above sections
We recommend that you submit your research interests and the PhD Admissions Tutor can pass your application onto the most relevant and available supervisor.
Apply online
To apply, create an account on the Applying for postgraduate study website.
Here you can submit applications for the programme(s) which you wish to study, upload supporting documentation and provide us with information about referees. You may apply for all our postgraduate programmes using this method.
Current Lancaster Students
If you are a current Lancaster student or have recently graduated from Lancaster, we can reduce the amount of information that you will need to provide. You will need to offer only one reference and will not need to supply your Lancaster degree transcript. We will also pre-fill your details, ready for you to check.
What to include
If you use the Postgraduate Applications website, then you will be advised which documentation you need to upload or send to us. We can automatically contact your referees once you have submitted your application if you ask us to.
The supporting documentation screen will provide you with a list of required documents. These will usually include:
- Degree certificates and transcripts of previous higher education (college/university) degrees or other courses that you have completed/for which you are currently studying. We will require a certified English translation for transcripts in languages other than English
- A personal statement to help us understand why you wish to study your chosen degree
- You also need to complete a research proposal which should include the following:
- the research area you are interested in
- the research question(s) you are specifically interested in
- who within Psychology appears best qualified to supervise you
- the methods you envisage using in your studies
- plus any other information which may be relevant
- Two references
- If English is not your first language, we require copies of English language test results
When to apply
You can apply at any time of the year for PhD study, but we encourage you to start at one of the predefined start dates of October, January or April. We will consider the July start date in some circumstances. An MSc by Research will usually start in October. If you would like us to recognise you for funding, are applying from overseas or require on-campus accommodation, we recommend you apply as early as possible.
Funded PhD Scholarships
Accordion
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Lancaster University Postgraduate Fees and Funding
For full details visit Fees and Funding.
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North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership
The Department of Psychology at Lancaster University is a member of the Northwest Social Sciences Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP), along with the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Keele. The NWSSDTP offers studentships as 1+3 (Masters + 3 years PhD funding), +3 (3 years PhD funding) and as CASE awards (1+3, or +3, where proposals are supported by a non-academic partner).
For more information, visit nwssdtp, how to apply.
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Lancaster University Department of Psychology Fully-Funded PhD Scholarship
Closing date for applications: May 31st 2022
The Department is offering one fully-funded PhD Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) Teaching Scholarship commencing October 2022.
We are looking for academically excellent students, who are passionate about doing research and have an exciting project they want to pursue.
Faculty of Science and Technology Scholarship (all areas of psychology)
The award is for 3.5 years and provides UK-level tuition fees, a generous stipend of approximately £16,062 and access to a grant to research training support. Non-UK applicants must fund the difference between UK and non-UK fees if successful.
We welcome applications from students in all areas of supervisory expertise. Before sending your application, you must contact individual staff members to discuss your specific interests and to develop a research proposal. Applications that bring important and innovative ideas to match and complement the research agenda of current staff are more likely to be successful.
As a department, we particularly encourage applications to work with early-career staff. This year these include:
- Dr Amy Atkinson,
- Dr Marina Bazhydai,
- Dr Jaime Benjamin,
- Dr Kirsty Dunn,
- Dr Mark Hurlstone,
- Dr Sophie Nightingale,
- Dr Richard Philpot,
- Dr L-J Stokes,
- Dr Hannah Stewart,
- Dr Jess Wang
Applications to work with these members of staff are weighted preferentially during the evaluation of applications.
Informal enquiries should be directed to members of staff prior to application, using the contact details on the departmental people webpage.
Further information about PhD study at Lancaster.
Successful applicants will be asked to provide (reasonable) support for teaching activities in the Department, with training support provided by the University. This would normally involve leading first or second-year seminar groups, or assisting in laboratory classes.
By the deadline of May 31st, 2022, applicants must have completed an application to the Department via the University Portal, and include the following information:
- Clearly state that you wish to apply for the Faculty of Science and Technology (FST) Scholarship;
- Identify appropriate supervisor(s).
- Include a research proposal of up to 1500 words.
- Supporting documentation (including a personal statement, degree certificates, references etc.). For more details visit How to apply
After the deadline, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview (in person or via Teams), before award decisions are made. Applicants who are unsuccessful for the scholarship will nonetheless be considered in terms of an offer of registration to the Department (on a self-funded basis or where alternative funding can be identified).
The expectation is that applicants will have completed, at the start of their award, an MSc degree in Psychology or a related discipline, although in exceptional circumstances, students with other relevant experience may not have completed Master's level studies.
To Apply visit Applying for postgraduate study.
For further information concerning postgraduate study more generally, please contact the Lancaster University Postgraduate admissions team at fst-pg-admissions@lancaster.ac.uk
- Social Identities and Artificial Intelligence: Exploring the role of social identities in complex systems which include humans and machines.
Application Deadline: 17th June 2022
Interviews are planned for 1st July 2022, but will be scheduled nearer the time. Interviews will take place online.
Please note this opportunity is for UK applicants only.
Humans and machines are increasingly entwined in complex socio-technical systems. These systems often involve different groups of people and different kinds of technology. In order for these systems to function effectively (and exhibit resilience), there has to be trust and cooperation amongst not only the humans, but also between the humans and the machines. Shared social identity is known to facilitate cooperation and trust between humans. In this PhD we will explore the potential for social identity processes to facilitate cooperation and trust with machines.
The project will ask questions like, ‘Under what conditions can humans share identity with machines?’ or ‘Can machines learn to recognise social identity in humans?’. The project will be based in the Psychology Department at Lancaster University and is part of a larger multidisciplinary UKRI project to improve the socio-technical resilience and trustworthiness of autonomous systems.
Supervisors
Mark Levine mark.levine@lancaster.ac.uk
Anastasia Kordoni a.kordoni@lancaster.ac.uk
About the Project
Autonomous systems are an increasing part of the infrastructure of daily life. As the range and importance of such systems increases and the underlying technology rapidly develops, the UKRI has funded a range of investigatory research “nodes” to address the trustworthiness of autonomous systems
As part of this large, interdisciplinary project, the Psychology Department at Lancaster University is exploring the resilience of emergency response systems for disasters and emergencies that include both humans and autonomous systems. We examine the interaction of ordinary citizens, emergency services (police, ambulance, fire service) and different types of technology (drones, robots) in emergency response.
Social Identity processes are now recognised as being key to understanding how ordinary people respond to emergencies. At the same time, social identity processes are increasing recognised as being key to the way emergency services operate in emergencies. This PhD project will explore the potential contribution of social identity ideas for how the relationship between humans and technologies can be supported to make for more resilient emergency response.
Useful Links:
UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems project
Resilience node
Social Processes Research Group
Applicants should have (or will soon receive) a minimum of a strong undergraduate degree in psychology or related discipline. Students who already have a Masters qualification are also encouraged to apply. In all cases, we are looking for academically excellent students, who are passionate about doing research.
The award is for a 3.5 year training programme (October 2022 start date). This includes full (UK) tuition fees and a generous stipend of approximately £16,062 per year - as well as a research support and training budget of £1500 per year.
How to Apply:
Applications should submit a research proposal based on the above project outline and focusing on the methods mentioned above, while making the project their own and explaining in more detail how they would carry out this research (no more than 1000 words).
Applicants should also submit a personal statement highlighting your suitability for the project and PhD research more generally that clearly demonstrates your passion for the research project and makes clear how your research interests, skills, experience, and career plans are a good fit for the proposed project. Applicants will be assessed based on their academic credentials, skills, knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm for the project. (no more than 2 pages).
In all cases, informal enquiries should be directed to the project’s primary Supervisor (mark.levine@lancaster.ac.uk) before application.
About Lancaster University and Department of Psychology
Lancaster University is The Times and Sunday Times 2018 University of the Year, and consistently ranks in the top 10 universities in the UK. The university is situated on a beautiful campus south of the city, while Lancaster city itself is a vibrant and historic town with a castle dating from the 12th century, an established art and music scene and a thriving student population. It is surrounded by areas of outstanding natural beauty, with the Lake District on its doorstep, and it has excellent transport connections (2.5 hours by direct train to London, Edinburgh, Glasgow; 1 hour by direct train to Manchester and Manchester Airport).
The Department of Psychology has world-leading research facilities (see http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/research/), a first-class supervision record with an outstanding submission success rate for our students, as well as being ranked in the top 150 psychology departments in the world. Students have the opportunity to join a large and friendly Department which provides excellent support for further training and development, and supports open science practices. We are committed to family-friendly and flexible working policies where possible. We welcome applications from people in all diversity groups.