Curious about studying Biology and Psychology - BSc (Hons)at University of Stirling? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Stirling Campus
Full Time
Sep 2027
4 Year
If you’re interested in the mind, and in human (as well as animal) behaviour, then Psychology is for you. Our award-winning Psychology course sits at the cutting edge of inter-disciplinary scientific research. We focus on important societal problems such as detection of criminals and improvement of health outcomes. After introducing Psychology to you as a biological and social science, we’ll cover topics as diverse as brain functioning, child development, and social behaviour. You’ll get hands-on experience designing and conducting experiments, working in high-end specialist labs and in our on-site kindergarten, the only such facility in the UK. You’ll develop a deep knowledge and understanding of mind and behaviour, coupled with excellent practical skills, all of which will offer you a wide and diverse choice of careers. The course is delivered by what the British Psychological Society (BPS) commended as a proactive, approachable and engaged programme team. The BPS also recognised our innovative, student-led teaching initiatives, which help students’ personal and professional development, and our personalised system of student support and feedback, which helps to nurture a close-knit academic community.
To provide a basic understanding of the key concepts in ecology by introducing the core principles of behavioural, organismal, population, community and ecosystem ecology and of global patterns of biodiversity.
To enable students understand basic cell biology concepts. To provide students with the opportunity to improve written communication and IT skills.
In this module, we shall examine basic animal and plant cells and their anatomy and physiology. We shall discuss how various tissues and organs function in whole organisms and how animal and plant functions are strictly regulated to meet through homeostatic processes.
The PSYU901 Introductory Psychology Module aims to provide an elementary grounding in psychology for novice students. It assumes no previous knowledge and has not been designed as an extension of the A/AS-level or Higher Psychology programme. At Stirling, the subject of psychology is taught as an empirical science (rather than from a sociological or philosophical perspective) and students taking PSYU901 are expected to acquire practical skills in the methods and conventions of psychological research as well as theoretical knowledge. It is important that students recognise early that the approach to psychology taken at Stirling is a scientific one. The scientific method involves the application of tightly controlled data-collection methods, numerical and statistical analysis of data and the subsequent interpretation of the results of such analyses. The ultimate goal of such procedures is to provide insight into aspects of human behaviour.
The PSYU902 Introductory Psychology module continues the introduction to psychology begun in PSYU901. The module provides further illustrative examples of the importance of behaviour in our lives and focuses on three key areas,Clinical Psychology, Animal BehaviourandSocial Psychology. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about these major areas of behavioural science and will be taught about our understanding in lectures as well as engaging in a workshop class for each topic. Students will also continue their introduction to quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
You may not take this module if you have previously passed: Practical Science Skills II: Field Skills (SCIU2FS)
The biodiversity course sets out to introduce students to all the major groups of organisms which live on planet earth. This is a considerable challenge given the many millions of species which exist! The course takes a historical perspective, starting off by considering the simplest prokaryotic organisms and how life first evolved on the planet. We discuss the explosion of different invertebrate animal groups which probably occurred somewhere between 500 and 1000 million years ago. We look at what these invertebrate groups are and how they contribute to the majority of current species diversity on the planet. The lectures then focus in on our own lineage: the vertebrates. We consider where the vertebrates came from and what factors led up to the present dominance of the mammals in terrestrial habitats.
A set of field and ID skills sessions consisting of online tuition and student-led field exercises where students will learn how to ID and sample some common animals and plants.
The aim of this 2nd year course is to explorethe biological underpinnings of neurological, neuropsychological and psychological disorders. The course will begin by reviewing the structure and function of the nervous system, and then introduce the biological bases for several common and important clinical disorders of behaviour, cognition, and affect. Classes for this course will include lectures and laboratory practical sessions.
The aim of this module is to provide students with a solid foundation in evolutionary biology and genetics. The module is structured into two interlinked components: (1) Genetic Mechanisms and (2) Evolution. A complete understanding of evolutionary processes requires learning how genetic information is transmitted, and similarly, understanding the origin and function of genetic mechanisms (and pretty much everything in biology) requires a solid foundation in evolutionary biology. Thus BIOU3EG ?Evolution and Genetics? is a core module that will be useful no matter what area of biological sciences you decide to specialise later.
This module aims to provide you with the elementary laboratory skills that are required to pursue subsequent advanced modules and the theory behind many of the techniques and tools that the natural sciences use. In addition to this, the module will afford you the opportunity to obtain and/or revise the knowledge of those aspects of chemistry and physics relevant to biological and environmental sciences.
PSYU914 Research Methods will develop your understanding and application of research methods and data analysis in Psychology. Actually, the module aims to make statistics pleasant and easy for everyone. Statistics is easy. Even advanced statistics is easy (and advanced).
The unit will help to develop your statistical and IT skills and apply them to scientific data sets.
In this module we will look at human social behaviour from a psychological perspective. Humans are a highly social speciesand our interactions are extremely complex. In this module we will consider how and why this complex sociality evolved, and we will look at the cognitive and physiological mechanisms underlying these behaviours. Taking a comparative perspective, we will consider which aspects of human sociality and communication are unique, and which are shared with other species. In doing this we will look at behaviours including nonverbal communication (such as facial expressions), linguistic communication, and social cognition (such as theory of mind and imitation).
The Cognition module provides an overview of what we currently understand about the processes of perception; object, word and face recognition; attention; memory; language; judgement, and consciousness. Students will also have the opportunity to design, conduct and report upon their own group research project. The module therefore aims to teach the subject of human cognition, with particular emphasis on methodological issues, reinforced by experience of original project work.
The module will provide an introduction to what we currently understand about typical child development, in particular cognitive development, social development, language acquisition, emotional and moral development. Historic and current knowledge is covered in the lectures. Theoretical learning is complemented by workshops in which students learn how to read and interpret developmental literature critically. Students will have the opportunity to design, conduct and report as study with children in our on-site Kindergarten. This module draws together, theory, research and practical abilities in the field of child development, with particular emphasis on developing practical and research skills for working with typically developed children.
Individual differences are what most people probably consider psychology to be about: what are people like and what makes them that way? Much of it comes under the heading of personality, though there are other important differences between individuals ? in intelligence, in memory ability, in perception etc. It's important to know how to assess such differences reliably, so the practical component of the module is through workshopswhere you will engage with qualitative and quantitative research methods relevant to the developmentand use ofquestionnaire measures.
We know that good physical and mental health are vital for a happy, meaningful and productive life. Psychological factors (e.g. our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behaviours), play a major role in shaping our physical and mental health/ill health. Understanding these factors and their interactions with biological, social, and environmental factors is critical for improving individual and population health.
The aim of this module is to provide students with a conceptual and practical perspective of the interaction between plants and their environment, emphasizing an evolutionary perspective. The module will cover ecological interactions between plants and their biotic and abiotic environment from the organismal to the ecosystem levels.
This module concerns social behaviour and its social and biological underpinnings. The module addresses the complexities of real-world social phenomena (attitudes and behaviour, social influence, emotion, prejudice, helping behaviour, intergroup conflict) and how these phenomena can be studied scientifically (experiments, self-report questionnaires, and naturalistic research). The aim of the module is to use science to understand important aspects of the social world.
This module hosts a broad range of seminar courses that you can choose to attend. Each seminar course covers a particular research topic in Psychology at an advanced level.
The Honours dissertation project runs through your entire final year and allows you to carry out an original piece of scientific research on a subject of your choice covering contemporary biological and environmental sciences.
The Hons dissertation is a project that runs through your entire final year and allows you to carry out an original piece of scientific research on a subject of your choice, covering contemporary environmental and biological sciences.
This module seeks to offer opportunities for the development of key transferable skills, personal attributes and reflective practice, thereby enabling students to become more employable. These skills will be of use in any future career, irrespective of whether or not this is within the field of psychology.
This modulegives students the opportunity to undertake a piece of original research under the supervision of an experienced researcher.Students willcontribute to the design of the research and be expected to execute the study and analyse the data. The final outcome of the process will be a dissertation in the style of a journal article describing the background to the research, the procedure, analysis and conclusions.
This module provides our final year students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned throughout their psychology degree in a work context and to explore potential career paths. The core of this module is a 50 hour work placement with a business, charity, or organisation. The placement is completed between October and April and during this time, students also attend supporting workshops designed to help them develop transferrable skills, confidence, and knowledge of the job market for psychology graduates.
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