Study psychology at postgraduate level and you become part of a diverse, dynamic and supportive community in which to research and learn. Cognition and neuroscience research at Kent focuses on visual cognition, attention and memory, and language and communication. A PhD is a doctorate of philosophy based on mostly independent study. It is assessed formally on the basis of one piece of work, a dissertation (or thesis), that reports your original thought and research. You must also successfully complete all required training. Although sometimes we have specific PhD research projects related to funding awards, most of our research students choose their own research topics. Once you have decided on the nature of your project, it is important to contact a staff member whose expertise matches your area of interest with a CV and research proposal to discuss your proposed project and potential supervisory arrangements. You then work with your proposed supervisor on refining your research proposal which provides the starting point for your subsequent research.

Your future:
Our postgraduate students commonly go into the fields of health, teaching or further education. For instance, many of our graduates take up roles as assistant psychologists in the NHS with a view to becoming a professional clinical or forensic psychologist. Upon completing our Masters courses, graduates have also pursued academic careers.

The programmes we offer help you to develop general critical, analytic and problem-solving skills that can be applied in a wide range of settings.