Psychology at Durham University

Durham’s Psychology Department is a department with excellence in both research and teaching. This research strength extends across the wide variety of academic interests of the Department’s staff, from child health and development, perception, cognitive and behavioural neuroscience to the evolutionary basis of behaviour. The wide range and quality of the research interests of the staff in the Department allows us to offer a broad range of final-year option courses. Our breadth of research strength means that you are guaranteed to be taught by some of the leading figures in their field of research. Furthermore, as an expanding department, we expect that the range of opportunities for students will grow over the coming years.

Our BSc (Hons) course in Psychology follows the British Psychological Society(BPS) guidelines with an extensive range of options in the final year, drawing both from work in fundamental scientific research and in applied psychology. These final year modules include topics in social psychology, developmental psychology, cognition and behavioural neuroscience, as well as neurorehabilitation, education, and health.

Excellent research facilities are available, including a virtual reality suite, developmental testing facilities, and EEG labs. You are encouraged to get involved in experiments being carried out by your lecturers, thus gaining a deeper and more hands-on understanding of the issues you are learning about in your degree, and adding to your contextual experience.

Psychology is essentially concerned with understanding the mind and behaviour in humans and non-human animals, and it is closely related to a wide range of other disciplines, including biology, anthropology, philosophy, and education. You will get the chance to study people in terms of their internal mental processes, the biological mechanisms that underlie their behaviour, and the social and developmental context in which they act. The degree provides the opportunity for the development of extensive subject-specific and transferable skills.