Undergraduate Research Assistantship Scheme

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria: 

Students must be:

• Completing a BPS-accredited undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in psychology
• Considering research as a career
• Expecting to achieve a 2.1 or a 1st class degree
• Be finishing the penultimate year of their degree and due to start their final year following the completion of the project

In addition, the supervisor must be:

• Employed in a UK HEI at the same institution as the selected student
• At least a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society.

Please read the following information before submitting your application.

• The project should take place over either 6 or 8 weeks
• We award the grant to the supervisor who must be a member of the society and actively engaged in research. They may then appoint an undergraduate student to become their research assistant in the summer vacation prior to the beginning of the student’s final year of undergraduate study
• We will send a Final Report form for the supervisor to complete with the student on completion of the project, along with an end of grant evaluation questionnaire (Student Questionnaire) for the student to complete and return

• Dr Janice Attard-Johnson (Bournemouth University) will support Rebecca Legg and her project: ‘Estimating ages from faces seen in isolation and in groups.’

• Dr Kareena McAloney-Kocaman (Glasgow Caledonian University) will support Megan Hemming and her project: ‘An exploration of straight privilege and personal hardship.’

• Dr Aurore Bardey (UAL London) will support Utkarsha Mehdiratta and her project ‘Qwear Identity: The Role of Fashion and Social Media in Coming Out as LGBTQ’

• Dr Blerina Kellezi (Nottingham Trent University) will support Noel Plisko and his project ‘Justice and wellbeing following the conflict in Ex-Yugoslavia. A social identity perspective.’

• Dr Maria Panagiotidi (University of Salford) will support Michelle Wain and her project ‘Exploring the effect of a brief interaction with a companion robot on human psychophysiology and mood.’

• Dr Martin Turner (Staffordshire University) will support Daniel Boatwright and his project ‘The development and initial validation of the cognitive-behavioural metacognition questionnaire (CB-MCQ).’

• Dr Nahid Zokaei (University of Oxford) will support Thomas Graham and his project ‘Prioritisation of items in long-term memory using retrospective attentional cues.’

• Dr Sarah Rose (Staffordshire University) will support Megan Lomas and her project ‘The effectiveness of a mindfulness-based colouring intervention to reduce anxiety in adolescents’

• Dr Rory Thomas Devine (University of Birmingham) will support Andrew Theophaniand his project ‘Let’s Talk! Investigating the impact of a brief intervention to enhance parent-child spatial talk.’

• Dr Gaby Pfiefer (Leeds Beckett University) will support Megan Pritchard and her project ‘Age differences in interoceptive sensitivity and the effects on emotional processing and memory.’

• Dr Danielle Ferriday (University of Bristol) will support Katie Taylor and her project ‘Adaptive memory? Exploring the effects of hunger on spatial memory.’

• Dr Emma Portch (Bournemouth University) will support Kirsty Parker and her project‘Streamlining EvoFIT composite construction: Exploring the relationship between array number and composite recognisability.’

• Dr Pamela Jacobsen (University of Bath) will support Maria Stefanova and her project ‘”Who gets offered CBT for psychosis in the 12 months following a psychiatric hospital admission? Follow-up data from an inpatient RCT.’

• Dr Katie Wright-Bevans (Keele University) will support Bethany Addy and her project ‘Exploring avenues for health promotion in bisexual individuals.’

• Dr Lisa Graham-Wisener (Queen’s University Belfast) will support Janine Geddis and her project ‘Application of behaviour change model to inform the public health approach to palliative care.’

• Dr Phil McAleer (University of Glasgow) will support Mandy Norrbo and her project ‘The effect of participant age on the accuracy of recognising unfamiliar speakers.’

• Dr Olivia Maynard (University of Bristol) will support Ryane Kai Wen Collingwood and her project ‘Exploring the changes in mood and cognition during the MDMA ‘comedown’

• Dr Amy Paine (Cardiff University) will support Maisie Lo and her project ‘Profiling the Neurodevelopment of Adopted Children.’

• Dr Georgia Niolaki (Coventry University) will support Alexandra Negoita and her project ‘Every Letter Counts in the New Interpretive Spelling Test for Primary School Children.’

• Dr Eric Robinson  (University of Liverpool) will support Amy Hansell and her project ‘” Supersize Me”: The effect of food portion size and eating environment on energy intake.’

• Dr Lynn Dunwoody (Ulster University) will support Adrienne Walker and her project: ‘An exploration of cancer related fatigue and physical activity from the perspective of a family, informal (unpaid) carers and friends.’

• Dr Elizabeth Sheppard (University of Nottingham) will support Nafi Talukder and his project ‘How well can parents read their children’s minds?’

• Dr Abbie Jordan (University of Bath) will support Imogen Coningsby and her project ‘Telling their story: Exploring future perceptions of parents of youth with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.’

• Dr Oliver Robinson (University of Greenwich) will support Nikolay Petrov and his project ‘A mixed-methods study into the relationship between dreams and developmental crisis episodes in adulthood: Seeking further support for the continuity hypothesis’

• Dr Nikki Hayfield (University of the West of England) will support Karolina Krizova and her project ‘A qualitative exploration of pansexual people’s understandings and lived experiences of pansexuality.’

• Dr Lynn Wright & Dr Scott Hardie (Abertay University) will support Scott Burrows and his project ‘HIS and HRS: Developing measures of handedness identity and stereotypes.’

• Professor Louise Phillips (University of Aberdeen) will support Auste Simkute and her project ‘Attending to friends: Are older adults influenced by familiarity when following gaze cues?’

• Dr Catherine Sebastian (Royal Holloway University of London) will support Iqra Arshad and her project ‘The relation between every day aggression, frustration and inhibitory control in predicting reactive aggressive responding.’

• Dr Tom Stafford (University of Sheffield) will support Zaihirah Quddud and her project ‘Dynamic Adjustments of Cognitive Control Across Adolescence: An EEG Study.’

• Dr Gemma Taylor (University of Salford) will support Eve Bent and her project ‘Investigating the role of children’s visual attention on the video deficit effect (VDE).’

• Dr Robert Bendall (University of Salford) will support Michael Heenan and his project ‘The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during emotion regulation: A combined neuroimaging and neurostimulation study.’

• Dr Gemma Graham (University of Brighton) will support Amy Bradford and her project ‘”Play it again Sam”: Investigating Fixation Behaviour and Physiological responses during repeated CCTV Observation.’

• Professor Lynne Murray (University of Reading) will support Chloe Rock and her project ‘Maternal speech during book-sharing and child Theory of Mind.’

• Dr Helen Johnson (Coventry University) will support Chloe Jackson and her project ‘Use of cognitive interviewing to explore what strategies children use when completing the YARC: A measure of reading comprehension.’

• Dr Emma O’Dwyer (Kingston University, London) will support Amran Yusuf and her project ‘How do British citizens negotiate their positions towards the use of armed drones? A qualitative study.’

• Professor Julia Carroll (Coventry University) will support Georgia Kirkland and her project ‘Can the purported benefits of creative methods support the inclusion of children as part of intergenerational design research projects?’

• Dr Andrew Dunn (Nottingham Trent University) will support Liam Cahill and his project ‘Development of an experimental process for assessing male body image and body dissatisfaction, using an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP).’

• Dr Rowena Hill and Dr Lucy Betts (Nottingham Trent University) will support Tom Goodwin and his project ‘Psychology Information Handling in Disaster Management: Managing information in major incidents in order to increase public confidence and community situational awareness, and counter misinformation.’

• Dr Claudia Metzler Baddeley (Cardiff University) will support Rebecca Louch and her project ‘Effects of genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease on white matter microstructure of fornix subfibers in asymptomatic adults at midlife.’

• Dr Louise Almond & Professor Jon Cole (University of Liverpool) will support Chloe Brennan and her project ‘Using psychological testing to improve selection for the Police initial firearms course.’

• Dr Rebecca Brewer & Dr Geoffrey Bird (KCL London) will support Edward Millgate and his project: ‘The influence of reward priority on ERP signatures of attentional selection and learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder.’

• Dr Line Caes (University of Stirling) will support Emily Katherine McKenzie and her project ‘How do adolescents with chronic pain use YouTube to communicate about their challenges?’

• Dr Anna Chisholm (University of Liverpool) will support Philee Ang-Chen and her project ‘Making Every Contact Count by talking to patients about healthy lifestyles: Exploring public health specialists’ views and experiences of training health professionals across UK NHS trusts’

• Dr Kate Cross (University of St Andrews) will support Annie Macaulay and her project ‘Communicating psychological sex differences: What does ‘men are more aggressive than women’ imply?’

• Dr Stephan Dombrowski (University of Stirling) will support Giulia Piazza and her project ‘What makes our environment obesogenic? A Day Reconstruction Study.’

• Dr Chris Fullwood (University of Wolverhampton) will support Nichola Sharaf and her project ‘The influence of text speak and attractiveness on perceptions of online daters.’

• Dr Lorna Hamilton (York St John University) will support Isabelle O’Halloran and her project ‘Exposure to narrative fiction and the development of mentalising skills in early adolescence.’

• Professor Claire Hughes (University of Cambridge) will support Megan Cheyney and her project ‘Parental Wellbeing, Mind mindedness and Cognitive Talk to Toddlers: A Comparison of Mothers and Fathers’.

• Dr Robin Jackson (Loughborough University) will support Matthew Brownsey and his project ‘Beliefs and thoughts about traumatic memory: Testing a metacognitive intervention to reduce post traumatic stress symptoms.

• Dr Daniel Jolley (Staffordshire University) will support Tanya Schrader and her project ‘If they conspire, then why don’t I?” Examining the relationship between conspiracy theories and intentions to engage in White Collar Crime.’

• Dr Catherine Loveday (University of Westminster) will support Isobel Harper and her project ‘Sharing & inhabiting memories’.

• Dr Elaine Niven (University of Dundee) will support Ellen Pauley and her project ‘Memory for events over time: a virtual reality investigation.’

• Dr Sally Palmer & Professor Liz Pellicano (UCL Institute of Education) will support Laura Bourne and her project ‘Enhancing the inclusion of autistic students in London schools.’

• Dr Kyla Pennington (University of Lincoln) will support Kerry Fletcher and her project ‘Stress reactivity and executive function.’

• Professor Stephen D Reicher (University of St Andrews) will support Anna Tskhovrebova and her project ‘Social Identity processes in disgust ‘contagion’.

• Dr Eric Robinson & Dr Ashleigh Haynes (University of Liverpool) will support Emily Crowne and her project ‘Perceived overweight and selective attention to socially-rejecting faces.’

• Dr Sarah Rose (Staffordshire University) will support Ruth Pettitt and her project ‘Divergent thinking and pretend play: is the relationship reciprocal?’

• Dr Cordet Smart (Plymouth University) will support Holly Reed and her project ‘Representing service users and carers in Multi-Disciplinary Healthcare meetings.’

• Dr Niamh Stack (University of Glasgow) will support Sally Bell and her project ‘Too noisy to learn? The impact of sensory stress in the primary classroom.’

• Dr Lorenzo Stafford (University of Portsmouth) will support Sophie Ashurst and her project ‘Beyond The Visual: Exploring Drug Attentional biases From The Olfactory Domain.’

• Dr Deborah Riby (Durham University) will support Emma Reames and her project ‘Characterising outcome for individuals with Williams syndrome in the UK: Educational achievement and life skills.’

• Dr Sally Quinn (University of York) will support Laura McGarry and her project ‘Do first impressions predict tweeting of police photographs of wanted people?’

• Dr Laura Wilkinson (Swansea University) will support Rochelle Embling and her project ‘Does emphasising food variety in a product label affect every day portion size decisions?’

• Dr Carl Walker (University of Brighton) will support Jenny Terry and her project ‘Using photovoice to explore the lived experiences of welfare reforms and mental health.’

• Dr Catherine Thompson (University of Salford) will support Ashley Taylor and her project ‘The influence of emotion on visual attention: Varying attentional capacity or biasing processing strategy?’

• Dr Chris Fullwood (University of Wolverhampton) will support Emma Boultwood and her project ‘ Factors predicting partner entitlement in online dating.’

• Dr Darren Chadwick (University of Wolverhampton) will support Rachael Mackley and her project ‘ Online support group use and psychological wellbeing for family carers of people with intellectual disabilities’.

• Dr Dawn Watling (Royal Holloway, University of London) will support Pancy Poon and her project ‘Sharing’ on social media: The role of self-presentational style and feelings of social anxiety’.

• Dr Rebecca Charlton (Goldsmiths University of London) will support Gavin Stewart and his project ‘Ageing with Autism Traits: Examining Ageing in the Broad Autism Phenotype’.

• Dr Louise Bunce ( University of Winchester) will support Hannah Joseph-Green and her project ‘ The impact of engaging in fantasy on cognition in children and adults’.

• Professor Rachel Calam (University of Manchester) will support Cheryl Cai Fang Ang and her project ‘Qualitative exploration of service providers’ attitudes, beliefs and experiences of working with parents experiencing mental health problems’.

• Dr Georgina Randsley de Moura (University of Kent) will support Christie Marsh and her project ‘Perceptions of Workplace Opportunities’.

• Dr Josephine Ross (University of Dundee) will support Egle Dalinkeviciute and he project ‘Create Together: Can art therapy offer an effective early intervention for at risk attachment relationships?’

• Professor Bruce Hood (University of Bristol) will support Nick Martin and his project ‘Determining the cognitive mechanisms of over imitation using eye tracking’

• Dr Silvana Mengoni (University of Hertfordshire) will support Natalie Hall and her project ‘Exploring care staff’s attitudes to health psychology research involving people with learning disabilities’

• Dr Martin Jones (University of Exeter) will support Kayleigh Watts and her project ‘The role of mental toughness and pain catastrophizing on muscular performance following induced delayed onset muscle soreness’

• Dr Patrick Bourke  (University of Lincoln) will support Holly Allaway and her project ‘Cognitive neuroscience of template formation in visual search – a TMS study’

• Dr Catrin Eames (University of Liverpool) will support Lorna Phillips and her project ‘Implementation of mindfulness-based Interventions in UK health service settings’

• Professor Shirley Reynolds (University of Reading) will support Hannah-Rose and her project ‘Human developmental changes in attention bias for threat in children’

• Dr Stephen Gibson (York St John University) will support Rachael Booth and her project ‘UKIP and the 2015 general election: a discourse analysis of broadcast media data’

• Professor Caroline Rowland (University of Liverpool) will support Melissa Chapple and her project ‘Is infant learning domain independent?’

• Dr Mark Turner (University of Portsmouth) will support Holly Tricker and her project ‘Do work placements improve psychology graduates transition into the workplace?’

• Dr Kirsty Miller (University of Lincoln) will support Aysha Bellamy and her project ‘Whose hand is it anyway? Investigating the development of agency in four- to ten-year-old children’

• Dr Alexandra Kent (Keele University) will support Chloe Waterman and her project ‘999 Police call openings: asking for help and assessing urgency’

• Dr Victoria Lovett (Swansea University) will supervise Lauren Dillon and her project ‘The effects of local stimulus enhancement and object affordances on an imitation task: an eye-tracking study’

• Dr Rachel Arnold (University of Bath) received support to fund an Assistantship for Axel Vittersø and his project: ‘A Longitudinal Assessment of Organizational Stress in Elite Athletes.’

• Professor James Elander (University of Derby) received support to fund an Assistantship for Ada Dys and her project ‘Pain, anxiety and analgesic dependence: a mixed methods study.’

• Professor Glenn Waller (University of Sheffield) received support to fund an Assistantship for Anna Kolesnik and her project: ‘The relationship between risk taking behaviours and anxiety during adolescence and adulthood.’

• Dr Ruth Filik (University of Nottingham) received support to fund an Assistantship for Hannah Elizabeth Howman for her project: ‘Using eye-tracking to investigate how we understand sarcasm.’

• Dr Steve Brown (University of Liverpool) received support to fund an Assistantship for Rachel Smith and her project: ‘Does body weight predict memorability for and appetitive response to television food advertisements.’

• Professor Caroline Rowland (University of Liverpool) received support to fund an Assistantship for Katie Brewin and her project: ‘Testing the validity and reliability of a new language monitoring and assessment tool: The BabyTalk app.’

• Dr Charity Brown & Dr Faisal Mushtaq (University of Leeds) received support to fund an Assistantship for Katie Leanne Thompson and her project: ‘The neural genesis of pathological risk appetite.’

• Dr Lois Grayson (Durham University) received support to fund an Assistantship for Rachel Norris and her project: ‘Trait characteristics and sensory mechanisms associated with severe eating-related symptoms in patients with eating disorders (pilot).’

• Dr Ashok Jansari (University of East London) received support to fund an Assistantship for Victoria Jefferies and her project: ‘Investigating executive impairments in children with atypical development (Autism Spectrum Disorder & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) using a novel ecologically-valid virtual reality assessment of executive functions.’

• Dr Chao-Hwa (Josephine) Chen-Wilson (University of Wolverhampton) received support to fund an Assistantship for Victoria Theobald and her project: ‘Exploring the jumping to conclusions bias in children and adolescents.’

• Dr Georgina Randsley de Moura (University of Kent) received support to fund an Assistantship for Fatima Tresh and her project: ‘It’s a man's world: Gender as a boundary condition of preference for potential.’