Psychology

We are looking forward to welcoming you (or welcoming you back!) to the School of Psychology. During Welcome Week the School of Psychology will have academic inductions for our new undergraduate students, alongside Welcome Back events for our returning students.

Our welcome events are as follows:

Level 1

Thursday 14^th September

10-11 – Welcome Lecture (Art’s Lecture Theatre)

11-12 – Informal meet with the psychology staff

Level 2

Thursday 14^th September

12-1 – Welcome (Back) Lecture (Art’s Lecture Theatre)

1-2 – Informal meet with the psychology staff

Level 3

Thursday 14^th September

2-3 – Welcome Back Lecture and Introduction to your Honour’s Years (Art’s Lecture Theatre)

3-4 – Informal meet with the psychology staff

Level 4

Friday 15^th September

12-1 – Welcome Back Lecture and Induction to your Final Year (Art’s Lecture Theatre)

1-2 – Informal meet with the psychology staff

Assessment

All psychology courses in the first term will be assessed through coursework and/or an online open-book exams – there are no in-person invigilated exams. Coursework may include essays, reports, MCQs, presentations, discussion forums, and group projects among others. This will vary from course to course, and there will be specific details in every course guide at the start of term alongside further advice from individual course tutors/coordinators during the course.

Thesis Supervision

Students will have been allocated a thesis supervisor in Level 3. If you do not know your supervisor, please contact psych-level4@abdn.ac.uk . You should email your supervisor during Welcome Week to arrange your first meeting with your supervisor. The thesis project will be developed via regular meetings with your supervisor. The thesis runs across both terms and students are expected to manage their time effectively and spread the work across both terms. Supervisors will be submitting interim reports on the progress of their thesis students at the end of the first term, and then a further full supervisor report towards the end of the second term.

Completing a research-based thesis is a compulsory component of a BPS accredited degree. BPS regulations require students to demonstrate their methodological skills and knowledge by conducting and writing up an independent piece of research. To ensure you can do this you will get regular and supportive supervision meetings which will provide students with continuous feedback throughout the project. The format and frequency of these will be decided jointly by you and your supervisor, for example you may decide that you will meet in-person, or online using Microsoft Teams, or a mix of the two. Whatever format is used, your supervisor will be there for you and will guide and support you in your research.  Stay in regular contact with your supervisor and please refer to the thesis handbook for further guidelines and advice.

A lot of the teaching we value most is carried out in small groups where staff have the opportunity to work closely with students to develop their psychological skills and knowledge. This teaching may involve labs, tutorials and workshops. All teaching will be in person and small groups will be listed in your timetable with attendance monitored.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to the School of Psychology and to your taught postgraduate degree. During Welcome Week the School of Psychology will have academic inductions for our new students. Please come along for an informative introductory event and to have an informal meet and greet with staff from the School of Psychology.

Friday 15^th September

2-3 – Welcome Back Lecture and Induction to your Final Year (Art’s Lecture Theatre)

3-4 – Informal meet with the psychology staff

We are working with our colleagues in the library so that our required course reading is available online as much as possible. All course books will also be available to borrow from the library.

Reading lists for individual courses will be available on course areas in MyAberdeen. In addition, study spaces for students will be available to use. In the meantime, you can brush up your study skills and learn more about the University at our award-winning Toolkit website.

Level 5 Convener

Professor Jason Bohan
Email: jason.bohan@abdn.ac.uk

Administration Contact

Miss Eilidh Mackintosh
Email: psy-pg@abdn.ac.uk

All psychology courses in the first term will be assessed through coursework and/or an online open-book exams – there are no in-person invigilated exams. Coursework may include essays, reports, MCQs, presentations, discussion forums, and group projects among others. This will vary from course to course, and there will be specific details in every course guide at the start of term alongside further advice from individual course tutors/coordinators during the course.

Students will select, or be allocated to, a thesis supervisor in spring term (February/March). Detailed information about the process will be provided in the thesis allocation lecture in week 2 of teaching by the MSc thesis coordinator.

Completing a research-based thesis is a compulsory component of a BPS accredited degree. BPS regulations require students to demonstrate their methodological skills and knowledge by conducting and writing up an independent piece of research. To ensure you can do this, you will get regular and supportive supervision meetings which will provide students with continuous feedback throughout the project.

The format and frequency of these will be decided jointly by you and your supervisor, for example you may decide that you will meet in-person, or online using Microsoft Teams, or a mix of the two. Whatever format is used, your supervisor will be there for you and will guide and support you in your research. Stay in regular contact with your supervisor and please refer to the thesis handbook for further guidelines and advice.

A lot of the teaching we value most is carried out in small groups where staff have the opportunity to work closely with students to develop their psychological skills and knowledge. This teaching may involve labs, tutorials and workshops. All teaching will be in person and small groups will be listed in your timetable with attendance monitored.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to campus to start your research journey with us. As a Postgraduate Research student you will have the opportunity to attend a University wide induction in addition to your school induction.

The University of Aberdeen Orientation programme has been designed to take you through all of the essential information you will need for your student life. You can get started now by working through the interactive modules.

There are a series of modules that you can work through before you arrive. Once you have registered you can access the remaining modules and complete your mandatory training programme through your bespoke PGR training platform on our virtual learning environment.

There will be a school welcome event for Postgraduate Research students. This will provide an opportunity to meet Postgraduate coordinators and PhD supervisors. There will also be time to answer any questions you may have. Further details regarding the welcome event will follow in due course.

As a PGR student you may have the opportunity to audit Master‘s courses to augment your research training. Please discuss this with your supervisor and check out the postgraduate taught pages above.

The PGR School also offers a comprehensive training programme to support your research journey.

The PGR School training and development programme offers academic, professional, and personal development through a number of training workshops, resources and opportunities, all intended to support the PGR community at the University of Aberdeen.

Find out more here.